Green aims to roar at Maybank Championship Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: Local pro Gavin Kyle Green hopes to shine at the inaugural US$3 million (RM12.6 million) Maybank Championship Malaysia that tees off at the Royal Selangor Golf Club (RSGC) on Thursday, to complement his transition from an amateur to a professional player.

“It is not easy when you turn professional. As an amateur, I did everything with my team. But now, I have to do everything on my own. It is a big transition but I am loving it. It has always been my dream to turn professional,” said Green in a media session prior to the competition, yesterday.

The 22-year-old started working with his new coach, Chris O’Connell, who also coaches PGA Tour star Matt Kuchar, and hopes to reap the rewards soon.

“I had to go with something more consistent and I wanted to try something new so I started working with Chris. I’m feeling more comfortable now. Every

time I tee it up, I want to win but it isn’t easy. Hopefully this week I will shine,” he said.

Big-hitting Green, who is a Maybank-sponsored player, turned as a professional golfer last year following a stellar amateur career but has since taken time to replicate his previous success where he was ranked as high as 12th on the World Amateur Rankings.

Green will be among the elite cast assembled at RSGC, including England’s Danny Willett, South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen, Germany’s Martin Kaymer plus local stars Danny Chia and Nicholas Fung.

As for top Malaysian pro, Danny Chia, he is ready to launch a title charge at the Maybank Championship Malaysia after taking a week’s break from golf to celebrate Chinese New Year.

For this year, Chia has made it a priority for the 2016 Olympics where he currently lies inside the top-60 qualifying mark to qualify for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in Brazil.

A tied 14th finish at the Myanmar Open two weeks ago has given him a nice boost for this week’s competition which is jointly sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the European Tour.

“I played well in Myanmar so the result will give me some confidence this week. This year, my focus is to get more world ranking points to qualify for the Olympics. I tried to get as many world rankings points last year and played consistently but I think that wasn’t good for my body,” Chia said.

“I wasn’t hitting it that well in Myanmar but I managed to score. After I came back from Myanmar, I decided to refresh my mind and didn’t play for a week.

just relaxed and spent a lot of time with my family. I usually play better after playing in a stretch of events but I will feel better after three days of practice rounds,” he added.

The bespectacled Nicholas Fung, who is searching for a first Asian Tour victory, feels at home at the RSGC.

“I’ve always wished to play in a tournament at RSGC, which is very similar to my home course in Kota Kinabalu. It’s an oldstyled design, tree lined and different from the modern-day golf courses.

“You have to play it safe most of the time, you can’t be overly aggressive as there are lots of trees out there. I am not a long hitter, it kind of suits me and hopefully I’ll play well. I’m happy to be on this course,” said Fung.