First chance to qualify for the CIMB Classic

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s “Big Four” of Gavin Kyle Green, Nicholas Fung, Danny Chia and Ben Leong will be among 77 local professionals teeing off in next week’s CIMB National Championship hoping to win a ticket to the CIMB Classic in October.

The CIMB National Championship, formerly known as the SapuraKencana National Classic, will be held at the TPC Kuala Lumpur from July 2528.

Only the winner of the national championship will earn a start in the CIMB Classic. The lucrative US$7mil (RM30mil) US PGA Tour event will be held at the same venue from Oct 1215.

The highestranked Malaysian in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) as of Oct 2 will also get to be part of the 78man elite field, which will comprise 60 players from the PGA Tour, 10 from the Asian Tour and eight sponsors’ invites.

Gavin is now the topranked Malaysian at No. 221 in the OWGR, followed by Nicholas (No. 235), Danny (No. 394) and Ben Leong (No. 554).

Malaysian golfers can also get to compete in the CIMB Classic if they can finish in the top 10 of the Asian Tour Order of Merit by Oct 9.

Gavin and Nicholas are going great guns on the Asian Tour and are likely to qualify on merit.

Tour rookie Gavin is fourth with a season’s earnings of US$248,071 (RM1.06mil) while Nicholas, who won his maiden Tour crown at the Queen’s Cup last month, has amassed US$122,900 (RM522,900) to be in 13th spot.

As there are still seven more Asian Tour tournaments to be played before the CIMB Classic, even former winners Ben (No. 29) and Danny (No. 34) – are still very much in the race for the 10 Asian Tour spots.

Winning the national qualifier next week is definitely the best bet for Ben and Danny.

Defending champion Gavin will be eager to retain his national championship crown at the TPC KL, having pipped Ben by a shot to earn his maiden CIMB Classic start last year.

Gavin finished joint 69th in the CIMB Classic last year.

As for the rest, there’s plenty to play for as the total prize money has been increased by RM50,000 to RM200,000. The winner will take home RM30,000 – RM8,000 more than last year.

The money earned from the event will also count towards the Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Tour’s Order of Merit.