Beware of bogeys
Ben wary of back-nine jinx in final round
I had a good start, but struggled a bit on the back nine again. I don’t know, it’s becoming a trend now. Ben Leong
BEN LEONG will go into today’s final round of the CIMB Classic looking to wrap up his second appearance in the US PGA Tour with a flourish.
In the penultimate stage yesterday, the 32-year-old Sabahan again failed to capitalise on his hot start – posting a one-under 71 at the TPC Kuala Lumpur.
Ben rolled in three birdies on the first, fourth and eighth holes to turn in 33, but conceded two strokes after double bogeying the par-three 12th hole for the second straight day.
Ben responded well by holing a monster birdie putt from 60 feet on the 13th.
However, he dropped another shot on the 17th to settle for a three-day total of seven-under 209, which left him in a tie for 38th spot with American duo Jason Dufner and Ted Potter Jr, and Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira.
Ben knew he could have done better but was not too disheartened with how things panned out for him.
“I had a good start, but struggled a bit on the back nine again. I don’t know, it’s becoming a trend now,” lamented Ben.
“But scoring under- par on this golf course is always good. One more day to go, so hopefully I can push up the leaderboard.”
Ben admitted he will have to overcome the jinx on the three-stretch holes from 10th to 12th. A total of eight out of the 10 strokes conceded by Ben this week were from those three holes.
“I try not to think about it. The more I think about it, the more frustrated I get,” said Ben.
“It’s been an up-and-down week actually, but that’s golf.”
A top-half finish would still be a commendable show for Ben, considering no local golfers have been able to finish in the top 40 since Danny Chia’s 13th finish in the 2011 edition at the Mines Golf Resort and Country Club.
A top 40 finish would net Ben a cool US$28,500 (RM118,000) pay cheque, but the one-time Asian Tour winner seeks to reproduce the superb final round of 66 that he fired en route to finishing joint 64th in 2015.
As for Kim Leun Kwang, he’s set to finish his debut in last place of the 78-man standings.
The 23-year-old endured a terrible day at the office when he carded a six-over 78 – his worst score of the tournament – to finish on 14-under 230.
That’s nine shots adrift of 77th placed Rahil Gangjee of India and a whopping 33 strokes behind leading trio Gary Woodland, Marc Leishman and Shubhankhar Sharma.