The Star Malaysia

Things swing more to the positive for Gavin after mixed Tour

- PETALING

Gavin Kyle Green’s bid to swagger through the “UK Swing” was stymied but the top Malaysian golfer had reasons to smile upon his return from his European Tour campaign which ended last Sunday.

The 26-year-old believes there are a lot of positives to take from his performanc­es on his first return to Europe after a six-month hiatus because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Gavin played four out of the six-event UK Swing, making two cuts where he posted a decent pair of joint-eighth and joint-11th results at the Celtic Classic and Wales Open.

His two blemishes were narrowly missing the cuts for the English Championsh­ip and last week’s UK Championsh­ip.

At the UK Championsh­ip, Gavin opened with a solid 69 but squandered a glorious chance to make the cut after struggling to a 78 for a three-over 147 total.

He missed his third straight cut following the Celtic Classic and Wales Open by just two shots.

Gavin had also agonisingl­y missed the cut at the English Championsh­ip by a single shot.

“Overall, I’m pretty happy with my performanc­e at the UK Swing,” said Gavin, who flew home last Saturday and is undergoing his mandatory two-week quarantine in a hotel here.

“Although I had two missed cuts, they were pretty close.

“The last round was one of those crazy ones. I didn’t expect to miss that one there but it happens.

“Finishing T11 and T8 in the other two were also good. I know I just have to work harder on certain things to make it more complete.”

Gavin is skipping the next three stops – Andalucia Masters, Portugal Masters and Portugal Open over the next three weeks – to get himself ready for the next stretch of tournament­s starting with the Irish Open from Sept 24-27.

Gavin is also expected to sign up for the Scottish Open (Oct 1-4) and BMW PGA Championsh­ip (Oct 8-11), which are part of the Rolex Series events that offer US$7mil (RM29mil) prize purse each and plenty of Race to Dubai points.

Currently ranked 28th in the Race to Dubai standings, Gavin is on course to qualify for the 50-man lucrative US$8mil (RM33.1mil) season-ending Tour Championsh­ip in Dubai from Dec 10-13.

 ??  ?? Taking a break: Gavin won’t play in three tournament­s over the next three weeks.
Taking a break: Gavin won’t play in three tournament­s over the next three weeks.

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