Shahriffuddin's Olympic dream
Shahriffuddin Ariffin has less than one year to lower his ranking points from 1,057 to under 300 to qualify for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
The youngest ever professional to win the Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Order of Merit (OoM) title at 18 last year, he has set his sights on playing more Asian Tour events in the hope of improving his ranking.
“My target now is to win two tournaments on the PGM. Even though they don’t contribute to ranking points, I will need to finish in the top 60 of the Asian Tour in order to keep my card.
“If I’m lucky enough to win a tournament, I would get a twoyear exemption.
“Now I need to chase ranking points for the Olympics which means I have to play more tournaments outside of Malaysia like ADT (Asian Development Tour) and Asian Tour,” said Shahriffuddin, 19, who was named Melaka’s youth icon last year.
Helping Shahriffuddin to achieve his goal is SenHeng Electric (KL) Sdn Bhd which has inked a five-year sponsorship worth RM125,000 for him to compete overseas.
SenHeng will also support female golfer Hastha Rajendran with a RM10,000 grant for two years. Hastha, 18, has been offered a fouryear scholarship by Northwestern Ohio University in America.
Hastha, who has six amateur titles under her belt, said her target is the US National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics No 1 spot.
Present at yesterday’s sponsorship signing ceremony at the Royal Selangor Golf Club were SenHeng managing director, K.H. Lim and club captain, Datuk Chang See Tum.