Sabahan Ben Leong ties for 54th
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian golfer Ben Leong managed to improve his CIMB Classic standing after concluding his outing tie for the 54th place with seven-under-par 281 in total.
In the final round at the TPC Kuala Lumpur’s West Course in Bukit Kiara, the 32-year-old Sabahan carded an even par 72 to share the place with Americans Ted Potter Jr., Brendan Steele, Kim Shihwan and Troy Merritt to secure the purse prize of US$14,280 (about RM59,326).
In his debut at the 2015 edition, he managed to settle in the 64th place among 78 golfers.
Marc Leishman of Australia broke the dominance of the Americans when the 34-year-old emerged as the first non-American to win the tournament with a total score of 26-under-par 262.
Started from the 10th tee, the national number two golfer, Leong carded five birdies at the 10th, 12th, 14th, 18th and third hole to recover from a double bogey in the hole 13th and three bogeys at the 16th, first and ninth hole.
“It has been an up and down week, a lot of birdies and bogeys… That is golf, you can do better one day, but cannot have it every time or week. You need to learn from it, move on and try not to repeat the same mistakes.
“Definitely a lot of things to workout, first of all must get healthy again…Having bad flu and cough. Playing in a PGA Tour definitely push up the resume and confidence, learned couple of things from the top guys here.
“It will make me a better person, improves me as a person, not just my game, my mental side as well. Wanted to thank CIMB for making this happen,” the world number 360 told reporters.
After having a back to back tournaments for the past six weeks, the one-time Asian Tour winner wanted to take a good rest for a month before opening his World Cup campaign with compatriot Gavin Kyle Green in Melbourne, Australia from Nov 22–25.
Meanwhile, another Malaysian on the field, Kim Leun Kwang, 23, ended his debut campaign in the 78th place among as many golfers with a total score of 13over-par 301, after carding oneunder-par 71 yesterday to bag the prize money of US$11,200 (about RM46,530).
“It has been an amazing tournament…It is a good debut for me, my goal this week was to actually learn from them (top golfers), what makes them to be so great, which I did learned a lot. I hope I can work on it and put into my game, hope can be there someday.
“They are very calm, even after a good or bad shot, they did not show anything. I think they let go easier than me in terms of emotions…Now I know that I can play with them because some of the shots I hit are probably similar to them skillwise, I just got little bit of works here and there, but I will be there soon,” the 2018 CIMB National Champion said.