Ben to psyche himself up for strong finish
BEN Leong is the best Malaysian performer as the Maybank Championship heads into the final day.
He posted a three-day total of six-under 210 at the Saujana Golf and Country Club yesterday.
For Ben, making the cut here has been a big breakthrough considering he started the year missing the weekend rounds at the Singapore Open and Myanmar Open.
He fired a 70 on the first day and 71 after that. His three-under 69 in the third round gave him a 210 total.
“Generally, my game’s been good ... no real issues. It could have gone either way.
“There is still one more day to go ... I will try and get better scores,” he said.
Ben is tied in 23rd position with Italy’s Renato Paratore, India’s Rashid Khan, Australia’s Sam Brazell, Germany’s Marcel Ziem and first-round leader Marc Warren of Scotland.
The biggest problem for Ben has been the ninth hole, which he bogeyed yesterday.
He had birdies on the third, eighth, 10th, 11th, 17th and 18th holes. But bogeys on the fourth, ninth and 16th saw him lose pace with the leaders yesterday.
“The ninth is a problem that I need to overcome. I will psyche myself up for the final day and play a normal game.
“I just need to narrow down on my focus on my target. I am looking forward to the final round.”
Malaysian amateur Daeng Abdul Rahman had another good day as he finished in 29th position with a five-under 211 total to upstage his other more experienced compatriots – Gavin Kyle Green, Nicholas Fung and Danny Chia, who were bunched together in 54th position.
Arie Irawan is last after a poor round of 77.