Malaysians to the fore!
There’s a growing feeling that one or more from the local contingent will do well
THERE is an air of expectancy surrounding the Malaysian contingent in this year’s Maybank Championship.
Top-ranked Gavin Green will lead the local charge with Ben Leong, Shahriffudin Ariffin and Nicholas Fung also in the mix.
There are 13 Malaysians confirmed in the field, with Wilson Choo, Danny Chia, R. Nachimuthu, Amir Nazrin, Arie Irawan, Kemarol Baharin, Sukree Othman, Kim Leun Kwang and Kenneth De Silva making up the rest.
With Green having retained his European Tour card and Leong and Fung doing the same on the Asian Tour, decent showings will be expected from them too on home soil.
The likes of Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Tour Player of the Year Shahriffudin, seasoned campaigners Nachimuthu, Sukree and Kemarol Baharin, and the up-and-coming Kim would also be widely applauded for making an impact on the fourth edition of the US$3mil tournament co-sanctioned by the Asian and European Tours.
Nachimuthu, a multiple winner on the domestic circuit, said he was looking forward to the tournament at Saujana Golf & Country Club in Shah Alam from March 21 to 24 and added that his preparations over the next few weeks would be intensified with a view to doing well at the Maybank Championship.
“I didn’t do too good last year, but hopefully with much better preparations this year, I can put in a decent showing at Saujana,” said Nachimuthu.
“It’s never easy playing in a tournament like this - one that has world-class players, and many of whom have been here before. But I think if I prepare well and swing the club well that week, I could at least come away with a reasonable performance.”
Kemarol, sitting next to Nachimuthu in the interview with TeeUp at Saujana after playing nines hole of the course, said he too was targeting a better showing.
“I wasn’t too well that week (last year) and I didn’t do well out on the course. This year of course I’ll be aiming for a better performance and just hope that everything comes together during tournament week.”
Probed on what he thought would be a decent showing, Kemarol said a top-10 showing would be “good”.
“The Maybank Championship is top-class event on the European Tour and Asian Tour, so many good players are in it from all over the world. So to finish up there, it would have to be considered very good,” he added.
Touching on the course itself, the 33-year-old added there was a marked improvement in the course conditions.
“The greens are certainly firmer and come with a true roll now,” he said, in reference to the recently revamped tract. “This will definitely make the tournament a lot more interesting and challenging at the same time.”
Sukree, meanwhile, said his preparations were going according to schedule and that he was happy with the state of his game.
“I still have a few areas of my game that I will work on before the Maybank Championship. But overall I am pleased with the way I’m playing ta the moment.
“I will also work a little extra on my putting which does need some help.
“I feel I’m striking the ball reasonably well but at times my putting lets me down and therefore I must put extra work on that,” added Sukree, who himself has several PGM Tour wins to his credit.
Shahriffudin, who successfully defended his 2017 PGM Order of Merit title, said his focus this season would be working towards qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and the Maybank Championship is part of that.
“As I have said before, I’ll be trying to get into the top-300 of the world rankings and be among the top-two Malaysians on that list, which will hopefully get me to qualify for the Olympics,” said the 19-year-old.
“And the Maybank Championship is part of the schedule which I’ll be playing to try and accomplish the goal of qualifying.”
Now the country’s premier golf event, the Maybank Championship will also have legends Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Thomas Bjorn and Miguel Angel Jimenez in attendance as well as defending champion Shubhankar Sharma of India, Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa and budding Thai star Poom Saksansin in the field.
There’s also an Asean category comprising Myanmar’s Ye Htet Aung, Indonesians Danny Masrin and George Gandranata, Singapore’s Johnson Poh and Angelo Que of the Philippines.
The Maybank Championship, with the tag line “Where the Best Meet” and is part of the European Tour’s season-long Race to Dubai, is expected to also have at least 15 players of the world’s top-150 in the field.
The star attractions will be drawn from among other nations Australia, China, India, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, Spain and Thailand.
This year I’ll be aim ming for a better performan nce and just hope that it comes together during g tournament week. Kemarol Baharin