Shahriffuddin swoops in to take lead after mixed day

PETALING JAYA: It was a day of mixed emotions for golfer Shahriffuddin “Dino” Ariffin (pic) as he surged up the leaderboard in the Selangor Masters.

Shahriffuddin wrapped up round three yesterday to finish as the joint leader with Thailand’s Denwit Boriboonsubat with each having a combined par of 205 at Seri Selangor Golf Club but not after going through some anxious moments.

He traded two bogeys with an eagle to make a swift recovery from being third in the second round to first with a five-under 66.

“I was struggling a little today during the game, even though I had a good start, I made some unnecessary mistakes,” he said.

“I had eagled in hole 13 but after that, my nerves got the better of me and I bogeyed in the following and last hole.”

Many top players have been struggling with the hole that Dino had bogeyed on.

“It’s tough to stop the ball where you want it to, easy to miss the place you are aiming and the green is quite bumpy so putting can be difficult,” said Shahriffuddin.

Shahriffuddin is currently ranked seventh in the Asian Development Tour (ADT) and if he wins, it will boost his ranking before he heads to the Saudi Open from Dec 8-10 at Riyadh Golf Club that offers prize money of US$200,000 (RM895,100).

Meanwhile, soon to be retired golfer Amir Nazrin Jailani had a poor performance when he dropped from first to sixth spot with a combined par of 210.

“I was struggling all the way today, but I believe that patience is the key,” said Amir, who had four bogeys and a double bogey.

“It was not the result I had expected.

“I need to work on my putting and I will try to improve.”