The first round was dominated by Miguel Angel Jimenez. Miguel missed a four-foot birdie chance on his last hole. He then played nine holes of his second round and dropped back to seven-under-par for the tournament.
Jimenez said: "I played very solid all round. This morning I had a four foot putt for birdie but I missed that one. Overall, I'm satisfied with the way I played and obviously good to be leading at this stage."
Korea's Charlie Wi charged up the leaderboard with a 66 after completing his round that Friday morning.
Thailand’s Thammanoon Srirot led the second round of the Malaysian Open with a 65.The weather again caused the Maybank Malaysian Open to be abandoned out of play at 3.34 pm due to heavy lightning activity.Both the first and second round had experienced similar problems, causing a snowball effect that forced 84 players to compete their second rounds on Saturday morning. Following the cut to leading 65 players and ties at three-under, the third round teed off at 1.30 pm on a two-point start.
The final flight of halfway leader David Park of Wales, defending champion Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand and his compatriot Thammanoon Srirot teed off at 3.20 pm and only managed to finish one hole before the siren sounded.When play was stopped, Thammanoon had taken over the lead on 13-under, birdieing the par four 1st hole while Park dropped a stroke to fall into a tie with Thongchai on 12-under.Englishman Mark Foster was playing well until play was halted, raking up two birdies and an eagle in his first five holes to move to 11-under for the tournament. Also on 11-under was another Englishman, John Bickerton, who only finished one hole before the abandonment.
By late evening, with the lightning activity showing no signs of abating, it was decided to abandon play and reduce the tournament to 54 holes.
“It’s a long way to go, so it is quite hard to say as anything can happen,” said the 36-year-old Thammanoon, when asked what he thought about his chances. “I am very comfortable here and the course suits my game.”
But Thongchai will not be easy to beat as he will be aiming to make history by becoming the first player to win three Malaysian Opens in a row.
“I feel very good,” said the 36-year-old golfer from Lopburi, Asia’s number one in 2001 and 2004. “I’m used to this. Every year I come here and the conditions are like this, but no problem.”
Korea's Charlie Wi was among seven golfers tied for sixth on 10-under-par for the tournament while Thailand's Thaworn Wiratchant, last year's Asian number one, was a further stroke back after playing three holes of his third round. At this point it was still anybody's game.
The third and final round was resumed at 8.45 am this morning.
Charlie Wi resumed his third and final round at the 3rd hole this morning, three strokes off the pace set by Thailand’s Thammanoon Srirot. Thunderstorms and lighting over the first three days had forced the organisers to shorten the event to 54 holes.
Wi wasted no time in making up ground on the leaders, birdieing the 4th hole and making eagle on the par five 5th to sound his intentions. Six more birdies on the 7th, 9th, 10th, 13th, 16th and 18th holes with Srirot and second round leader David Park struggling in scorching weather on KLGCC’s West Course, it was left to defending champion Thongchai Jaidee to see if he could force a playoff. A birdie on 16 took the 36-year-old Thai to 18-under for the tournament and, with 17 and 18 both being birdieable holes, a playoff looked extremely likely.
But it was not to be as Thongchai came up just short in his quest to become the first player to win three successive Malaysian Opens. He missed birdie putts from inside 20 feet on the last two holes and had to settle for second best this time round. However, the former Thai Army paratrooper earned the consolation of becoming the first Asian Tour player to pass the US$2 million mark in career earnings with his US$138,880 runner’s-up cheque.
In the end, full credit must go to Wi for his incredible match-winning round, which included a superb wedge in to five feet at the last hole. He made the putt to the crowd’s noisy delight, setting the 19-under target for Thongchai to match.
“You know, God was looking out for me as I got a lot of good breaks today,” said Wi, whose victory takes his Asian Tour title tally to seven including the 1997 KL Open on the same course. “And then Thongchai misses that putt on the last hole, which really helped me win the championship. I feel fortunate, all the hard work is paying off.”
“This is probably the biggest win of my career so far,” he added. “All the experience I had coming down the stretch helped.”
Currently playing on the Nationwide Tour in the US, Wi will now enjoy more options as his victory earned him not only a US$208,330 paycheque but also a two-year exemption on the European Tour.
Unbelievable win for Korea’s Charlie Wie in beating Thongchai Jaidee by scoring a stunning nine-under 63 to win the Maybank Malaysian Open at the Kuala Lumpur G&CC by one stroke.
How lucky can you get!
DZ.
Recent Comments