Moore rides wife’s luck to Impian title

Kajang, Selangor; May 7: With his wife Claire on his bag this week, in-form rookie Jonathan Moore of American shot a superb final round of five-under 67 to win the inaugural Professional Golf of Malaysia – Asian Development Tour- Chemical Corporation of Malaysia Impian Classic.

The former US Walker Cup team member, featuring in his first season in Asia, saw off the challenge of Filipino Artemio Murakami by three strokes at the Impian Golf & Country Club to win the RM200,000 Asian Development Tour event with a total of 22-under-par 266.

Chan Tse-peng enjoyed another payday on Malaysian soil, adding a third place here to his fourth place finish at the Clearwater Classic last week while Will Yanagisawa of the United States of America was fourth on 17-under 271. Third round co-leader Himmat Rai stumbled down the leaderboard after an error-strewn round of three-over 75 to finish tied fifth alongside Korea’s T.J. Kim (67) and local challenger Ben Leong (68).

Moore drained six birdies, including three consecutive ones from the 13th to claim a pay purse of RM35,000 (US$11,665) after Murakami, who had led by three shots at the turn, agonisingly drove out of bounds on the 10th hole for a double bogey.

“I have won some smaller professional events on lesser tours back home but this is the biggest yet. It’s extra special as this is the first time that my wife is caddying for me on Tour and we had such a great time out there, so I guess I rode her luck to the title,” said the 26-year-old, who finished third behind fellow countryman Bery Henson at Clearwater Sanctuary Golf Resort last week.

Leong was the best-placed Malaysian, closing with a round of  four-under 68, in what he terms as a confident-boosting week. “Overall, I am really satisfied with my shots this week and drained my fair share of putts. I’m pleased with the way I handled myself, stayed really patient in the hot conditions and tried to enjoy the game without getting unduely agitated when things were not going that well,” said the 25-year-old Sabahan.

A minute silence was also observed at the start of the prize-giving presentation in remembrance of the late European legend Severiano Ballesteros, who succumbed to terminal cancer on Saturday.

PGM-ADT-CCM Impian Classic [top ten and ties]

266 Jonathan Moore (USA) (68-66-65-67)

269 Artemio Murakami (PHI) (65-67-68-69)

270 Chang Tse-peng (TPE) (66-74-64-66)

271 Will Yanagisawa (USA) (67-67-69-68)

274 TJ Kim (KOR) (73-66-68-67), Ben Leong (MAS) (69-72-65-68), Himmat Rai (64-68-67-75)

277 Danny Chia (69-69-72-67)

279 Hanafiah Jamil (68-71-73-67), M. Sasidaran (66-75-70-68), Hsu Chia-Jen (TPE) (69-71-69-70)