
Petaling Jaya: Malaysia got their Omega Mission Hills World Cup Asian Qualfier back on track with a battling third round of 63 to take a share of third and final berth into the final round tomorrow.
Putting his home course knowledge to good use, a resurgent Shaaban Hussin contributed six birdies while his partner Iain Steel picked up two further birdies in a blemish free round at the Seri Selangor Golf Club to give themselves a fighting chance of guiding Malaysia to its first World Cup appearance in 10 years.
New Zealand’s Michael Hendry and Gareth Paddison, who returned with a 64 are level with the host on 204, two strokes ahead of the veteran Filipino team of Mars Pucay and Antonio Lascuna, who posted a solid 63 to surge up to tied fifth on the leader board with Koreans Kim Hyung-sung and Park Sung-joon (67) on 206.
Lam Chih Bing and Mardan Mamat of Singapore looked sure of a fifth World Cup appearance after shooting a five-under-par 66 to extend their total to 14-under-par 199.
The seasoned World Cuppers fired six birdies against one bogey in the fourball (better ball) format to open up a one shot lead over India’s rising stars Gaganjeet Bhullar and Anirban Lahiri, who shot two eagles in a flawless round of 64 for a 200 total.
The Malaysians will hope to do better in the challenging alternate shot final round tomorrow if they are to line-up along some of the world’s best players at the Mission Hills Haikou from November 24-27.
“It is nice to put a score on the board to put ourselves in contention. It could have been a lot better as we struggled in the last few holes. But we can’t complain and need to prepare for tomorrow. We need to get our combination correct in the last round. We need to combine better. We are hitting it okay and it will be good to improve on what we did on the second day,” said Shaaban.
Despite a five shots lead over the third placed teams, Lam and Mardan are not taking their lead for granted. “We still have a lot of work to do. There are a lot of good teams behind us. It is not in the bag yet but obviously we are in a good position and need to go out tomorrow and get the job done,” said Lam, who qualified for the World Cup with Mardan at Seri Selangor in 2006 and 2009.
Mardan believes their strong partnership and understanding will guide them to another appearance in the World Cup.“We need to get the job done and with one more day to go, we have to stay focused and rely on our good team combination which have worked well in the past,” said Mardan, a two-time Asian Tour winner.
Lahiri, aiming to qualify for his first World Cup with Bhullar, fired the team’s first eagle of the day on the par five fifth hole before Bhullar sank a second eagle on the 13th hole from six feet.
“We played solid. It was a good improvement for us in the last two days. We didn’t drop a shot which was good. I played very well on the front nine and Gaganjeet was unstoppable on the back. Overall, it was a great team effort,” said Lahiri winner of the Panasonic Open (India) on the Asian Tour earlier this year.
The story of the day belonged to Filipinos Pucay and Lascuna, who were one-over going into the penultimate round before recovering with a sizzling 63 highlighted by Lascuna’s chip-in on the fourth hole from 20 yards and 20 foot eagle putt on 13.
“My partner really got us going with his chip in and eagle. I made four birdies in the front nine so we both pulled our own weight. This is definitely a good bounce back for us. The foursomes will be interesting because it doesn’t matter how many strokes you are back,” said Pucay, who previously played in the 2008 and 2009 World Cups with Angelo Que.
Third round scores
199 – Singapore (Lam Chih-Bing, Mardan Mamat) 63-70-66
200 – India (Gaganjeet Bhullar, Anirban Lahiri) 67-69-64
204 – Malaysia (Iain Steel, Shaaban Hussin) 64-77-63, New Zealand (Michael Hendry, Gareth Paddison) 65-75-64
206 – Philippines (Mars Pucay, Antonio Lascuna) 70-73-63, Korea (Kim Hyung-Sung, Park Sung-Joon) 70-69-67 210 – Pakistan (Muhammad Munir, Mohd Shabbir IQBAL) 68-76-66, Sri Lanka (Anura Rohana, Mithun Perera ) 70-70-70
215 – Myanmar (Zaw Moe, Nay Bala Win Myint) 66-84-65
216 – Indonesia (Burhan Bora, Hardjito) 73-75-68, Chinese Taipei (Tseng Hua-yen, Lin Kuan Po) 68-79-69 220 – Hong Kong (Wong Woon-Man, William Fung) 73-78-69
222 – Vietnam (Michael Tran, Nguyen Thai Duong) 76-78-68, Ghana (Stephen Kwame Klah, Godwin Sai 77-76-69 226 – Senegal (Gueye Diadji, Niang Samba) 74-83-69
236 – Brunei (Pengiran Hassanal, Moksin Jinaidi) 78-83-75