Kuching: Nicholas Fung Chee Yung looked set to claim his second straight title on the Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Tour after opening up steady four-shot lead over the chasing pack at the PGM Sarawak Classic today.
The PGM Sabah Classic winner carded a flawless third round of five-under 67 today at Kelab Golf Sarawak for a 13-under-par 203 total to lead PGM Penang Classic winner R. Nachimuthu, who remained second with a score of 69.
Six strokes adrift in third was Md Rashid Ismail – the PGM Johor Classic champion making the round on 70 for a three-day total of 209. The 38-year-old could have narrowed the gap further but found trouble at the 18th when he twice played into the bunkers and closed his round with a double-bogey. M. Sasidaran (70) was fourth on 210 while PGM Kelantan Classic winner Kemarol Baharin made progress with a three-under 69 today to improve to two-under 214.
After a cautious start to his round, Fung strung up birdies at sixth, seventh and ninth to make the turn on 33 before adding two consecutive ones from the 12th onwards to steer homeward safely with the title within his grasp. Always the perfectionist, the 21-year-old Kota Kinabalu native was still unhappy with his putting despite his bogey-less round.
“Every department of my game turned out well but I think I missed about five makeable birdies. I am also happy my long game has recovered. Yesterday a lot of my tee-shots refused to land on the fairways but today, I managed to put the ball in all the places that I wanted to,” he said.
Part of Fung’s success was due to his better handling of the difficult par-4 16th where a lot of players made bogeys and double bogeys. Fung has managed par, birdie and par over the last three rounds. “Today everything worked perfectly and I will stick to my normal game tomorrow and hope for the best,” added the sophomore pro, who will enter the record books as the first back-to-back winner on the burgeoning tour if he wins the RM250,000 tournament tomorrow.
Leading final round scores
203 Nicholas Fung 69-67-67
207 R. Nachimuthu 68-70-69
209 Md Rashid Ismail 70-69-70
210 M. Sasidaran 69-71-70
214 Kemarol Baharin 73-72-69
215 Khor Kheng Hwai 75-70-70
216 Akhmal Tarmizee 70-73-73
217 Sukree Othman 74-73-70
219 Solhairy Sharif 74-75-70, Airil Rizman 73-73-73, S. Murthy 67-78-74
