Kuala Lumpur: The hopes of the nation may well rest on the shoulders of amateur Gavin Kyle Green after he recovered quickly from a poor opener to ease his way into the weekend rounds of the Maybank Malaysian Open on Friday.
The 19-year-old University of New Mexico sophomore carded five birdies against a lone bogey at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club for an impressive second round 69; his three-under 141 total pushing him as the leading local in the Asian and European Tours co-sanctioned field.
Rusty after a two and half hour inclement weather delay, veteran S. Murthy dropped three shots in quick succession to lie two-under after eight holes while Danny Chia was staring precariously at the projected cut line of even-par or better, bogeying his opening hole before recovering with a birdie on the third to remain one-under with 12 holes to play.
Sukree Othman totalled one-over 145 on the back of rounds 73 and 72 while R. Nachimuthu slipped down the leaderboard with a run of four dropped shot in five holes before calling it a day on two-over.
Playing alongside 2011 Maybank Malaysian Open champion Matteo Manaserro and current Asian Tour Order of Merit leader Gaganjeet Bhullar, the big-hitting Green knocked in some long birdie putts to secure his first halfway cut at the prestigious national Open in only his third appearance.
“I played well in the second round. First round was a bit shaky (where he shot a 73). I got more comfortable with the golf course and didn’t do much mistakes compared to the first round. I just got to play my game again. If I can do that, I know I will be okay,” said Green.
“It was nice playing with Matteo and Gaganjeet. Their irons are really good, always attacking straight at the pin,” added the reigning Malaysian Amateur champion.
Green looks set to usurp the achievement by the last local amateur to feature in all four rounds at the Malaysian Open, S. Sivachandhran, who finished tied 72nd in 2003.
“I really want to break the top-20, that’s my goal right now,” declared the highly-talented Green, who finished tied-18 at the Iskandar Johor Open on Asian Tour last December.
Murthy lamented the slow greens as he failed to follow up on his overnight heroics. “I managed to stay in regulation on all the holes but I could not judge the pace of my putts correctly. I have 11 holes to recover tomorrow and look forward to coming back in the morning refreshed and ready to go,” said the two-time winner on the domestic Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Tour.
