Singapore: Singapore lifted the inaugural Prudential Causeway Trophy in emphatic fashion on Sunday after claiming a resounding 15½ – 8½ victory over a listless Malaysian side at Laguna National Golf & Country Club.
It was billed as a close contest between Malaysia’s individual depth against Singapore’s chemistry but the pundits were proven wrong as the host nation put together a near-perfect, all-round performance to romp to victory in seven of the twelve singles matches on the back of winning Friday’s foursomes (4-2) and yesterday’s fourball contest (3½ – 2½).
The visiting Malaysians came out optimistic of erasing their three-point overnight deficit but struggled once again to translate their early leads into points as the Lions, armed with an in-depth knowledge of the challenging World Classic layout, took advantage of the windy conditions to sail home with a convincing seven-point margin in Ryder Cup-styled tournament between two perennial rivals.
Sukree Othman got the Malaysians off to a superb start when he thrashed M.Murugiah 7 & 5 to reduce the gap. Despite going 1-up in the opening hole, Murugiah was no match for Sukree as the Malaysian won eight out of the next 12 holes to effectively end the contest with the Singapore PGA president.
Singapore however edged closer to victory when Mardan Mamat triumphed over Airil Rizman 4 & 3 to extend Singapore’s lead to nine in the third match. The 45-year-old repeated his heroics when he returned to the scene of his biggest career victory where he won the Singapore Masters in 2006 at the Laguna Golf and Country Club.
“I really enjoy coming back to Laguna National as I’ve lots of fond memories here. Today’s win for Singapore just adds to those memories. It was a good victory for Singapore and I’m glad I did my part in making the country proud,” said Mardan.
Danny Chia provided a brief reprieve for Malaysia by battling to halve his match with Koh Dengshan. Chia was 3-up with six holes to play but a spirited Koh dug deep to win four consecutive holes to go 1-up with two holes to play. Chia fought back gallantly with a crucial birdie on the last to salvage half point for Malaysia.
“I would say the golf course got us this week. The format was different from what we are used to playing but nevertheless I think on a personal level, I got to learn a lot about my golf after playing this course,” said Chia.
Evergreen Poh Eng Wah, who will be turning 50 in November this year, showed he could still match his younger rivals when he beat the reigning Malaysian domestic circuit champion Nicholas Fung 3&2.
“Golf is not an old man’s game. We can play for as long as we’re mentally and physically fit. I’m happy that I’ve managed to prove that this week,” said Poh.
Murthy Somasundaram and Nachimuthu Ramasamy secured two more points for Malaysia when they beat Vincent Phua and Lam Zhiqun 7 & 5 and 3 & 1 respectively.
Choo Tze Huang then made it 11 ½ for Singapore when he defeated S.Sivachandhran 3 & 2 and it was all over for Malaysia when Lam Chih Bing won his match 2 & 1 against Anis Helmi to give Singapore an unassailable lead.
“It’s an honour to clinch the winning point for Singapore and I couldn’t have asked for a better way of doing it,” said Lam.
Singapore’s non-playing captain Lip Ooi paid tribute to his players and hailed them as the best team for making Singapore proud. “This win is a proud moment for all of us in Singapore. We fought really hard out there and I want to thank my team for making this a day to remember. The Malaysian team put up a strong challenge but we showed that we can be up for it,” said Ooi.
