Kuala Lumpur: Md Rashid Ismail boldly declared “beware the injured golfer” after winning the SapuraKencana National Qualifier on Wednesday to earn his maiden appearance at the lucrative CIMB Classic.
The 40-year-old posted a hard-fought two-under 70 at the wind-swept Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club to hold off a determined challenge by Shaaban Hussin (71), who was chasing a fourth appearance at the CIMB Classic, by a single stroke.
Highly rated Rizal Amin carded a 70 to finish third on 218, four shots from the winner, while overnight leader Iain Steel was a further shot back following a disappointing 76.
The second local spot at the CIMB Classic will go to the highest ranked Malaysian on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) on October 6. Nicholas Fung, who settled for tied ninth in the qualifier, is currently ranked 509th in the world followed by Steel in 521st position.
Rashid’s season has been curtailed by a swollen tendon below his right hip and he was surprised to win the qualifier with an improvised swing which minimised the pain.
“This was unexpected. I tried to play and enjoy the tournament. I had to make changes to my swing because of the injury and I was lucky to play well. I had good luck since the start of the week and I had a good feeling that I would win today,” said Rashid, who totalled two-under 214.
“I just concentrated on my game. I played very simple golf and I’m lucky that I won it,” added the Malaysian, who won RM22,000.
Rashid, who won two local titles in 2011, hopes to recover from the injury before the US$7 million CIMB Classic, which is sanctioned by the Asian Tour and PGA Tour from October 24 to 27.
“I’m worried that I won’t recover from this injury. I’ll be going for a lot of physiotherapy. I want to play in the CIMB Classic so I want to keep myself healthy. To be honest, I wanted to rest this season and try to recover from the injury. Hopefully I can recover before October,” he explained.
Shaaban birdied the last hole for a 71 but it was not enough to pip Rashid to the title when the latter hit a sublime bunker shot to set-up an easy tap-in par for victory on the 18th hole.
“I’m not really disappointed because Rashid played well. I had my chance to play in three CIMB Classics so I’m happy someone else gets this opportunity,” said Shaaban.
The lanky Shaaban reckons he still has a fighting chance to qualify for the CIMB Classic through the OWGR if he wins the next two Asian Development Tour (ADT) co-sanctioned events in Sabah and Sarawak. All ADT events afford valuable world ranking points.
“To be honest, we have two more ADT events before the OWGR cut-off date so I still have a 10% chance of qualifying. I need to win those two events. It won’t be easy but I will try,” said Shaaban, who is ranked 851st in the world.
Leading final round scores
214 – Md Rashid Ismail 73-71-70
215 – Shaaban Hussin 74-70-71
218 – Mohd Rizal Amin 75-73-70
219 – Iain Steel 75-68-76
220 – R. Nachimuthu 73-72-75
221 – Lim Eng Seng 74-71-76
222 – Iylia Jamil 77-74-71, Airil Rizman Zahari 77-74-71
223 – M. Sasidaran 75-77-71, Azman Basharudin 78-72-73, Nicholas Fung 74-72-77
