Georgetown [PENANG]: A brilliant closing 66 saw Khor Kheng Hwai earn his long-overdue Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Tour title at the Penang Championship on Saturday.
Khor drained seven birdies with his only blemish of the round coming courtesy of a nervous bogey at the last to post a winning total of 13-under 275 at the RM180,000 tournament, co-sanctioned with the ASEAN PGA Tour.
Overnight joint leaders R. Nachimuthu and Ilyia Jamil could not live with the pace, returning with matching 72s to finish in a tie for third place with Mohd Amli Mohd Mohiyedeen (68).
With the leaders faltering and Fung having given himself a lot to do after his 74 on Friday, Khor did not break a sweat as he zeroed in on the first prize of RM30,600 with the luxury of a bogey on the finishing hole.
“I’m just relieved beyond words to finally cross the line. You just lose count on the number of times that I’ve played second fiddle on Tour over the last two years and to finally pull it off, it’s an amazing feeling,” he shared.
Three strokes behind going into the final round, Khor made up ground with birdies on the fifth, seventh and eighth. He continued on the birdie trail after the turn, picking up four further shots including a monstrous 40-foot birdie on the 14th.
“I got off to a slow start but my putter was on cue today. I just told myself to keep going and almost everything I went for, went in. I was six strokes back at the halfway stage of the tournament but I put my mind firmly down to golf and my putting responded positively.
“After my birdie at the 15th, the scorer told me I had a two-shot cushion and it dawned on me that this was as good as a chance I had to win. There was going to be no more heartbreaks and just for once, I didn’t mind a bogey at the last,” joked Khor, who hopes to build on this success.
Leading final results (Par-72) >
Malaysian unless stated
275 – Khor Kheng Hwai 71-71-67-66
276 – Nicholas Fung 70-67-74-65
278 – Mohd Amli Mohd Mohiyedeen 71-68-71-68, Iylia Jamil 67-69-70-72, Nachimuthu Ramasamy 68-71-67-72
279 – Mohd Sukree Othman 70-69-74-66
280 – Sasidaran Muthiah 66-73-72-69
281 – Airil Rizman Zahari 75-71-67-68
282 – Nattawat Suvajanakorn (THA) 71-69-73-69
284 – Kenneth De Silva 68-71-71-74
