KUALA LUMPUR: The Professional Golf Association of Malaysia (PGAM) will stage the Malaysian PGA Championship this week – ending its seven-year absence from the domestic professional calendar.
Offering a prize purse of RM230,000, the championship will be staged over four rounds at the challenging Lakes course of Kelab Rahman Putra Malaysia starting tomorrow.
Aside from the main event, a separate two-day competition will also be held concurrently for senior professionals aged 50 years and above.
The revival of the championship was one of the key developments promised by PGA of Malaysia president Tan Sri Dato’ Abdul Ghani Othman upon his election last year and he is delighted to deliver his pledge.
“The Malaysian PGA Championship is one of the most prestigious and storied golf championship in the country and we are pleased that it would make its much awaited return this November,” said Abdul Ghani.
“Past winners of this championship include the likes of Vijay Singh (1984), Kyi Hla Han (1983 & 1985), Daniel Chopra (1995), Lam Chih Bing (2000) as well as Malaysians Airil Rizman Zahari (2003), Md Rashid Ismail (2005) and Iain Steel (2006) and we hope that the new generation of Malaysian professionals will be eager to add their name to this illustrious list of champions.”
PGA of Malaysia general manager Faridil Atras confirmed that for a start, the championship will only feature domestic professionals this year with invites being extended to the country’s top amateurs.
“We have about 90 professionals in the main championship and about 40 seniors competing in their own division. Unfortunately, Danny Chia, Nicholas Fung and Arie Irawan will miss out as they will be competing in an Asian Tour event in Singapore but we still expect a top-order challenge for the trophy,” said Faridil.
The last edition in 2008 was won by Singaporean professional Murugiah Madasamy at the Serendah Golf Club.
The Malaysian PGA Championship is presented by Kelab Rahman Putra Malaysia, PinHigh, Malindo Air, Spritzer with The ClubHouse as the official media partner.
