Sungai Petani [KEDAH]: Shaaban Hussin wrapped up his first win in nearly two years at the Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Sime Darby Harvard Championship on Saturday.
The 36-year-old preserved his two-shot overnight advantage to make sure of the RM30,600 first prize cheque and the trophy with a closing two-under 70 at Harvard Golf & Country Club.
Now one of the senior players on the flourishing domestic circuit, Shaaban went wire-to-wire to finish with a 14-under 274 overall in the RM180,000 tournament.
Teenager Low Khai Jei and Iylia Jamil finished tied for second with Khai Jei firing a five-under 67 to climb to 12-under, while Iylia returned with a 70 of his own.
Khor Kheng Hwai was fourth on 11-under 277 after a final round 68 with Sivachandhran Supramaniam a further stroke back in fifth with a four-under effort of his own.
Leading final results (Par-72)
274 – Shaaban Hussin 66-69-69-70
276 – Low Khai Jei 69-68-72-67, Iylia Jamil 74-65-67-70
277 – Khor Kheng Hwai 68-71-70-68
278 – S. Sivachandhran 67-75-68-68
279 – Airil Rizman Zahari 71-69-70-69
281 – Brandon Lau 70-66-74-71, Sukree Othman 69-67-72-73, Kenneth De Silva 71-70-66-74
282 – Shahriffuddin Ariffin 71-68-75-68
283 – Nachimuthu Ramasamy 70-69-71-73, Mohd Rizal Amin 71-69-70-73, Kenneth Tobuse 71-70-69-73
Delighted with his consistent showing, Shaaban was pleased to claim his fourth PGM Tour crown in convincing fashion.
“I have come close and played well since Orna 2014, but was not able to close out any of those events. Here, I started well (with a 66) and kept up the consistency (with rounds of 69-69-70), which made the difference. I am very happy to have won again.”
Nineteen-year-old Khai Jei, who only turned pro last month and already has a win on the Tour as an amateur, was unable to narrow gap despite setting a blistering pace.
“I played well today. And it might have been closer if I had done better on the last hole. I messed up my second shot there and ended up with a par. A birdie was what I was looking for.”
“Anyway, I’m still happy with how I started (69-68) and finished today. The third round yesterday (72) let me down. But I will carry on working at trying to improve,” added the Taiping lad.
Iylia, too, said he was pleased with his week’s work at Harvard. “Overall it was good because I came into some form only recently and here I gave myself a shot at the title. It came up short but I can take positives from it and try to build on it,” he added.
