Kota Kinabalu [SABAH]: Nachimuthu Ramasamy celebrated a special landmark in his career when he secured his tenth Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Tour title with a three-shot victory at the Sabah Championship on Saturday.

The seasoned campaigner put on a disciplined performance, extending his one-shot overnight advantage with a flawless three-under 69 to finish on 11-under 277 at the Sabah Golf & Country Club.

Order of Merit leader and local favourite Nicholas Fung shot a 71 to finish three shots behind in second with Ben Leong (68) and Sivachandhran Supramaniam (71) a further four shots adrift in joint third on four-under 284.

Nachimuthu, who clinched his first win of the season, expressed his delight in joining Fung in the elite club of double-digit Tour winners.

“It’s not easy to win on this Tour but I take great pride in achieving this landmark. I haven’t closed out as many tournaments in the last two seasons as I would have liked to but I’m happy to win again after almost eight months,” said the 46-year-old veteran, whose last win came at the 2015 season-ending Maybank Players’ Championship.

“I’ve been striking the ball well for some time now and my short game has not been that shabby too, but my putting has been nowhere near where it should be and I put in a bit of extra time on it. If you putt well, you finish well and that was what I did this week,” he noted.

Leading final results (Par-72)
277 – Nachimuthu Ramasamy 69-69-70-69
280 – Nicholas Fung 67-71-71-71
284 – Ben Leong 71-73-72-68, Sivachandhran Supramaniam 75-70-68-71
285 – Kemarol Baharin 72- 72-72-69, Sukree Othman 73-72-66-74
289 – Tan Chien Hau 76-71-68-74
290 – Lam Yu Shuen 75-72-76- 67
292 – Alex Tiong 75-76-68-73, Khor Kheng Hwai 74-71-73-74