Asian Tour player Ervin Chang makes a timely return to the Toyota Tour when he tees it up at the Yaris Cup which begins at the Mines Resort Golf Club here tomorrow.
Chang, the 2023 Toyota Tour Order of Merit winner, obtained his Asian Tour card after finishing 10th on the Asian Development Tour late last year. This forced him to miss the last three Toyota Tour events – the Supra Cup, Harrier Cup and Alphard Cup.
“It definitely feels great to be home playing on the Toyota Tour,” said Chang after a practice round yesterday. “I’m excited for another round of great competition. The generation after me is performing great, which is awesome to see.”
Chang may be referring to Marcus Lim in particular. Last year at the Supra Cup held here at the Mines, Lim, then as an amateur defeated Chang in a play-off. Both had finished at -7 after the final round. Marcus, 22, turned professional in May and chalked up his maiden professional victory at the Alphard Cup in Penang last month.
Lim, along with Galven Green and Paul Sun, both of whom are double winners this year, will not be featuring at the Mines this week as they will be at an ADT event in Taiwan.
But the Yaris Cup will not be without big name players. Aside from Chang, veteran Danny Chia has entered, along with Asian Tour players Ben Leong, Nicholas Fung and Khor Kheng Hwai. Adding to the challenge are up-and-coming stars Daeng Rahman and Edven Ying who both finished 3rd and 4 th respectively in Stage One of the All-Thai Tour qualifying school last week. Also performing well were Malcolm Ting, Syahiran Syakir and Zia Izzuddeen. All five finished within the top 29 and will feature in the final stage in December.
Rookie pro Winnie Ng showing the kids how to make better putts
In the Ladies Championship, Zulaikah Nasser who underwent a spine procedure two weeks ago, will be the early favourite having won the last two events on the Toyota Tour. Other notable players in the field include Liyana Durisic, Winnie Ng, Geraldine Wong, Jocelyn Chee, Michelle Koh and Amalia Shahzan.
Geraldine is set to be crowned the 2024 Ladies’ Order of Merit winner as she has an unassailable lead, having accumulated RM53,500 from seven events. Her closest challenger would be 2023 OOM champion Aretha Pan who has collected RM28,500 and is not playing this week. Even if she did and won, the first prize is RM10,000.
Meanwhile 30 children had a great time during yesterday’s Toyota Tour Junior Clinic at the Mines practice facility. They were assisted by Casper Loh, Ryan Fernandez, Nasrullah Zulkifli, Zulaikah Nasser and Winnie Ng.
Casper Loh having a fun moment with the kids on the green
The enthusiastic children aged 6 to 16 went through the motions of chipping, putting and ball-striking on the range.
The Yaris Cup starts tomorrow at 7.30 with 83 men and 17 ladies.
