Seven Malaysians made the halfway cut in the Bandar Malaysia Open at Kota Permai Golf & Country Club, including 14-year-old amateur Timothy Lo Tien Ming.
Following the completion of the second round this morning with the cut set at one-under-par, the Malaysian players who progressed to the third round were Lo (-2) along with professionals Danny Chia (-4), Ben Leong (-4), Amir Nazrin (-3), Shahrifuddin Ariffin (-3), Jeremiah Kim Leunkwang (-2) and Nicholas Fung (-1).
Lo, who is based in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, but travels regularly to Melbourne, Australia, to train under renowned coach Kel Llewellyn, noted that he was really excited at making the cut. “This is my second professional event. I played in last year’s Sabah Masters but missed the cut. Now I have a lot more experience and I made the cut, which was my goal,” he said.
“I played Kota Permai two years ago when I was 12 and the course is a lot different now, especially the greens which are much faster,” added Lo, who aims to get into double digits under-par at the end of the tournament.
Lo is the second youngest Malaysian to make the cut in an Asian Tour event at age 14 years and 308 days, just three days older than compatriot Gavin Green at the 2008 Iskandar Johor Open.
The third round commences at 12.15pm today with the last group teeing off at 2.15pm. Australian Andrew Dodt leads with a 36-hole total of 13-under-par, one shot ahead of China’s Liu Yanwei.
Timothy Lo (L) with his father Joseph
47 Malaysians made up of 37 professionals and 10 amateurs started in the US$1 million event, which marks the 55th staging of the Malaysian Open after a four-year lapse.
The flagship event of the Malaysian Golf Association is sanctioned by the Asian Tour in partnership with the Japan Golf Tour.
