Three of the top-10 players on the Malaysian Golf Association’s 2019 Ladies Order of Merit will be vying for glory at this week’s Faldo Series Malaysia Championship, which tees off tomorrow at Impian Golf & Country Club.
Ashley Goh (tied fourth), Foong Ziyu (joint seventh) and Angel Hii (ninth) spearhead a strong line-up for the 54-hole World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) event. Joining the trio in the Girls’ category in the 17th and penultimate event of the 2019-20 Faldo Series Asia season is Grace Chan Jun-li, a fellow national team representative.
While Goh, for whom the highlight of last year was victory in the Singapore Junior Championship’s Girls’ Division, led her team-mates in the national rankings, she needs a winning performance this week to overhaul Hii, Foong and Chan in the WAGR. Currently ranked 1,550th, Goh trails Chan (1,514th), Foong (1,207th) and Hii (1,027th).
Among the boys, there are also four members of the national squad taking part, led by Marcus Lim Pang-chuen, who can expect to be pushed by Nor Heikal Nor Hadi, Rizq Adam Rohizam and Sheikh Abdul Razak.
More than 80 players have entered the 13th edition of the Faldo Series Malaysia Championship, which makes a welcome return to the schedule after a one-year absence.
Tournament founder Sir Nick Faldo said: “Malaysia has been a strong supporter of the Faldo Series Asia since we launched. As such, I’m delighted that the event is back on the domestic calendar and returning with an impressive field. I look forward to welcoming all age group winners to the 14th Faldo Series Asia Grand Final at Vietnam’s Laguna Lăng Cô.”
To be hosted by Sir Nick, the Grand Final was originally due to take place at the award-winning Faldo Design course from March 4-6. Last week, however, officials announced that a decision had been made to postpone the Grand Final due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
“The Faldo Series has announced the postponement of the 2020 Faldo Series Asia Grand Final. The decision to reschedule the event has been made as a result of a number of teams, players and media being affected by travel restrictions around the region,” said an official statement.
“This decision has been made to ensure all our finalists are able to participate in the 2020 Asia Grand Final. We are currently working on securing new dates for the tournament in November, which will be confirmed in the coming weeks. The host venue Laguna Lang Co is currently fully operational and has experienced minimal impact as a result of the travel restrictions around the region.”
The 2019-20 Faldo Series Asia season is supported by The R&A and endorsed by the Asian Tour and the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation. As well as a series of qualifiers in Thailand, the FSA schedule includes two events in China and championships in Australia, Bangladesh, Chinese-Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.
Recognised as the only global amateur series for boys and girls, the Faldo Series was established in 1996, expanding to Asia in 2006. Today, 40 Faldo Series tournaments take place in 30-plus countries worldwide, touching more than 7,000 golfers each year. Past champions include Tseng Ya-ni and Rory McIlroy, both multiple Major winners, while recent LPGA Tour winners include Thidapa Suwannapura (2010 Faldo Series Asia Grand Final Girls’ champion) and Nasa Hataoka (2016 Faldo Series Asia Grand Final Girls’ champion) who claimed her third LPGA Tour title last March.
