Umar Khushairi topped the field with a 54-hole total of eight-under-par 208
24 players qualified for the 2023 Toyota Tour from the Qualifying School Leg 1 held at Kelab Golf Perkhidmatan Awam (KGPA) in Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur.
Players who finished with total scores of 15-over-par or lower over 54 holes earned their tour cards for the 2023 Toyota Tour season. The qualifiers were made up of 15 professionals and nine amateurs, and included two ladies – professional Jocelyn Chee and amateur Geraldine Wong.
Heading the list of qualifiers was promising amateur Umar Khushairi, who carded rounds of 69, 67 and for a total of eight-under-par 208. The 23-year-old topped the leaderboard by four shots from fellow Universiti Utara Malaysia student Ikhmal Basry (71-69-72). Professional Brandon Lau was third on even-par 216 (72-73-71).
“I feel so grateful and blessed to be able to compete in this Q-School and win. I’m still recovering from a knee injury and my expectations were actually very low going into this week” said Umar.
“I’m going to turn professional soon and am excited to play on the Toyota Tour. Let’s see how it goes and I just want to enjoy my new golf journey,” added the young talent.
The three-day qualifier was played at KGPA’s championship combination of the Hill and Lake nines and was open to Malaysian professional golfers and Malaysian amateur golfers with handicap indices of 7.0 and below, across both genders.
66 professionals and elite amateurs had started the qualifier at the challenging KGPA championship combination of the Lake and Hill nines. The field consisted of 60 male players of whom 23 were professionals, while two of the six lady participants were professionals. There were two cuts at 25-over-par for Round 1 and 20-over-par for Round 2, leaving 49 players to contest the decisive final round.
(L to R) Mohd Razali Mat Yusoff (Golf & Sports Manager, Kelab Golf Perkhidmatan Awam), Azemi Jusoh (Q-School Tournament Director), champion Umar Khushairi, Nik Mustapha Nik Mohamed (General Manager, Professional Golf of Malaysia) and Nicky Lim (General Manager, Marketing, UMW Toyota Motor)
The first main event of the 2023 Toyota Tour season is the RM230,000 Tun Ahmad Sarji Trophy, which will be played at Saujana Golf & Country Club on March 8-11. This will be followed by eight more closed tournaments including stops in Sarawak and Sabah.
The season will culminate in the RM350,000 Toyota Championship at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club on November 14-17, which will be a co-sanctioned event with the Asian Development Tour (ADT).
Qualifiers
208 (-8) – UMAR KHUSHAIRI (A) 69-67-72
212 (-4) – IKHMAL BASRY (A) 71-69-72
216 (E) – BRANDON LAU 72-73-71
217 (+1) – LEE CHONG LI 76-70-71
217 (+1) – ZUL HELMI RAMLE 75-67-75
220 (+4) – CASPER LOH (A) 76-72-72
222 (+6) – AZMI HASHIM 79-72-71
222 (+6) – AZRY ASYRAF 76-72-74
222 (+6) – ROZAINI ROSLI 71-76-75
222 (+6) – ADAM SHAFIQ 75-70-77
225 (+9) – JOCELYN CHEE (L) 75-73-77
225 (+9) – YUSOF AFANDY 73-75-77
225 (+9) – LOH JUNYOU 72-75-78
225 (+9) – RYAN FERNANDEZ (A) 73-73-79
227 (+11) – AIDEN SHAHARUDDIN (A) 77-78-72
227 (+11) – LAM YU SHUEN 76-79-72
227 (+11) – GERALDINE WONG (L)(A) 72-78-77
228 (+12) – LIM CHAN YEW (A) 80-75-73
230 (+14) – THAZNIM HAMDAN (A) 80-75-75
230 (+14) – JUSTIN CHIN 76-78-76
230 (+14) – MUKHTAR ALWI 77-77-76
231 (+15) – T. KIISHAAN 72-81-78
231 (+15) – ANIS HASSAN 76-77-78
231 (+15) – HAZIQ AEMAN (A) 76-77-78
