Veteran professional Danny Chia is looking towards playing more events on the Toyota Tour in a bid to improve on his 7th placing in the 2023 Order of Merit.
Chia, who turns 52 this year and is defending the Tun Ahmad Sarji Trophy starting tomorrow at Saujana Golf & Country Club, was also victorious in the Corolla Cup that took place at the Royal Perak Golf Club.
“My goals have never changed,” said Chia. “I’m just trying to keep healthy and fit and play as many tournaments as possible.” He is heading back to Japan next month for the final stage of the Japan Seniors qualifying school. “If the schedules are right, I will try to play more Toyota Tour events this year.”
Order of Merit winner Ervin Chang, who made the cut in his first Asian Tour event as a full tour card holder at the International Series Oman which ended yesterday, will be among the pre-tournament favourites at Saujana, alongside other 2023 winners Galven Green, Nicholas Fung, Daeng Rahman and Edven Ying. Chang finished joint 43rd in Oman which was played on the Greg Norman-designed Al Mouj links course.
Prior to leaving for Oman, Ervin declared that his goals for 2023 were to win an event on the Asian Tour and try and play as many tournaments on the Toyota Tour which is organised by the Professional Golf Malaysia with MST Golf as the Delivery Agency.
The dark horse of this week’s Tun Ahmad Sarji Trophy could be in the form of Khavish Varadan, the best Malaysian finisher in the recent Malaysian Open. Khavish ended up tied for 13th, after shooting a commendable 15-under. He is competing on a sponsor invite.
Meanwhile, Aretha Pan will be the one to beat in the challenge for the ladies’ year-long Order of Merit race. The Tun Ahmad Sarji Trophy ladies’ defending champion won three events and lost in two play-offs last year. She was a runaway winner in the OOM, chalking up an almost RM50,000 margin against her nearest contender Jocelyn Chee.
Pan has a full season ahead, having gained playing rights in the Taiwan, China and Thailand ladies’ tours. “My game plan hasn’t changed. I definitely want to try defend my OOM title in the Toyota Tour but at the same time I want to start winning international events.”
Charity pro-am
At the Tun Ahmad Sarji Trophy charity pro-am yesterday, the Media team comprising Aziz Hassan, Mahathir Mohamad Sidi, Imran Mohamad Nor and led by professional Nazri Zain took top honours when they scored 134. The amateurs won Taylor Made Spider putters while Nazri pocketed RM1,000.
Runner-up were the Yaztech Padu team of Mohd Azam, Feisal Ali, Datuk Mohd Afrizan and professional Rizal Amin. They scored 138 and won Taylor Made cart bags while Rizal took home RM750. Third were Team Saujana comprising Paudzai, IJ Lau and Nicholas Wong on 139. They each took home Taylor Made stand bags while professional Ryan Fernandez collected RM500.
Meanwhile, Professional Jonathan Wong scored a hole-in-one when he used an 8-iron at the 156-metre Par 3 sixth hole on the Bunga Raya course.
The charity pro-am raised RM20,000 and Ariff Tuah bin Tun Ahmad Sarji presented the cheque to Institut Pengajian Al-Quran represented by Dato’ Sulaiman bin Osman.
