Sports

Sunday February 19, 2006

Weather havoc forces organisers to shorten tourney to 54 holes

BY LIM TEIK HUAT

KUALA LUMPUR: For the first time ever since its inception in 1962, the Malaysian Open golf championship will be decided over 54 holes.

The organisers were forced to shorten the tournament at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club due to bad weather.

Lightning caused play to be suspended for the third day running at 3.35pm yesterday. None of the 72 players managed to finish the first nine holes of the third round.

Thailand's Thammanoon Srirot birdied the first hole of the third round to move to 13-under while second round leader David Park of Wales dropped a shot to fall back into a share of second place with Thai Thongchai Jaidee when play was called off.

GET IN: Thailand’s Thammanoon Srirot gestures after scoring a birdie on the first hole of the third round yesterday. – APpic
Park had mixed feelings after enduring an abrupt end to his third round outing.

“It's nice to know that we'll go home on Sunday and that's a bonus.

“It's a shame as I would have liked to play four rounds ... just one of those things,” said Park, chasing his second win on the European Tour.

Thammanoon planned to play it safe today.

“But if I can make birdies, I will go for it. I'm very comfortable here and I'm putting really well this week. I'm not putting pressure on myself and I'm taking it easy,” said the 36-year-old.

A total of 84 players returned to the course early yesterday to complete the second round after a storm had suspended play on Friday.

Thailand's Thaworn Wiratchant, the Asian Tour's number one player last year, completed his second round with a 71 for an eight-under 136. He was at nine-under after three holes of the third round, four shots off the lead.

Padraig Harrington of Ireland added a second straight 69 for a total score of six-under 138.

Italian youngster Molinari, who finished tied for sixth in the Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth last week, was among the biggest movers after shooting a five-under 67 in the second round yesterday.

The 24-year-old moved within striking distance of the leaders with an impressive six birdies against a lone bogey.

A total of 72 players survived the halfway cut at three-under 141, the second lowest halfway cut in Asian Tour history.

Three Malaysians – Danny Chia, Shaaban Hussein and Airil Rizman Zahari – advanced to the final round.

Among the golfers who missed out were Zhang Lian-wei of China, Singapore's Mardan Mamat and Malaysian Iain Steel, who finished at 142.

Malaysian amateur Ben Leong also fared well yesterday, shooting a four-under 68. Although he missed the cut by two shots, Ben managed to finish high than seven Malaysian professionals.

LEADING SECOND ROUND RESULTS

(Play suspended due to rain, third and final round will resume today at 8.45am)

131: David Park (Wal) 67-64;

132: Thammanoon Srirot (Tha) 67-65, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 69-63;

133: Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 70-63; Francesco Molinari (Ita) 66-67;

134: Charlie Wi (Kor) 66-68, John Bickerton (Eng) 66-68, Gary Murphy (Irl) 66-68;

135: Keith Horne (Eng) 68-67; Garry Houston (Wal) 66-69, Gary Simpson (Aus) 67-68;

136: Chinarat Phadungsil (Tha) 70-66; Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 65-71, Tom Whitehouse (Eng) 69-67, Stephen Dodd (Wal) 67-69, Fredrik Widmark (Swe) 67-69;

137: Paul Dwyer (Eng) 71-66, Danny Chia (Mas) 70-67, Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 68-69, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 72-65, Mark Foster (Eng) 71-66, Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 69-68, Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 70-67, Unho Park (Aus) 72-65;

138: Sam Little (Eng) 70-68, Steven O'Hara (Sco) 72-66, Shaaban Hussein (Mas) 71-67, David Higgins (Irl) 70-68, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 68-70, Graeme Storm (Eng) 70-68, Adam Le Vesconte (Aus) 66-72, Simon Dyson (Eng) 68-70, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 69-69, Frankie Minoza (Phi) 69-69, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 69-69, Airil Rizman Zahari (Mas) 74-64, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 72-66, Richard Finch (Eng) 66-72, Prom Meesawat (Tha) 68-70, Lin Keng-chi (Tpe) 69-69, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 69-69, Philip Archer (Eng) 72-66;

139: Alexandre Rocha (Bra) 70-69, Andrew Butterfield (Eng) 69-70, Simon Wakefield (Eng) 70-69, Scott Strange (Aus) 72-67, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 71-68, Marco Ruiz (Par) 71-68, Anthony Kang (Usa) 69-70, Lu Wen-teh (Tpe) 68-71, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 72-67, Wang Ter-chang (Tpe) 73-66, Yeh Wei-tze (Tpe) 69-70, Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 68-71;

140: Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 68-72, Leif Westerberg (Swe) 69-71, Johan Edfors (Swe) 70-70, Amandeep Johl (Ind) 71-69, Robert-Jan Derksen (Hol) 68-72, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 72-68, Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 72-68, Mahal Pearce (Nzl) 70-70, Ross Fisher (Eng) 69-71, Gerry Norquist (Usa) 68-72;

141: Benn Barham (Eng) 73-68, Ted Oh (Kor) 72-69, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 64-77, Marcel Siem (Ger) 71-70, Adam Blyth (Aus) 69-72, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 70-71, David Carter (Eng) 70-71, Marc Warren (Sco) 70-71.

Selected Malaysians who missed the cut:

142: Iain Steel 73-69;

143: Ben Leong (amateur) 75-68;

144: S. Murthy 72-72;

146: M. Sasidaran 70-76;

147: Rashid Ismail 75-72;

149: Steven Tan 76-73, Shafubari Muda 78-71, R. Nachimuthu 77-72;

152: Mohd Zurie Harun 73-79.

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