KOTA KINABALU, 18 JULY 2024 – Nasrullah Zulkifli delivered a spectacular performance, securing his maiden victory on the Toyota Tour at the Sabah Golf & Country Club by birdieing the final hole for an even par 72 and leading wire-to-wire in the Hilux Cup event today.
Nasrullah completed the 54-hole tournament with a five-under 211, edging Ben Leong by a stroke. Alone in second place a further stroke adrift was Paul San while Daeng Rahman and Shahriffuddin Ariffin were at 214, three strokes behind the winner.
There was enough drama on the final hole, witnessed by an enthusiastic crowd. Had Nasrullah missed his putt and converted for a par, he would have gone into a two-man play- off with local favourite Leong. “I can’t believe I’ve just won, especially after missing two cuts this year,” said the 26-year-old, popularly known as Nas to his fellow professionals.
With this victory, Nasrullah has achieved a treble of sorts, having won the Sabah Amateur Open twice, in Kudat in 2022 and in Tawau last year. Now he’s added the Hilux Cup to his belt and he feels this is a sign for more things to come.
“I only turned pro late last year and missed two cuts,” said Nasrullah. “This year I missed two cuts as well and I began questioning myself if this was what I wanted to do. Now that I’ve won, I know I can compete with the big boys and I will take this is far as I can go.”
It was a tough day for Nasrullah who had to endure a double bogey 7 on the par 5 sixth hole when he pulled his shot way left and out of bounds. He explained his ball was in the rough and there was quite a bit of mud attached to it.
But Nasrullah steadied the ship and a birdie on the par 3 8th hole gave him the momentum he needed to stay patient and focus on getting the job done. He tried to reach the green in two at the last but didn’t hit a good shot. “I actually topped it,” he said admitted sheepishly. “Luckily it wasn’t far from the green and still on the fairway and I found a good lie to chip towards the cup.
“My putt from about eight feet was a real swinger, from left to right and a bit downhill, so I had to judge it just perfectly and thank God it dropped.”
In the Ladies Championship, Geraldine Wong also performed a wire-to-wire victory as she finished with a commendable two-over 74 for a 227 three-day aggregate, defeating Aretha Pan by seven strokes. Third was Durriyah Damian on 239.
The men’s Best Amateur honours went to Isaac To, who plays most of his golf at Saujana GCC in Petaling Jaya. He played par golf today for a three-day aggregate of 224, edging his nearest rival Maxwin Chew by one stroke.
Leong’s four-under 68 was the low round of the day, but it wasn’t quite enough.
Leading Final Round scores (Men)
211 Nasrullah Zulkifli 68-71-72
212 Ben Leong 72-72-68
213 Paul San 70-71-72
214 Shahriffuddin Ariffin 73-70-71, Daeng Rahman 73-67-74
215 Casper Loh 70-72-73, Fakhrul Akmal 70-70-75
217 Nicolas Fung 74-73-70, Amir Nazrin 68-74-75
Ladies
227 Geraldine Wong 77-76-74
234 Aretha Pan 82-76-76
239 Durriyah Damian 79-78-82