RAWANG, 16 May 2024 – Paul San compiled a solid four-under 68 final round for a three-day 208 aggregate and a three-stroke victory to lift the Vios Cup for his first win on the Toyota Tour at Templer Park Country Club here today. Amateur Ng Jing Xuen meanwhile defeated Aretha Pan by three strokes to win the Ladies Championship.
San led by one stroke overnight but there was never a real threat from Malcolm Ting, Afif Fathi and amateur Anson Yeo as he slowly pulled away with birdies on the 6th, 7th and 11th holes before a bogey on the dog-legged left par 4 13th paused his charge. But he replied with birdies on the 15th and 16th which assured him of a comfortable victory.
San remarked that his flight mates Yeo and Afif had their moments, but this merely made him focus more on his goal of wanting to put together another solid round of golf. He reckoned that his ball striking was his biggest asset this week.
“With tough greens here at Templer’s I didn’t want to stress myself on putting. This is a ball-striking layout as I had told my caddy John at the beginning of the week. I was hitting it so well, for sure, so I just had to stay patient,” added San.
“Winning on the Toyota Tour is a great confidence booster and validation that I’m on the right track once again. All the pain and suffering over the last 17 months has been worth it. Good reminder of why I fell in love with this game in the first place.
“Will celebrate with a dinner tonight with family and girlfriend and I’ll probably go fishing tomorrow in the middle of nowhere as I need to decompress and take it all in. Been a long month for me.”
Ting, who finished alone in second place, said there were a lot of positives that he could take from this tournament. Veteran Ben Leong, who was 17th overnight and seven strokes off the pace, shot a commendable seven-under 65 for the low round of the week which helped vault him up to joint third position with Amir Nazrin, Yeo and Afif.
Meanwhile Ladies Champion Ng, popularly known as JX on the Tour, praised her mother for caddying for her this week. “Yeah, it was the first time she’s caddied for me,” said Ng. “She did a really great job especially helping me to control my emotions and frustrations.
Ng reckoned her tee shots and approaches to the green were the main reasons for her success this week. She also putted better than the first two rounds. “I’m really excited with this win especially after all the hard work I’ve put in. I can’t wait to go out again and hope that this is really trending in the right direction,” she added.
The Toyota Tour, organised by the Professional Golf Malaysia and delivered by MST Golf, moves to East Malaysia where the next two rounds will be the Fortuna Cup in Sibu GCC (June 25-27) followed by the Hilux Cup at Sabah GCC (July 16-18).
Final Men’s scores
208 Paul San 72-68-68
211 Malcolm Ting 71-70-70
212 Ben Leong 71-76-65, Amir Nazrin 74-69-69, Anson Yeo (am) 70-71-71, Afif Fathi 71-70-71
215 Kemarol Baharin 68-74-73
216 Syahiran Syakir 73-75-68, Galven Green 74-72-70, Daeng Rahman 72-73-71
217 Nicholas Fung 73-73-71, Fakhrul Akmal 73-72-72, Ervin Chang 68-77-72, Danny Chia 72-72-73, Shahriffuddin Ariffin 69-74-74, S. Sasidaran 70-73-74
Ladies
213 Ng Jing Xuen (am) 74-72-67
216 Aretha Pan 74-73-69
218 Jocelyn Chee 74-73-71
219 Geraldine Wong 72-75-72
220 Tan Ying Ying (am) 73-74-83
223 Alya Afza Hazari (am) 75-76-82