Young hotshots Paul San and Ervin Chang take on Malaysia’s No 1 professional Gavin Green in what looms to be a highly entertaining and exciting final round of the Corolla Cup at the Palm Garden Golf Club here.
Paul and Gavin are joint leaders at 11-under 133 after both shot 7-under 65 and 6-under 66 respectively in yesterday’s second round. Paul chalked up a flawless round of seven birdies with no bogeys while Gavin’s only blemish was a bogey 4 on the par three 14th.
Ervin is at 9-under 135 after a two-under 70. Overnight leader Khor Kheng Hwai had two bogeys and two birdies to show on his card and is a further stroke back. Trailing him are Kenneth De Silva and Nicholas Fung on 7-under 137s in joint fifth.
Despite an even par round of 72, Aretha Pan climbed to the top of the Ladies’ challenge when overnight leader Liyana Durisic succumbed to a three-over 75 score which included a run of four bogeys from the 11th to the 14th hole.
Aretha who is at two-under 142, now leads by one stroke from Liyana. Lying third is Dianne Luke two strokes further adrift.
The Corolla Cross Cup is the seventh leg of the Toyota Tour presented by UMW Toyota Motor, managed by the Professional Golf Malaysia and delivered by MST Golf Group Berhad. The men’s purse is RM180,000 with the winner receiving RM31,500. The ladies’ champion will receive RM10,000 from a pool of RM30,000.
Gavin was quite happy with his game although he felt he could have carded a lower score. “I left some putts out there,” said the 29-year-old who will return to Europe after this for the second half of the DP World Tour season. “Still, it is always nice to be leading the field going into the final round.”
Gavin has been putting some work into his overall game and felt he was getting closer to where he wants to be. “I definitely feel I belong in the DP World Tour and I know I have the game to win. It’s just that you need your A-game when you’re contending. The standard of
the DP World Tour is tremendously high. A three-putt here or a missed two-footer will spoil your chances. I just have to stay patient, and victory will come.”
This will be the second time in two weeks that Paul will be in the same group with Gavin as they were in the same flight in the final round of the Supra Cup at the Mines RGC.
Paul, who, like Ervin has proven to be one of the rising stars of the Toyota Tour, was looking forward to competing against Gavin. “It’s going to be fun. My overall game today was solid. I’ll definitely stick to my game plan and try and put myself in positions for birdies.”
Ervin, Gavin and Paul will tee-off at 9am tomorrow from the first teebox. Ahead of them are Khor, De Silva and Nicholas.
Leading scores (Men)
133 Paul San (68-65), Gavin Green (67-66)
135 Ervin Chang (65-70)
136 Khor Kheng Hwai (64-72)
137 Kenneth De Silva (70-67), Nicholas Fung (69-68)
138 Jaydon Pang (67-71)
139 Kemarol Baharin (69-70)
140 Marcus Lim (am, 73-67)
Ladies
141 Aretha Pan (69-72)
142 Liyana Durisic (am, 67-75)
144 Dianne Luke (73-71)
147 Pang Hee Jie (am, 71-76)
152 Geraldine Wong (76-76), Allycia Gan (am, 74-78)
