We did it: Singaporeans Lam Chih Bing (left) and Mardan Mamat celebrating their qualification as one of the top three teams during the final round of the World Cup Asian Qualifying event at the Seri Selangor Golf Club in Petaling Jaya yesterday. — AFP
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia suffered a final day heartbreak when they again failed to make the cut for the Omega Mission Hills World Cup Finals after finishing joint fourth with the Philippines in the Asian qualifying tournament at the Seri Selangor Golf Club here yesterday.
They lost out on the third position by three strokes to South Korea, who will join the top two finishers New Zealand and Singapore in the Finals in China in November.
The Malaysians started the day in joint third spot with New Zealand but again faltered in the foursomes stroke play to end up with a four-day total of 278 after posting a three-over 74 in the final round yesterday.
Iain Streel and Shaaban Hussin could only manage two birdies on the fifth and 13th holes while bogeying the seventh, ninth, 10th, 16th and 18th holes.
Shaaban said they only had themselves to blame for making mistakes in the final round.
“We played well but we also made a few mistakes. It was the same in the second round when we played the foursomes as well,” he said.
“But we did our best and it was a good learning experience for me. This is my first time playing in this format and it’s quite difficult to adapt to it. Overall, it was a good experience and I learned a lot from Iain (Steel).”
For Steel, it’s five failures out of five, after four previous flops when he partnered Danny Chia.
Malaysia last qualified for the World Cup in 2001.
While Malaysia floundered, the Kiwis, on the same flight, prospered.
The Kiwis finished finished joint first with Singapore with a four-round total of 271. New Zealand were declared the winners after Singapore conceded the the playoff.
The New Zealand duo of Michael Hendry and Gareth Paddison also carded the lowest score of the day – a four under-67.
Singapore’s Lam Chih Bing and Mardan Mamat, who had led for the first three rounds, finished off with a one-over 72, to make their fifth appearance in the World Cup.
Chih Bing and Mardan, who had also partnered in the 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2009 World Cups, were delighted to represent their country again in the two-man team showpiece which will be staged from Nov 24-27.
“We came here aiming to finish in the top three ... and we did just that. It didn’t matter whether we finished first, second or third ... just as long as we qualified for the World Cup,” said Chih Bing.
“That’s why we conceded the play-off. It didn’t matter to us at this stage as we have met our target.”
South Korea, who were in fourth spot after the third round, benefited from a drop in form by the Indians, who began the day in second spot.
Kim Hyung-sung and Park Sung-joon admitted that they were lucky to have qualified for the World Cup Finals after finishing with a bogey on the last hole for a two-under 69 and a 275 total.
India needed to birdie the last hole to force a playoff but Gaganjeet Bhullar’s tee shot landed in thick rough and Lahiri struggled to chip the ball out to safety.
Link : http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2011/8/7/sports/9254169&sec=sports
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