Excitement on and off the greens

30/04/1998

AT THE US$300,000 Benson and Hedges Malaysian Open on February 19-22 there
was excitement on and off the greens.
Las Vegas-based Edward Fryatt denied fellow Englishman Lee Westwood his
second straight Benson and Hedges Malaysian Open title with a second extra
hole sudden death playoff victory at the Saujana Golf and Country Club.
Lurking in the shadows with scores of 70, 69 and 70 after three rounds,
Fryatt turned the tide when he fired an eagle on the par-four 17th to
finish the final round on three-under 69 to tie Westwood, who also
finished with a 69, at 10-under 278.
His drive at the 360-yard hole was wind-assisted, and Fryatt made the
putt for an eagle two. In sudden-death play, both Fryatt and Westwood
parred the par-four 10th but at the par-five 18th, Westwood gambled and
used a driver for his second shot.
His ball ended up in a palm tree and he only reached the green in five.
Westwood was penalised with a lost ball and had to go back 250 yards. He
then missed the putt and immediately conceded the hole and title to
Fryatt, who was safely on in three.
"For a player like Westwood to get the ball stuck up a tree is a fluke.
You would be talking to him now if he had pulled off the second shot with
a driver," said Fryatt.
But the win was no fluke as the modest Fryatt later underlined his
position as one of the world"s leading twentysomething golfers with an
accomplished victory in the US$400,000 Volvo China Open at Sunisland
International Club in Shanghai on April 20.
Fryatt fired a six-under 66 to win by two strokes on 19-under 269 from
Japan"s Takeshi Ohyama, who also carded a final round 66.
Fryatt pocketed US$72,000 while Ohyama received US$44,520.
But the 20-odd Malaysians who took part in the Malaysian Open decided
that 36 years was still not a long enough wait for a local to win the
tournament. Only three locals made the 147 halfway cutoff mark while 20
others fell by the wayside this year.
The Malaysian Open, which teed-off for the first time in 1962, has seen
American, European, Japanese and Taiwanese pros, many of them virtual
unknowns, make the roll of honour. The wait for a Malaysian winner still
continues.
While Malaysians fared badly on the greens, their organisational skills
are praiseworthy.
When Kelab Golf Negara Subang could not host the tournament, Saujana
Golf and Country Club took over at the 11th hour and their workers had to
work like ants to get the venue ready in two days" time.
Workers, who had just two days to cramp six months work, earnestly got
down to business to welcome about 180 golfers. And they did a splendid
job.
There were many, many things to do but since Saujana was still fresh
from hosting the Open last year, they knew exactly what do do and there
were no complaints of severe short-comings.
Only the two-day pro-am was quite chaotic with last-minute cancellations
and withdrawals. Nonetheless, the organisers saw it through and there were
no complaints from the pros either. They did not get to play on the
championship course - the Palm Course - as the pro-am was held on the
adjacent Bunga Raya Course.
When everything humanly possible was done to make the championship a
success, rain twice disrupted play in the first round, forcing four
flights to be postponed to the next day. But South Korea"s Choi Sang Ho
found the situation ideal and, to the suprise of all, missed the course
record held by Westwood by only a stroke when he posted an impressive
seven-under 65 for the lead.
The 43-year-old Korean sank eight birdies, seven on the front nine and
one on the return trip, to hog the limelight for a brief period.
During the second day of tournament, J. Pragas stopped play briefly.
Six players from Europe and Flagship Marketing decided to donate
RM15,000 to help save his leg after they read his plight in the New
Straits Times.
Pragas, whose parents Muthammah and T. Jayaram are rubber tappers at the
Ladang Bukit Pilah in Rompin, Johor, needed the money to undergo an
operation to save his leg from being amputated.
European Tour players Westwood, Darren Clarke, David Howell, Paul
McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Stuart Andrew, Ian Garbutt and Flagship Marketing
director Dale Hobson chipped in.
"Most of us are regulars at the Malaysian Open and we have been here
many times before. The Malaysian people have been very kind to us and this
is our way of saying thank you," Clarke said, on behalf of the donors.
J. Pragas, who later underwent a successful bone graft operation to save
his left leg, thanked the European tour golfers and said he would send
them "thank you" cards.
Fryatt triumphed on the greens, but in Pragas" book, the six Europeans
are the true champions.
(END)