Jeev Milka warms up for Saujana

19/01/1999

THE US$750,000 Benson and Hedges Malaysian Open golf championship is
shaping up nicely with nine players who won on the 1998 PGA European Tour
and 14 who snared titles on the Asian PGA Tour confirmed on Feb 4-7.
Although the cut-off date for entries from Europe is on Thursday, some
of the top players in the world have already confirmed.
"Most of the Asian pros will be taking part in the Myanmar Open in
Yangon while the European Tour players will be in the Perth Invitational
next week. So we will only get the full list by Thursday," said a member
of the organising committee yesterday.
But England's Lee Westwood, who won four times on his home circuit, once
in the United States and ended a glittering season with back-to-back
victories in Japan, will not be in Perth.
"Westwood has decided to skip Perth because he got married last week, so
the Malaysian Open will be his first tournament of the year. The crowd
will surely want to see what he can achieve this year."
Westwood, who won the 1997 Malaysian Open title but blew it last year
when he drove an iron shot into the top of a palm tree in sudden-death
play, has scheduled Kuala Lumpur as the first outing since his wedding.
Frankie Minoza, 39, an established player on the Japanese tour and
currently ranked 52nd in the world will make his appearance after the
Myanmar Open. Minoza narrowly missed playing in the President's Cup for
the World team after the most successful season of his career in 1998.
But the man to watch will be India's Jeev Milka Singh, who finished
joint third in the South African PGA championship in Johannesburg on
Sunday.
Singh, who has earned his European Tour card for the second year,
finished tied with Steve Webster, David Frost and Stephen Leaney on eight-
under 280 - seven strokes behind the winner, newly-married South African
Ernie Els.
On the home front, Ali Kadir, who topped the 1998 MPGA Order Of Merit
with wins at the PFP Classic in Johor Baru and Penang Masters for a total
of 1,597 points, will lead the Malaysian challenge.
Ticket sales, introduced for the first time since the inception of the
Open in 1962, have been slow but the organisers are confident of a sellout
crowd after the festive holidays.
Saujana Golf and Country Club, venue for the second straight year, will
charge RM10 for the first two days while the third and final day will be
RM20. There is also a package deal of RM35 on a first-come-basis.
Tickets, which went on sale three days ago, are available at all leading
golf clubs while plans are afoot to set up stalls at strategic locations
in the Klang Valley.
The promising field also includes Warren Bennett of England, who won
three times on the European Challenge Tour on his way to top place on the
rankings and an automatic spot on the main tour for 1999.
Malaysian Open defending champion Ed Fryatt of England captured the
China Open during 1998 and Korea's Kang Wook-soon, top money earner on the
Asian PGA Tour, won consecutive events - the Hong Kong Open and the
season-ending Hong Kong PGA championship.
Chris Williams of England also entered the winner's enclosure twice on
the Asian PGA Tour. He lifted the Volvo Masters of Malaysia and the
Singapore PGA championship.
The Malaysian Open will also be part of the PGA European Tour and with
vital Ryder Cup points on offer, anybody who is a somebody in golf would
want to give it a miss.
(END)