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Amateur De Silva tops Selangor Masters qualifying

Malaysian amateur Kenneth De Silva posted a two-over 73 and was among the top eight players who qualified for the Worldwide Selangor Masters on Sunday.

The 17-year-old lad finished on top of the leaderboard alongside Samsudin Dingkil, Sahal Saedin and Mohamed Shaidi Yahya in the qualifier at Seri Selangor Golf Club.

A total of 58 players battled for the top eight spots at the challenging par-71 Ross Watson-designed course for automatic entry into the RM 1 million Worldwide Selangor Masters which tees off on Wednesday.

Malaysia’s Johnny Tan, who turned professional in 2005, sealed his spot when he finished a stroke behind De Silva after a 74 in a tie for fifth place alongside Mohamed Hafiz Mohamed Said.

After a four-way tie in seventh spot, Shahizul Ahmad and Lim Eng Seng defeated amateur Daniel Tan and Mohamed Rusli Johari in the play-off to finish in seventh and eighth spots respectively.

Thanks to his top finish at the qualifier, De Silva will relish his outing in the RM 1 million event which will feature some of the top players in the region that include Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee, Chinese Taipei Lin Wen-tang and local hotshots Airil Rizman, Iain Steel and Ben Leong.

“It was tough out there. The narrow fairways and tricky greens posed a real challenge to all the players so I’m very pleased to walk away with a 73. It will mark my first ever Asian Tour event and I can’t wait for tee off on Wednesday,” said De Silva, who shot three birdies against an equal number of bogeys and a double bogey.

The Selangor-born player, who has won six junior titles, hopes to use the Worldwide Selangor Masters as a stepping stone in his aim of earning full playing rights on the Asian Tour.

“This is a great opportunity for me and I hope to take advantage of it. The best way for me to improve my game is to play against the top players from Asia so I hope to learn from my experience.

“My coach (Tony) mentioned that I have a good swing technique as I can hit it to an average distance of 270-280 yards. But on this course, iron play will be crucial so I won’t be expecting to be taking out my driver that often here,” added De Silva.

Tan posted an eagle at the par five sixth hole but dropped five shots on the way to a 74 as he hopes for an improve result when he tees off at Seri Selangor Golf Club on Wednesday.

“The course is really challenging but I hung in there. I’m really happy to make the top eight. This is a chance for me to compete in top level golf so I hope to go in there with the right approach.

“Playing against the top Asian Tour players will definitely help improve my game so I will practice hard in the next few days to prepare for the challenges ahead,” said Tan.

August 3, 2008