SUBANG: Nicholas Fung is set to end his days as a bachelor by the end of this year, and this is the main motivation behind his intent to cash out at this week’s Maybank Championship at the Saujana Golf and Country Club.
Finishing as the best Malaysian on round one at four-under-par 68 following five birdies and a bogey on his back nine, the 29-year-old is looking to make some money which will help with his wedding preparations at the end of the year.
“I’m very happy with my round, I started off on the back nine, struggled and it was an up and down game all the way after only managing a one-under, but everything went back to normal on the back nine where I shot three-under.
“Tying the knot at the end of this year is just the kind of encouragement and motivation I need and the aim to win a cash purse was my plan all along actually,” said Nicholas.
As soon as the afternoon tee-off commenced, the wind picked up with a slight drizzle, but it did not derail the 2017 Queen’s Cup winner as his mantra of not pushing himself too hard paid off.
“Yes it’s windy, but I’ve been playing in competitions where there’s been quite a lot of wind, so I’m used to it, but I keep telling myself not to push too hard, to just make the fairways and greens, and make pars all the way because pars are good enough,” said Nicholas.
Finishing three-strokes behind Nicholas (T7th) was 20-year-old Shahriffuddin Ariffin who has come back for a second year after his debut was derailed due to high fever.
“I’m targeting to make the sub because this tournament is pretty big scale for me and it’s only my second time playing, because the first time round I didn’t make the cut as I was feeling really weak.
“I think I’ll make the cut first, and only then I’ll start to set other targets perhaps for the tournament,” said Shahriffuddin, who won last year’s PGM Labuan Championship and is currently on T42nd after day one.
Meanwhile European Tour’s Gavin Kyle Green has seen better days after finishing in two-over-par 74 to share 109th with 14 others including three other Malaysians — R. Nachimuthu, Ben Leong and Arie Irawan.
The 2017 Asian Tour order of merit winner and Olympian managed to save a lot of pars, but endured a huge upset on the 11th with a double bogey matched by two bogeys and only two pars.
The Maybank Championship offers US$3million (RM12million) in prize money with the winner pocketing a tidy US$50,000 (RM203,000).