SERI KEMBANGAN: After a relatively slow start to the tournament, Ervin Chang kept his goal of winning the IRS Prima Malaysian open alive and kicking after playing some near-perfect golf in the second round today.
Ervin was the top performing player today after carding a solid nine-under 62 at The Mines Resort and Golf Club. He notched six birdies and two eagles with a bogey on the seventh hole being the only blemish on his scorecard.
The 25-year-old moved into joint-seventh on a two-day 10-under 132, three shots adrift of joint-leaders Kevin Yuan (Australia) and Khavish Varadan (Malaysia).
Ervin said a number of changes to his game plan paid dividends today. He shot one-under 70 yesterday.
"Overall, I am really happy with the round. I felt really, really good," said Ervin.
"Yesterday my ball striking wasn't the best so I spent some time on the range practicing and also spoke to my coach.
"One of the main focus for me today was to hit a lot of the greens and give myself a lot of birdie opportunities. I did that and made the most of them (opportunities) as well.
"Tomorrow my goal will be to maintain my momentum and continue to give myself more opportunities."
In addition to the US$1 million (RM4.78 million) prize purse, there is much more at stake for the players at the Malaysian Open.
The three leading finishers this weekend, who are not already exempted before the closing date for entries of The Open, will qualify to play in the tournament which will be held at Royal Troon on July 14-21.
Ervin said he is not thinking too much about qualifying for The Open.
Creating Malaysian Open history is his main goal.
"I think that (The Open qualification) will happen if I finish top-three. Right now I am just trying to win the tournament, that is the goal," said Ervin.
"It would be great to win it, as far as I know, no Malaysian player has won it before.
"I would definitely be really happy if I could win my national open and achieve another (piece) of history."
Ervin created history when he became the first Malaysian to win an individual event gold medal at the Sea Games during the Hanoi edition in 2022.