Khavish won’t leave any stone unturned in last chance saloon
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian rookie pro Khavish Varadan hopes to save his best for last in a bid to turn around his game in the deciding round of the Malaysian Open at the Mines Resort and Golf Club today.
The 23-year-old, who had shot a six-under 65 to share the second-round lead with Kevin Yuan of Australia on Friday, could only muster a one-over 72 at the The Mines Resort and Golf Club yesterday.
Khavish is in joint 14th position with fellow Malaysian golfer Ervin Chang on a three-day total of 12-under 201.
The Malaysian duo are five strokes adrift of Canadian Jared Du Toit (196) who topped the leaderboard after carding a superb third round nine-under 62.
Khavish remained optimistic with his dream to become the first ever local winner of the home tourney although his result was uninspiring yesterday.
“Unfortunately, the third round wasn’t very productive for me.
“I was trying to put in a decent round but I missed four putts from six feet; costly two putts from three feet on the back nine but it’s golf.
“I kind of expected it but it just happened to be today. I’ve got one more day but I’m playing well, so I will try to be aggressive.
“I just have to take it on the chin and move on. I will stick to the same game plan,” said the determined Khavish, who had just turned professional last month.
Khavish decided to stop his final year of semester studies at the University of Alabama in the United States and felt playing professional golf was his bigger calling for the moment.
He said he would accept any outcome today as long as he had given his best shot.
“I’ve done this before, it’s just a matter of me executing my game plan and making the putts when I need to,” he said.
“I am going to be patient and give it my all.
“If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, we just have to move on to the next event.
“We all have a chance and it’s going to be fun for everyone.”
Jeremiah Kim, the third Malaysian to make the cut, carded a one-under 70 to place tied-64th (207) alongside Australian Douglas Klein.
“I really struggled on the front nine because I didn’t hit any fairways on the front nine at all.
“Didn’t have my best day. The wind wasn’t a factor, not that strong as yesterday when we played in the afternoon,” said Jeremiah, who got the chance to play in the Malaysian Open on a sponsor’s invite.
No local golfer has managed to win the Malaysian Open since its inception in 1962.
P. Gunasegaran came closest when he finished joint runner-up in the 1994 edition following a three-way playoff won by Joakim Haeggman of Sweden.