Thailand ’ s Thongchai Jaidee successfully defended his Malaysian Open crown on this day , 16 years ago . Perhaps , more than any of his victories – to date he has claimed 13 on the Asian Tour , and eight on the European Tour – this event defined him as a player . We look back at those two memorable victories , both played at Saujana Golf & Country Club .
Thongchai Jaidee had already tasted victory on five occasions by the time he arrived at the Malaysian Open in 2004 .
In fact , he had claimed the Myanmar Open the week beforehand – for the second time in his career – and so started the National Open of Malaysia as one of the favourites .
He faced a formidable field as , for the fifth year on-the-trot , the tournament was jointlysanctioned by the Asian and European Tours . Ireland ’ s Padraig Harrington – who was beaten in a play-off by Fijian Vijay Singh at the event three years before – Denmark ’ s Thomas Bjorn , Irishman Paul McGinley and Sweden ’ s emerging young star Henrik Stenson , were some of the headline acts .
It was , no doubt , the quality of the field that helped contributed to Thongchai ’ s virtuoso performance .
That week , he created a piece of European Tour history when he became the first player from Thailand to win on the European Tour – the anniversary of which is on Monday , February 22 – with a two-stroke victory over Australian Brad Kennedy .
ON THE ASIAN TOUR
THONGCHAI JAIDEE : MALAYSIAN OPEN AT THE DOUBLE
It was , no doubt , the quality of the field that helped contributed to Thongchai ’ s virtuoso performance . He had been tied for the lead with three holes to play and
magnificently rose to the challenge by spectacularly sinking a six iron from 188 yards , for the second ace of his professional career . A birdie on the last gave him a closing round of 68 , four under par , for a 14 under par total winning total of 274 .
The winners ’ cheque of € 158,153 ( approximately US $ 191,000 ) was the largest of his career at the time , and he also became the sixth player from the Asian continent to win on the European Tour , along with India ’ s Arjun Atwal , Isao Aoki from Japan , Korean KJ Choi , Taiwan ’ s Yeh Weitze and Zhang Lian-wei from China .
SHUBHANKAR SHARMA BUOYED BY DUBAI ; INSPIRED BY MAYBANK
India ’ s Shubhankar Sharma feels he kick
started his season with an encouraging performance in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic - where he finished in a tie for 22nd place .
“ I was playing so much better than what the score showed ,” said the 24-year-old , who would have finished much higher if not for dropped shots over the closing holes . He threeputted the 15th for a bogey , dropped another shot on the next , after failing to get up and down , and made the green in two on the par-five 18th but threeputted once more .
“ It was kind of a bummer in the end but it is fine . You have to look at the bigger picture and take things into perspective : I had a decent week ; I played pretty solid ; I hit the ball really well . I obviously left a few shots out there , especially on the weekend , but I am really
happy with the way I battled hard ,” added Sharma , who had been paired with Jhonattan Vegas from Venezuela and Brandon Stone from South Africa in the first round of the Saudi International .
“ We gave it our all and conditions were not easy , especially the last two days when it got really windy . We hung in there and I am pretty pleased with the result , considering it is only the second event of the season . There is still a long way to go but it gives me something to build upon now .”
“ It was kind of a bummer in the end but it is fine . You have to look at the bigger picture and take things into perspective ”.
The Indian star missed the cut in Abu Dhabi the previous week : which he says what partly because a fog delay on day one , which saw him get stuck in poor weather and meant he had to finish his first round on Friday , and also because he drove the ball badly .
He said : “ I really worked hard on my driving after missing the cut , and it paid off as my driving was one of the best parts of my game in Dubai , and that is why I had some good scores .”
GolfPlus MARCH 2021 27