India's Shubhankar Sharma shoots 62 to win Maybank Championship

European Tour Maybank Championship final leaderboard http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2018/tournamentid=2018012/leaderboard/index.html#/leaderboard

Shubhankar Sharma carded a stunning closing 62 to win his second European Tour title of the season at the Maybank Championship.

The Indian claimed his first victory in just his tenth event at the Joburg Open in December and made it two at Saujana Golf & Country Club as his bogey-free finish got him to -21.

Spaniard Jorge Campillo finished two shots back after firing a 68, a shot clear of Ryan Fox and Pablo Larrazábal.

The win takes Sharma to the top of the Race to Dubai Rankings and he becomes just the third Indian after Jeev Milkha Singh and Anirban Lahiri to win two European Tour events in the same season.

"I played pretty solid and it wasn’t easy because it was windy," he said. "I kept pushing the whole day. I knew I had to make a lot birdies to catch the leaders. I made a lot of birdies on the front nine and just continued on the back."

 

Next week the tour swings down to western Australia for the ISPS Handa World Super 6 before heading back to the Middle East for events in Oman and Qatar.

Bryan Angus
(notes europeantour.com)

 

Dylan Frittelli continues his fine form at the Maybank Championship

European Tour Maybank Championship leaderboard http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2018/tournamentid=2018012/leaderboard/index.html#/leaderboard

Round 3 is in the books in sweaty Kuala Lumpur at the Maybank Championship and emerging from the tightly packed leaderboard are in form South African Dylan Frittelli 69 66 66 -15 and Spaniard Jorge Campillo 69 66 66 -15.

Man of the day yesterday, Lee Westwood who fired that -10 62, slipped down the pack with a -2 70 to sit at -12 T11. There are 25 players within 4 shots of the leaders going into Sunday's final round and 13 different players shared the lead during round 3.

However  this rising star Frittelli has not looked back since winning his first European Tour title at the Lyoness Open in June, adding this season's AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open to his trophy collection.

It will take a low score to emerge from this truly international pack on Sunday where I see a playoff being required to decide the champion.

Bryan Angus

Adam Hadwin just 3 behind after 65 at Waste Management Phoenix Open

PGA Tour Waste Management Phoenix Open leaderboard https://www.pgatour.com/competition/2018/waste-management-phoenix-open/leaderboard.html

In front of huge galleries filling the stands and lining the fairways of the TPC Scottsdale Stadium course at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, Adam Hadwin went out on Friday and shot a very classy, -6 65 to move right up the congested leaderboard into a T8, at -7, just 3 shots behind the leaders Rickie Fowler (66) and Bryson DeChambeau (66) who are at -10.

There wasn't a bogey in his round, but 6 birdies on his back nine as he continues the fine form he has displayed this year. Remember he was T3 in the desert at the Career Builders Challenge, and T35 at Torrey Pines.

He finished in style with a par 3 in front of 16,000 in the stands at the 16th, then birdies at 17 and 18 to come home in just 30 shots !

Adam has soared to #54 in the official world rankings, and is 56th on the money list (FedEx Cup)

Other Canadians: Ben Silverman 71 68 -3 T37, Nick Taylor 69 71 -2 T50, Mac Hughes 69 73 E MC.

There are 16 players within 3 shots of the leaders including Phil Mickelson and big Jon Rahm so whoever wins will have to earn it come early Sunday afternoon. Jordan Spieth will not be one of them, he MC at E. The cut fell at -1.

Bryan Angus

Canadian scores at Waste Management Phoenix Open

PGA Tour Waste Management Phoenix Open leaderboard https://www.pgatour.com/competition/2018/waste-management-phoenix-open/leaderboard.html

With round 2 well underway Chesson Hadley 66 68 -8 has the clubhouse lead on a very congested leaderboard down in Phoenix at this Waste Management Phoenix Open.

All four Canadians are in action and are all in with a chance of playing the weekend. Here are their 1st round scores and you can follow their progress on my link above.

Adam Hadwin 70 -1, Nick Taylor 69 -2, Mac Hughes 69 -2, Ben Silverman 71 E.

Bryan Angus

Westwood 62 shoots into contention at the Maybank Championship

European Tour Maybank Championship leaderboard http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2018/tournamentid=2018012/leaderboard/index.html#/leaderboard

Lee Westwood once again made himself at home in Malaysia as he fired a stunning 62 -10 total on day two of the Maybank Championship.The Englishman is a two-time winner of the Malaysian Open, with his first win in 1997 coming here at Saujana Golf & Country Club.

His second was his latest European Tour win in 2014 but after carding 11 birdies and a single bogey on Friday, the 44 year old is in contention for victory number 24 over the weekend.

 

"It’s nice to be in contention and to know this golf course well. I won the Malaysian Open here 21 years ago. I was touring pro for this course, so I’ve probably played it more than most and I know where to hit it".

"I hit it close a lot and a pretty pain-free round. Gave myself a lot of birdie chances, so it was a really good ball-striking round and I holed out well as well. I was pleased with the way today went and hopefully we can build on that more"

Thailand's Phachara Khongwatmai and Italian Nino Bertasio posted rounds of 65 to sit at the top of a congested leaderboard at -11.

 

Chris Paisley had held a one-shot lead when the first round was completed in the morning after Thursday's storm delay and he posted a 69 to join the group at -10.

 

There are 22 players within three shots of the lead, with the cut-line (-4) sitting just seven shots behind the leaders and leaving all to play for heading into round three.

 

Bryan Angus

(notes from europeantour.com)

 

 

 

Canadians: Austin Connelly 71 69 -4 T63, Richard T Lee 74 71 MC

Gail Graham and the late A.V. Macan inducted into Canadian Golf Hall of Fame

Congratulations to Gail Graham an outstanding amateur, and solid LPGA pro for 15 years who distinguished herself on the course, and afterwards as an administrator and broadcaster, also to the late A.V. "Mac" Macan, an outstanding architect.

I never knew Mac since he was born in 1882 !, but Gail was and is an integral part of Canada's golfing fabric, and a regular for many years on our Fairways golf show.

They will both be inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame Tuesday July 24th, 2018 at the RBC Canadian Open.

Here is the article from Golf Canada. http://golfcanada.ca/article/gail-graham-and-the-late-a-v-macan-to-be-inducted-into-the-canadian-golf-hall-of-fame


Bryan Angus

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Red hot Paisley leads in the heat and humidity at the Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur

European Tour Maybank Championship leaderboard http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2018/tournamentid=2018012/leaderboard/index.html?showLeaderboard=Y#/leaderboardhttp://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2018/tournamentid=2018012/leaderboard/index.html#/leaderboard

Apart from the very early starts, it is very hot, humid, sticky to say the least, with thunder and lightning never too far away at this Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

England's Chris Paisley mastered those conditions to set the clubhouse target on a weather-delayed first day.

He has been in the form of his life since the turn of the year, claiming a maiden European Tour victory at the BMW SA Open and following that up with two top fives on the Desert Swing

He is -55 under for that stretch and an immaculate -7 65 earlier today sees him with a one-shot lead over countryman David Horsey.

Another Englishman Andrew Johnston, last year's runner-up David Lipksy, India's Arjun Atwal, South Korean Soomin Lee and French duo Alexander Levy and Romain Wattel all managed to get their rounds finished as they signed for 67s but many of the second wave were not so lucky.

Play was suspended at 3.40pm due to the threat of storms and an hour and 50 minutes was lost, meaning 40 players will have to complete their rounds on Friday (Thursday evening EST)