Nachimuthu and Rizal share lead at PGM Labuan Championship

Labuan, Malaysia, August 16: Malaysia’s R.Nachimuthu and Rizal Amin surged to the top of the leaderboard when they signed for a two-under-par 70 and 68 respectively after the second round of the PGM Labuan Championship on Thursday. 

Malaysia’s Shariffuddin Ariffin stayed close to his compatriots by returning with a 68 to take third place while Thailand’s Kevin Techakanokboon and Sukree Othman of Malaysia shared fourth place with their matching totals of three-under-par 141 at the Labuan International Golf Club.

Nachimuthu, who started the day tied for second, stormed off the blocks in his front-nine 10 by firing three birdies in his first five holes. He double-bogeyed the par-three 16 to turn in 35.

The Malaysian then made four straight pars starting from the first hole before another birdie on five brought him back to two-under for the day.

Another four consecutive pars from the sixth hole would see him sign for a 139 total at the RM225,000 (approximately US$58,000) Asian Development Tour (ADT) event.

 “I’m playing well and hopefully this could be my week as I have not won an ADT title yet. I really want to win one and I know I have a chance this week.

“But I also know that the key is to be very focused for the last 36 holes as anything can happen in golf. I just want to play my own game, shot by shot and hopefully I’ll be rewarded,” said Nachimuthu.

The PGM Labuan Championship takes place concurrently with the Taifong Open which will tee off at the Taifong Golf Course in Chinese Taipei this week.

All ADT events are afforded Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) status. The winner of each tournament receives a minimum of six OWGR points while the top-six players and ties earn points on a sliding scale.

The leading seven players on the ADT Order of Merit at the end of the season will earn playing rights on the premier Asian Tour for the 2019 season.

Ends.