MALAYSIAN OPEN
The Far East Circuit for professional golfers was first mooted in the early 1960s. To the delight of Nobby Clarke, then President of the Federation of Malaya Golf Association, an invitation was received in 1961 to stage a Malayan Open as part of the Circuit. There was excitement all round. With alacrity, Nobby formed a committee, approached sponsors and held his first meeting all within a week! A total purse of RM22,500 for the Open plus RM2,500 for the Pro-am tournament, was up for grabs.
Australian Frank Phillips triumphed in that inaugural Open in February 1962 with a 4-day total of 276 which included a sterling 64 on the 3rd day – a tournament record that stood until Stewart Ginn’s 63 in 1977. Another “Aussie”, Bill Dunk, followed suit in 1963, romping home by 4 strokes from Taiwanese Hsieh Yung Yo. Thereafter the Japanese took over, winning 7 out of the next 10 with Tomoo Ishii setting the trend when he won two years in a row.
The Malaysian Open was one of the most prestigious tournaments in this part of the world at the time. In the inaugural event, top players like 5-time British Open Winner Peter Thomson, Bob Charles, Kel Nagle, Brian Huggett and Hideo Sugimoto were among the contestants and they subsequently influenced other “greats” such as Bruce Devlin, David Graham, Tony Jacklin, Graham Marsh, Isao Aoki and the everpopular “Mr. Lu” Liang Huan to join the fray and add to the quality of the tournament.
1972 marked the beginning of the American onslaught when young college graduates in their rookie year came in large numbers, among them Tom Purtzer, Hal Underwood, Howard Twitty and Joey Dill. They came as unknowns and Purtzer for one even though he already possessed a tour card, failed to impress and after two attempts quit the Asian Circuit after the 1976 Open and concentrated on the US Tour. The change in the climatic conditions must have helped because the very next year, he won his first tournament in the 1977 Glen Campbell Los Angeles Open. Just as well he had gone west because in that year, history was created by Stewart Ginn who blazed the course on the third day with a record 63 along the way to the title and the lion’s share of the record prize money of RM100,000!
The Pro-am Tournament preceding the Open that year was no less exciting. A Committee member then, Jaafar Ali (brother to Ismail Ali and Hashim Ali, both former Club Presidents) and his partner American pro Dana Quigley, shot an incredible 58 to win the Pro-Am. Jaafar, playing off 12, had a basketful of net eagles and net birdies and for good measure, Quigley had an ace on the 17th to put the icing on the cake.
The country had reason to believe, for once, that a Malaysian would win the Malaysian Open in 1982, hopefully and befittingly by a home-grown golfer in M. Ramayah who was an RSGC caddie when he was 15. Significantly, his first success as a professional was in the 1975 Malaysian PGA tournament held at his home course here. More home victories followed in the 1978, 1979 and 1981 Federal Flour Mills tournaments and the 1978 and 1980 Credit Corporation Malaysia tournaments. But his most outstanding performance that gave rise to all the hype and the Malaysian fans’ belief in him, was his victory in the Marcos Invitational Tournament in Manila by 3 strokes over his closest rival Bernhard Langer with a 3-round score of 74, 72 and 65 – played in blustery conditions on the final day. That was in December 1981. Ramayah had all the credentials to be Malaysian Open champion – good winning form going into the tournament and playing at his favourite home course with home crowd support, all hungry for a Malaysian success.
Seasoned professional though he was, the high level of expectancy must have been unbearable. Ramayah was not able to keep up with the leaders and was never in contention throughout the tournament. Denny Hepler was the eventual Champion following a sudden-death playoff with D. Ogrin and Hsieh Ming Nan joint runnersup, after all three had completed the 72 holes on 208.
In February 1993, the Benson & Hedges Malaysian Open returned home. Vijay Singh, Ian Woosnam and Mark McNulty were among a field of renowned players but the winner was Gerry Norquist who collected a cool US$ 37,480 for his efforts.
The following year RSGC was again the chosen venue and it was indeed an honour to be accorded this responsibility. What made the occasion truly memorable was that at long last a Malaysian golfer was in the running, in an illustrious field with the likes of Darren Clarke, Frank Nobilo, Paul McGinley, Michael Campbell, Bob Mattiace and many others. He was joint 4th after an opening round of 68, two strokes behind the leader. On the 2nd day with another subpar round of 69, he was joint leader and remained so going into the final round. Where M. Ramayah had failed 12 years ago with all the hype then, an unheralded local lad had finally managed to keep his cool for 54 holes and given hope to the nation of saluting its first ever Open Champion.
And so it was, on the morning of 20th March 1994, that a host of enthusiasts followed their newfound hero Periasamy Gunasegaran, from the 1st tee to the 18th Green to lend their support and hopefully be a part of history in the making. Guna did not disappoint as he matched the golfing greats stroke for stroke, putt for putt.
News that Guna would be in a 3-way play-off with Frank Nobilo and Joakim Haeggman after sinking a 12 foot birdie putt on the 18th, began to reverberate throughout the Club and beyond. The hundreds of supporters soon became thousands. The play-off went on longer than expected and it was Nobilo who first dropped out after 6 holes. He must have rued his failure to convert a 4 foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole which would have brought the curtain down there and then! It was still touch and go all the way until the 8th play-off hole, the par 5 15th. Guna had a sliced drive, a poor second shot, a pushed approach shot way off right, and a desperate chip that rolled 12 feet past the pin. The missed putt put paid to his quest. Haeggman who was on in regulation, coolly two-putted from 8 feet for the title.
There were cheers all round but the cheers for Guna, even in defeat, were distinctly louder.
The Carlsberg Malaysian Open did find its way back home in 2002. It was played on 28th February to 3rd March. It was preceded by an unprecedented drought that had lasted for weeks before the event. The course was, even for the ordinary golfer, playing short and just about everyone returned flattering scores and achieved personal bests then.
The pros were really psyched up for some record scores – and for a piece of the record purse of US$ 1 million! The very first day, two Brits Barry Lane and Alastair Forsyth each signed in with a 63, equalling Stewart Ginn’s record that had stood since 1977. Round two and it was Spain’s Miguel Martin who joined the fray with an identical score. The third day however was relatively uneventful with a couple managing “mediocre” 66s. Not to be outshone, the Americans had to flex their muscles eventually, and sure enough, Christian Pena joined in the fun with yet another magical 63 on the final day.
As in the last Open held at the Club in 1994, there was a play-off for the Championship, when Alastair Forsyth and Australian Stephen Leaney both returned 17-under 267. Unlike that play-off in 1994, when our Periasamy Gunasegaran held his own (and every one of the 4,000 or so spectators held their breath) against two others in the “mother of all battles”, only to lose after eight holes, this was a rather tame affair, as Forsyth soldiered on to eke out the win and pocket a tidy US$ 161,450 after the 3rd play-off hole.
Ironically, the highlight of this relatively less-exciting 2002 Malaysian Open was the misfortune that befell a certain “nearly-a-majorwinner”. It was déjà vu all over again as Frenchman Jean “Carnoustie” Van de Velde was the cynosure of all eyes at the 18th on the 2nd day. Needing a bogey to safely make the cut, his 2nd shot unfortunately landed in the flowerbed on the right of the green, in between some roots and lots of flower plants all round. As there was no free lift, the hapless Van de Velde decided to do a “Jean Van de Velde” and played the ball under those conditions. He slashed his club through the plants; the ball moved about a foot. The crowd groaned and quickly hushed up. Another slash, another 2 feet. He finally hacked through for a merciful 7. Everyone really felt for him.
RSGC was the home of the Malaysian Open from its inception in 1962 to 1986, with only 2 breaks in between – Royal Perak Golf Club in 1974 and Kelab Golf Negara Subang (KGNS) in 1983. Subsequently with the proliferation of a number of better golf courses in the country, the Open deserted the RSGC and only returned home sporadically as narrated above.
Credit to YK Liew – Excerpt from the book ‘The RSGC: Veritably A Royal Heritage’
