Golf: Holloway wins Malaysian Amateur Championship

Hawkes Bay golfer Doug Holloway won the Malaysian Amateur Championship near Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Holloway came from four shots behind going into the final round to win by one shot from Australian Robin Hodgette.

The international field had to cope with exceptionally hot and humid conditions, with the soaring temperatures and slow greens accounting for the relatively high scores.

Holloway finished with a 72-hole total of 293, five over par and he also produced the day's only sub-par round to claim the title at the Ayer Keroh Country Club.

Auckland's Kevin Chun finished in the top 15 with an 11-over par tally of 299, fighting back after a slow start with two rounds of 73 at the weekend.

Holloway is the third New Zealander to win the Malaysian Amateur, following on from Marcus Wheelhouse in 1995 and Eddie Lee in 2002.

His victory made up for the disappointment of two other New Zealanders, Bradley Iles and Riki Kauika who were disqualified.

The pair were playing in the teams section of the tournament, with Holloway and Chun as individuals. Iles (Wellington) and Kauiki (Wanganui) missed their early morning tee-time after sleeping in when they did not get their wake-up call.

The quartet move on to compete in the Saujana Amateur in Malaysia starting today.

* Scottish golfer Simon Yates sank three birdies to shoot a two-under-par 70 and narrowly win the SK Telecom Open in Seoul.

Yates shot a tournament score of 279 to beat South Korea's Charlie Wi and Rick Gibson, of Canada, by one stroke.

Yates entered the fourth round one stroke behind Wi and spectators witnessed a close race when Yates, who was enjoying a one-stroke lead, missed a five-foot par putt on the par-four 18th hole.

However, Gibson also missed a four foot putt and failed to force a playoff.

Chung Joon, of South Korea, shot 283 to finish fourth, and Fred Couples, of the United States, tied for the fifth.

Defending champion KJ Choi, of South Korea, was 10 strokes behind the winner and tied for 14th.

- NZPA