In-form Brown eyes off Asian three-peat
BY Bruce Young | Asian Tour | 2008 Malaysian Open | Preview | 05 Mar 2008
The Kota Permai Golf and Country Club in the Klang Valley near Kuala Lumpur plays host to this week’s Malaysian Open for the first time although the venue is not new to professional golf with the Asian Tour’s Volvo Masters having been held over the Ross Watson designed layout previously.
The tournament, which has always been played in the Kuala Lumpur region, has been co-sanctioned between the Asian and European Tours since 1999 when American Gerry Norquist gained European Tour status via his win here.
The absence of both Vijay Singh and Adam Scott from this week’s line-up will mean that the field this week is considerably weaker than that which lined up in New Delhi last week with the inform Jyoti Rhandawa perhaps the favourite over the now second highest world ranked player in the event, Mark Brown.
Brown is looking for three wins in succession after back-to-back wins in New Delhi and if he was able to do so he might just find himself inside the top 50 in the world which means that a start at Augusta in early April would be a distinct possibility.
The leading world ranked player in the tournament is Englishman Nick Dougherty (51), who until a missed cut in Dubai recently had been playing quite solidly.
Arjun Atwal is now clear of the concerns he had as a result of his links to a street racing incident in Florida last year in which a man was killed, potential charges against him dropped and he has played well of late. He is a previous winner of this event albeit at another venue and could do well.
Johan Edfors appears to be back to where he left of in 2006 after a horror year in 2007. He has had recent top five finishes in Qatar and New Delhi and appears ready to rekindle the sort of form that saw him win three European Tour events in 2006.
David Howell is another on the comeback trail but despite a recent good finish in Qatar he might yet be a few events short of being ready to contend. So too could be said of Michael Campbell who has slipped to an unlikely 230th in the world.
Graeme McDowell is a better player than his missed cut last week would suggest, there will be a lot of interest in the wonder-kid, Rory McIlroy, who many consider the next best thing to come out of European golf and defending champion Peter Hedblom could repeat.
The field is stacked full of Australians but one who could do well in the West Australian Scott Strange who just keeps getting better, his runner up finish to Mark Brown last week evidence of that along with a top ten in Abu Dhabi. Despite now playing the European Tour full time Strange has had some excellent results in Asia over the years.
