Duel heats up Players' Championship

Airil Rizman Zahari is looking to cap of a fine performance at this week's PGM Maybank Players

PETALING JAYA: It’s the final countdown!

All eyes will be on Airil Rizman Zahari and R. Nachimuthu when they tee off in the season-ending PGM Maybank Players’ Championship at the Impian Golf and Country Club in Kajang on Wednesday.

The duo are locked in a personal duel – to win the PGM Order of Merit crown.

Airil leads the race with total earnings of RM178,921.

Nachimuthu, who trails Airil by just RM9,773, won the inaugural Order of Merit crown in 2011.

With the Players’ Championship offering the biggest prize money of the season - RM350,000 – and a winner’s purse of RM60,000, both players know that the race for the Order of Merit title is far from over.

Even third-placed Shaaban Hussin, with RM118,981 in total earnings thus far, is not out of the reckoning.

But it’s the 44-year-old Nachimuthu, a proven winner on the Tour with seven titles – including two this season – who is the genuine contender. After all, he is the defending champion of the PGM Maybank Players’ Championship.

For Shaaban to win the Order of Merit, he has to win the tournament and hope for Airil to miss the cut.

Airil, whose victories in the Perlis Closed (in June) and Tiara Closed (last month) helped him overtake Nachimuthu at the summit, said that he is heading into this week’s competition just looking to wrap up the season with a fine performance.

“It’s just another tournament for me. I’m not thinking too much about winning it (the Order of Merit),” said the one-time Asian Tour winner.

“My focus is to play well ... if I can do that, then everything will fall into place.”

But he knows it won’t be easy against Nachimuthu, who has won five times at the Impian Golf and Country Club.

Nachimuthu is also on a high after a fourth placing at the PGM MIDF KLGCC Championship last Sunday.

“I enjoy playing at Impian. It’s a course where I always perform well and I’m definitely looking forward to another good outing,” said Nachimuthu, who captured the Impian Closed and finished as joint-winner at the Kinrara Closed for his two titles this season.

Making this weekend’s tournament even more intriguing is that the winner will get to play in the Maybank Malaysian Open (Feb 5-8).

If the winner is already one of the 16 golfers who have qualified, then the spot will go to next best finisher.

Malaysia have been allotted 22 spots at the Asian Tour and European Tour co-sanctioned event.