PETALING JAYA: By the time Malaysia’s No. 1 golfer Gavin Kyle Green concludes his hectic four back-to-back tournament schedule, he would have travelled close to 15,000km across four countries.
The 26-year-old Gavin’s first of the four stops was at the Oman Open last week. He finished a creditable joint 18th.
On Thursday, he will be in Doha for the Qatar Masters and he aims to keep up his strong momentum in the European Tour event.
Gavin has finished no worse than a top-30 in his first five starts to date with his best outing coming in the Saudi International early last month. He emerged joint third in a field starring American heavyweights such as Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson.
These decent results placed him 19th in the Race to Dubai (RTD) rankings, a position he is eager to maintain until the end of season.
Some of the big perks awaiting him if he succeeds include qualifying for the lucrative season-ending Tour Championship in Dubai as well as a passage to the prestigious World Golf Championship (WGC) series for next year.
Gavin is certainly leaving no stone unturned in trying to fulfil his ambition and that is why he will be travelling to Africa for the Kenyan Open and then the Indian Open after Doha.
“Playing in Kenya was always part of the plan, ” said Gavin, who is ranked 150th in the world.
“I’ve never been there so I thought it would be interesting to play. Furthermore, it fits the schedule perfectly.”
He has already been deprived of two opportunities to collect RTD points after the Maybank Championship in Malaysia and China Open which were slated for April 15-18 and April 22-25 have been called off indefinitely due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
“I was looking forward to the Maybank Championship but I totally understand the position that they are in, ” said Gavin.
“The safety of the players and the public is of utmost importance. It’s the right decision.”
After India, Gavin will have no tournaments to play until Andalucia Masters in Spain from April 30-May 3. He will head to United States instead to fine tune his game under renowned coach Chris O’Connell.
Gavin is confident that it was only a matter of time before he secures a breakthrough in his third full season on the European Tour.
“I’m more comfortable with my shots and distances, and I’m feeling better about myself on the course... all that leads to consistency, ” he added.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Get 20% OFF The Star Digital Access
Cancel anytime. Ad-free. Unlimited access with perks.
