All Eyes On An In-Form Mardan

Pasuruan, East Java, Indonesia, June 28 - An in-form Mardan Mamat of Singapore should be the man to beat at the inaugural Taman Dayu Championship on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) next week.

Mardan is in fine form this season as he won his third Asian Tour title at the ICTSI Philippine Open in February followed by his first ADT event at the PGM CCM Impian Masters in Malaysia in the following month.

Playing on an invite, the veteran Singaporean will provide a stern challenge to the ADT rising stars when they tee off at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Taman Dayu Golf Club and Resort in Surabaya from July 4 to 7 (Wednesday to Saturday).

Peter Richardson of England, who currently leads on the ADT Order of Merit, S. Siva Chandhran of Malaysia, a two-time ADT winner and No. 1 in 2010, Kim Gi-hwan of Korea, Lam Zhiqun of Singapore and Mithun Pererra of Sri Lanka will also feature in the US$75,000 event.

Mardan, who hopes to start a golf academy in the future, has been supportive of the ADT, which is running in its third year.

“It will benefit a lot of the younger players. We need this development tour to develop the young players. This is like a platform for them to build up their game to the next level. This is good for the young players,” said the 44-year-old, who will compete in the British Open at Royal Lytham and St Annes later in July.

The highly rated Taman Dayu Golf Club and Resort is a new venue on the ADT and is located in the resort area of Prigen, East Java, which is within a one-hour drive from Surabaya.

The course is part of an integrated resort that covers 600 hectares of prime land including exclusive residential homes and villas, spa, waterpark and clubhouse facilities, which include 38 hotel rooms and luxurious villa accommodation along the golf course.

Among other players who will make their way to the latest ADT event include Singaporeans Quincy Quek and Koh Deng Shan, Gavin Flint of Australia and Kenneth De Silva of Malaysia.

The Taman Dayu Championship, which is promoted by the Asian Golf Group, will be the fifth stop on the 2012 ADT Schedule, which will boasts of a record 12 events this season. The top three players on the Order of Merit at the end of the season will earn Asian Tour cards for 2013.