Maybank Malaysia Open 2008

I woke up at 12.30 pm today... That's not a record. But I was tired since Friday. That was the day of 2nd round of Maybank Malaysia Open at Kota Permai Golf & Country Club. It has been super tiring but super exciting at the same time. The first day, Bo & me went quite late, almost late afternoon. And since we skipped lunch, we had lunch at the Club House (you see, we got 3 all-access passes FOC from an NTV7 executive). In fact, we had another 5 extra free tickets that Maybank's VP gave us but that weren't as useful as the passes.

For more picture, visit my flickr site

On Friday, the weather was great but there were many pro-golfers at the club house since they didn't make the cut for the next round. I got to meet some of them and take some pictures.

On Saturday, we followed my favorite, Raphael Jacquelin for about 3 holes but the very hot sun made us stop at hole no 18 and stayed there so we can see all the players crossed over.

On Sunday, we went there the earliest. The amount of people was more than that of Friday's and Saturday's. OF COURSE! It's the final day and a champion will be determined.

I joined a contest on Saturday and my bet was on Peter Hedblom. He was the defending champion and if he won, I would have also won 2 tickets to Dubai by Air Emirates and some spending money.

When they announced a play-off between Peter Hedblom and Arjun Atwal, I was thrilled! It was so nerve-wrecking even for me... I was so close to winning the trip! But unfortunately, he didn't win at the play-off. Atwal did! This is his 2nd winning at the Malaysia Open. I was happy just the same, he deserves it, he's an Asian and such a nice guy...

As disappointed as I was, I was still very happy with the whole experience. I got to rub shoulders with the pros. That's a once in a lifetime experience. Meeting them and talking to them worth the 3 days under the hot sun and heavy rain. I couldn't help but name the pros I met... Paul McGinley, Rory McIlroy, Nick Dougherty, Arjun Atwal, Peter Hedblom, Simon Dyson, Darren Clarke, Mardan Mamat, Tong Chai Jaidee, and our very own Sabahan pro, Iain Steel. The only pro that I was hoping to meet but didn't was Raphael Jacquelin...

And I'm off to tee off in a little bit... Gotta put my swing lesson into action. Cheers!