Malaysia’s Anson Yeo and Zubair Firdaus registered their career-best results at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship on Sunday as they switched their attention to chasing the gold medal at the Southeast Asian Games later this year.
Yeo, 19, closed with a 2-under 70 at Emirates Golf Club’s Majlis course to achieve his goal of ending the week in red numbers with his 2-under 286 total in the region’s premier amateur Championship. His T21 finish improved on his previous best of T29 recorded in 2022.
Zubair also signed off with a 70 despite a closing bogey at the ninth, to finish T27 and improved on his previous high of T32 in the 2022 edition. This week was Zubair’s fourth successive appearance in the Asia-Pacific Amateur.
“Pretty happy as I managed to fight back after shooting 5-over on the first day,” said Anson, who was making his fourth appearance in the Championship. “Fighting back from that start, it’s the happiest thing for me and meeting my goal of being under par is a confidence booster. I’ve got a lot of things to work on, will head back home and keep working at getting better.”
The 23-year-old Zubair will turn professional at the end of the year, saying the experience of competing alongside the region’s top amateurs has been the perfect preparation for life in the play-for-pay ranks. But before he relinquishes his amateur status, Zubair is targeting gold at the SEA Games, which will be held in Thailand later this year.
“I think I learned I can compete out here,” said Zubair, who finished the week on 289. “I had a lot of chances in the final round to score, but I couldn’t put it together as a whole this week. It creates a lot of good momentum, and I will play my best for Malaysia in the SEA Games.”
With a total of six Malaysian playing all four rounds this week, Zubair feels the team will have a chance at winning medals at the SEA Games. “This is a good trend in the right direction. For sure, gold medal is our goal. The whole team is trending and as a team, we can compete,” he said.
“The SEA Games will be my last amateur event. I will then play in the Asian Tour Qualifying School and make my professional debut on the DP World Tour in Bahrain. The Asia-Pacific Amateur is the best amateur tournament in the word, from the exposure, the media attention that we receive, it’s a Tour-level event. It’s a good transition for players like me,” added the Malaysian, who won the Bahrain Amateur Open recently which comes with a spot in the Bahrain Championship next January.
