Leishman cruises to CIMB Classic victory
Published on: Monday, October 15, 2018
Kuala Lumpur: Australia's Marc Leishman pulled off a stunning victory at the US$7 million ( RM29 million) CIMB Classic by closing with a seven-under-par 65 to win by five shots at the TPC Kuala Lumpur in Bukit Kiara, here, Sunday.Leishman pulled away from the field with a dominant front nine before cruising home to a commanding five-stroke win to claim his fourth PGA Tour victory in his first start of the new season at the CIMB Classic.He first won the PGA Tour title at Travelers Championship in 2012 followed by the Arnold Palmer Invitational (March 2017) and BMW Championship (September 2017).
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With a total of 26-under-par 262, Leishman received the championship trophy from the Regent of Pahang Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah and pocketed US$1.26 million (RM5.24 million) for his feat.Besides having a big slice of the total purse, Leishman also earned 500 FedEx Cup points."After having two wins two seasons ago, not winning this year so far, pretty determined to change that and was able to do it this week. So hopefully I can continue my good form in Korea next week and the World Cup and the Australian PGA at the end of the year," said Leishman.During the final round at the West Course of the TPC Kuala Lumpur, Leishman fired four consecutive birdies from the second hole before adding another birdie at the ninth hole.
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In the second-nine, he shot another birdie at the 10th hole before dropping a bogey at the par-four 13th hole but later recovered with two birdies at the 16th and 18th holes."I got off to a really strong start and then kept it going. Yesterday struggled a little bit on the back nine, there were some tough holes out there, so I was really wary of that and knew that I had to keep my head down and keep playing really hard.
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"So it was very nice to get a bit of a lead to come up the last and enjoy it like I did, and to birdie it, that's something I'll remember forever," said the 34-year-old. Meanwhile, Argentina's Emiliano Grillo surged to the leaderboard in the final round to become joint runner-up with Americans Cheson Hadley and first round leader Bronson Burgoon after posting 21- under-par 267.Grillo is determined to continue the good vibes after having a great start to the PGA Tour new season."(It is) Very important. It's different. I mean, it's not the same playing with your card on the line than having a lot of points in the beginning. Of course that's always the idea, to get the most points out of it every week and this week was pretty good in that matter," said Grillo, who's goal is to be back in the international team of the Presidents Cup next year.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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