Aug 30: Shahriffuddin Ariffin, one of the brightest prospects in Malaysian golf, edged ahead of the experienced Thai Suteepat Prateeptienchai with a birdie on the last hole and snared a one-shot lead after the third round of the US$500,000 Mandiri Indonesia Open on Saturday.

At Pondok Indah Golf Club course in Jakarta, the 26-year-old from Melaka shot a four-under-par 68, a round that was matched by Suteepat, to retain his lead with a three-day total of 17-under. His Thai rival needed to make a 15-footer for birdie on the last, but his attempt stayed short of the cup.

Australia’s Travis Smyth was his consistent self in a round of 68 to move to solo third place at 14-under, one better than a group of three players tied for fourth place at -13. That included Taiwan’s Wei-hsuan Wang, (66) and two Americans – Micah Shin (66) and Charles Porter (70).

Local hopes were pinned on young Naraajie Ramadhanputra, who was tied seventh at 12-under following a round of 68.

Suteepat Prateeptienchai of Thailand. Picture by Graham Uden/Asian Tour.

While Ariffin is looking for his first win on the Asian Tour, Suteepat is already a three-time champion and the highest-ranked player in the field. The last Malaysian player to hoist the trophy on the Asian Tour was Gavin Green, at the 2017 Mercuries Taiwan Masters.

Ariffin’s latest mantra of just enjoying the golf course and not being bothered about whom to chase, or who is behind him, seems to be working for him so far. And he intends to do the same on Sunday.

“I’m just enjoying playing golf with the other players, and I am trying not to think too much. It was a bit of a struggle with my putting today. I had four lip-outs, but I said ‘OK. No problem… just keep playing my golf’,” said the two-time winner on the Asian Development Tour (ADT).

“So, I am hoping this will be my best Asian Tour event. I hope I can win this tournament. It’s a very, very good opportunity for me to get back to the Asian Tour, but there is no pressure as such.”

Bogey-free for the past two days, Suteepat finally dropped his first shot of the tournament on the 13th hole, before quickly bouncing back with back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th.

Travis Smyth of Australia. Picture by Graham Uden/Asian Tour.

“It was a slow start for me. My first birdie came on the eighth. It’s been tough today. I did not feel as good as I did on the first two days. I was struggling with my approach shots throughout the round,” said Suteepat, who won the tournament (2023 Taiwan Glass Taifong Open), where Ariffin recorded his best Asian Tour result – a tied second.

“I am just going to play for fun tomorrow, because I am playing with my friend Dino (Ariffin). I will follow the same game plan and we’ll see what happens.”

Smyth did not have the best start to his round, making a bogey after hitting a wedge second shot into the water on the opening hole.

“I played well, but I also hit a ton of really bad shots as well. I wedged it in the water on the first hole, but I didn’t really let it get to me. I was kind of proud of the way that I just sort of stuck in there, and then to finish with birdies on 16 and 18 to wrap up four-under, I will take it,” said the Sydneysider.

“I had a couple of iron shots that were fun to hit, into the 15th and 16th. I just played them a little bit differently, like a punchy Tommy Fleetwood-type shot. I was between clubs, and I decided to go to an extra club and take some distance off. And they felt amazing. So I’m going to kind of draw on that now. I’m going to hone that into my warm-up tomorrow, and if it comes out good, I will probably play most of my iron shots like that. Because they were just two of the best iron shots I’ve hit all week.”