KUALA LUMPUR: The leading challengers at this week’s CIMB Classic fear Malaysia’s baking heat will present a formidable test, with one top contender saying the humidity “takes the cake”.
The co-sanctioned US$6.1 million PGA Tour and Asian Tour event begins tomorrow in the capital Kuala Lumpur, where temperatures are touching highs of 32 degrees Celsius and humidity is hovering above 90 per cent.
DEEPAVALI SPIRIT: Title holder Ben Crane of the US (centre) with Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela and Angel Cabrera of Argentina stand next to a Kolam during a press conference. — Bernama photo
In-form Brandt Snedeker of the United States, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour and one of the favourites, said: “I got in Monday night and kind of walked around and got acclimatised to it.”
Describing it as “really hot”, he said: “We try to compare the weather here to Memphis because we play Memphis in June. Memphis in June is hot, but I think this takes the cake.
“This is mild today, they said. It’s all overcast, but I walked outside and I was sweating at 9am.”
A heavy downpour lashed The Mines ResortGolf Club yesterday, while more showers are forecast throughout the week, threatening to disrupt play and adding a new dimension to the tournament.
Fredrik Jacobson, who was a promising ice hockey player as a child, said he was slowly getting used to it.
“I always had a tough time playing in Malaysia and in Thailand because coming from Sweden and living there, those were the first tournaments of the year for us in the 90s,” he said.
“I was coming straight out of the wintry climate in Sweden and coming into the hot, humid weather was always difficult. Now coming from Florida, the weather feels more like what I am used to in Florida.”
American Jonathan Byrd, a five-time winner on the PGA Tour, said he had never known heat like it.
“I grew up in South Carolina and that’s hot. But it’s very different here, I sweated a lot today.”
But not everyone was concerned. Siddikur, who prefers to go by the one name, said: “Coming from Bangladesh, this is normal for me. I like it.”
The tournament offers a lucrative prize purse of US$6.1 million (about RM9.5 million) and features the top 30 available players from the PGA Tour’s final FedExCup standings and the top 10 available players from the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit.
Eight sponsor exemptions will make up the rest of the field.
There will be no halfway cut for the event and as such, all players will play all four days of competition. — AFP