Mirabel soars to 10-under three-day total with birdie spree

MALAYSIAN amateur golfer Mirabel Ting fired a spectacular eight-under 64 to be best performer along with Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul in the third round of the 2024 Maybank Championship at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club today.

After blowing up with a three-over 75 in the second round, Mirabel, 18, was in her element as she carded eight birdies (holes number 3, 4, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18) for a three-day total of 10-under 206.

The Miri-born Mirabel, making her Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour debut, is now the best local golfer in the tournament as she shares 10th place with Australian Gabriela Ruffels in the US$3 million (about RM13 million) event.

Being the sole amateur in the tournament, Mirabel started strongly with a five-under 67 on Thursday before going off course yesterday.

“I hit my iron shots really good today and (the) putts dropped today. So, that’s two things that I did really well and managed to shoot this score,” she said.

Meanwhile, Olympian Ashley Lau continued her momentum by carding a six-under 66 to be joint-12th with six others with an overall score of nine-under 207.

Ashley said although she felt tired, she was pleased with her performance today, having created multiple birdie opportunities.

“I think for sure putts were definitely dropping and I was giving myself a lot of birdie opportunities. I think I only missed a green or two today.

“That definitely helped. Overall, I am very happy with my game,” said Ashley, who carded six birdies today.

The other two Malaysian golfers, Nur Durriyah Damian and Liyana Durisic, remained at the bottom of the 76-golfer leaderboard, with overall scores of 17-over 233 and 20-over 236 respectively.