Jyoti Randhawa on a mission

KUALA LUMPUR, AUG. 9. India's Jyoti Randhawa is on a mission at the $250,000 Volvo Masters of Malaysia, after a morale-boosting performance at the last month's British Open golf championship at St. Andrews.

The 28-year-old Randhawa will be joined by Simon Dyson of England at Kota Permai golf club on Thursday for the tee off.

Both are targeting victory as the winning cheque of $40,375 would drive either player to the top of the Davidoff tour order of merit.

Current leader Yeh Wei-Tze of Taiwan, who spent almost two months playing in Europe including the British Open, is taking a break.

Dyson, twice winner this season following back-to-back wins at the Macau and Volvo China Opens in May, said: ``It's a real incentive for me and Jyoti to win the Volvo Masters of Malaysia because it would mean going to the top of the order of merit. I've been playing well and I would like to do it.''

Yeh, who won the European Tour-sanctioned Malaysian Open in February, has led the moneylist since the start of the year with winnings of $145,739.

The 22-year-old Dyson, who trains under Lee Westwood's coach Pete Cowen, is second with $114,523 while Randhawa, winner of the Wills Indian Open in March, has banked in $112,507.

Ironically, Dyson and Randhawa were locked in a fierce battle at the Volvo China Open in May before the young Yorkshireman holed a nerve-wracking par putt at the last hole to triumph by one shot.

Both players are also enjoying a rich vein of form, with Dyson and Randhawa qualifying for the British Open as well.

Dyson recently played in six European Tour events where he made four cuts and believes the experience has made him a more accomplished player.

``It has been a great learning experience. I played with Westwood and Padraig Harrington in the third round of the Irish open and it was really good,'' said Dyson.

Randhawa has opted a `relaxing' approach towards the run-up for the Volvo Masters of Malaysia, which is the 10th leg of the Asian PGA circuit.

``Ive been taking it easy after the Open,'' he said.

``Big hitters will have an advantage here where we can score at the par fives. However, I'm not putting all that great which is worrying but I'll play my best and see where that leaves me. The order of merit is always the aim but I'm not really thinking of that now,'' added Randhawa.

Defending champion Nico van Rensburg of South Africa does not intend to surrender his title. He recently switched to a new 45- inch putter, worked on a new backswing and went on a three-day African safari outside Johannesburg in preparation for his defence.

A top-class field has assembled for what is the seventh Volvo Masters of Malaysia and among the contenders include China's number one Zhang Lian-Wei, winner of the event in 1995-96, Korea's Kang Wook-soon, James Kingston of South Africa and Prayad Marksaeng.

- PTI

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