Siddikur gears up for Selangor Masters

Dhaka, July 14: Bangladesh golf superstar Mohammad Siddikur Rahman aims to keep up his good form in another tournament this time at the $400,000) Worldwide Holdings Selangor Masters in Malaysia next week.

The man from Dhaka, who won a local event in Seremban on Sunday, has produced some sensational golf all season and will star in the Asian Tour showpiece at Kota Permai Golf and Country Club from July 20 to 23 (Wednesday to Saturday) as the odds-on favourite, says a press release.

Siddikur will be among a strong line-up of Asian Tour stars next week which include Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand and India's Jyoti Randhawa, both former Order of Merit champions, Lin Wen-tang of Chinese Taipei and Australia's Marcus Both.

Danny Chia will lead the local brigade alongside Ben Leong, winner of the 2008 Selangor Masters, Iain Steel and S Siva Chandhran, the reigning ADT Order of Merit champion.

Siddikur's stunning transformation from a ball boy to an Asian Tour champion has captured the imagination of headline writers across the region and he is enjoying his moment in the limelight.

"I'm happy to be second on the Asian Tour's Order of Merit. In 2009, I was just making the cut and I struggled a lot. But I gained more experience playing on the Asian Tour and started to have more confidence," said the 26-year-old Siddikur.

"Since the beginning of this year, it's been going good. I'm just trying to get better. I'm concentrating better and I think that's why I've been doing good," said Siddikur, who finished tied 27th in last year's Selangor Masters when it was played at Seri Selangor Golf Club.

Siddikur is arguably the one of the most consistent golfers on the Asian Tour where he has made 15 consecutive cuts, highlighted by five top10s since last season. He also won the Grameenphone Bangladesh Masters on the Asian Development Tour in February to add to his Asian Tour victory at the Brunei Open last year.

Despite averaging only 264 yards from off the tee, which is a modest distance in today's modern game, the slightly built golfer makes up with his renowned accuracy where he has been rewarded with a total of 111 birdies from eight tournaments, making him the leader of the Asian Tour's 'Birdie Leader' category.

"Since the start of my career, I've been always trying to play par golf and if there were birdies, it would be a bonus. I'm trying to improve my short game as that's the key to making under par scores," said Siddikur.

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