Five players from Malaysia's victorious Southeast Asian (SEA) Games squad, led by double gold medalist Ervin Chang (pictured above), will form part of a strong field in the inaugural Kia Championship at Glenmarie Hotel & Golf Resort next week (May 24-26).

Chang, who won the individual men's gold medal in Hanoi, will be joined in the Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) event by fellow men's team gold medalists Marcus Lim, K. Rhaasrikanesh and Nateeshvar Ganesh, and women's team silver medalist Mirabel Ting. The amateur stars will face a strong line-up of professionals at Glenmarie's Garden Course, including the in-form Shahriffuddin Ariffin, Asian Tour regulars Ben Leong and Nicholas Fung, and former Malaysian No 1 Danny Chia.

Shahriffuddin looks to be the player to beat despite a missed cut in this week's Blue Canyon Open in Phuket, an Asian Development Tour (ADT) event. He narrowly missed out at the Laguna Phuket Cup where he lost a playoff to Thailand's Sarun Sirithon, and is in fifth place on the ADT Order of Merit.The 23-year-old also won the PGM Maybank Championship in March, the PGM Tour’s second event of the season, and finished third in the season-opening Tun Sarji Ahmad Trophy in February.

Bermaz Auto Berhad Executive Chairman Datuk Sri Yeoh Choon San said that as sponsors they were delighted to partner with the PGM Tour. “What excites us most here is not only that this is the inaugural tournament of the KIA Championship, but we also have a strong field in both the men’s and women’s categories at Glenmarie next week,” he said.

“This is really a welcome development for the PGM Tour and ourselves, and it has been topped off excellently by members of Malaysia’s SEA Games team, who won medals in Vietnam, also in the line-up. We could not have asked for anything better,” added Datuk Sri Yeoh.

The three-day Kia Championship carries RM120,000 prize money for men and RM20,000 for women.