Danny Chia

Danny picked up golf from his father, a businessman, when he started following him to the driving range and grew up adoring Jack Nicklaus. He enjoyed a fine amateur career, winning Malaysia's amateur championship for three straight years before joining the pro ranks. Danny enjoys watching movies and also playing video games. Danny credits coach Kel Llewellyn, for his change in fortunes. Under Llewellyn, Danny also started doing yoga exercises and says the breathing techniques help him relax on the golf course.
Danny made history by becoming the first Malaysian to win an Asian Tour event when he won the Taiwan Open in 2002. Subsequently, another career high came in 2005 when he became only the second Malaysian after Iain Steel to qualify for the Open Golf Championship. Played at St Andrews but missed the halfway cut by two strokes. In 2007, Danny struggled to find consistency in his form and delivered his only top-10 at the penultimate event, the Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open. It came a little too late as he finished outside the top-60 of Order of Merit. However, he returned to Qualifying School and finished inside the top-40. In 2006, Danny posted two top-25 finishes at the Singapore Masters and Volkswagen Masters-China. Successfully kept his card in 2005 thanks to a fourth place finish in the Carlsberg Masters Vietnam. Also posted two other two top-10s, a sixth place finish in the Philippine Open and fifth in the Brunei Open where he was the halfway leader. In 2002, he won the Taiwan Open. He was seven shots off the pace heading into the final round but fired a 68 to pip overnight leader Hsieh Yu-shu, who stumbled with four bogeys in his last five holes, and Lin Chie-hsiang. It was an amazing change in fortunes as only months earlier, Danny had contemplated quitting life as a touring professional after recording only one top-10 on the Asian Tour. After his win in Taipei, he returned home to win a local event on the domestic circuit in the following week. He played in the World Cup in 2000 and 2001. In 2003, he registered one top-10, a tied-fifth finish at the inaugural Sanya Open. In 2004, he failed to keep his full playing privileges. Said he struck the ball well but couldn't buy a putt.


Asian Tour career summary
YEAR ¬RANK ¬US$ ¬Pld ¬1st ¬2nd ¬Top10 ¬MC
1996¬-¬-¬1¬-¬-¬-¬1
1997¬-¬-¬5¬-¬-¬-¬5
1998¬146¬$2,058¬10¬-¬-¬-¬7
1999¬93¬$9,135¬9¬-¬-¬-¬4
2000¬102¬$7,973¬8¬-¬-¬-¬4
2001¬105¬$4,841¬5¬-¬-¬-¬2
2002¬28¬$73,873¬10¬1¬-¬2¬3
2003¬73¬$15,094¬16¬-¬-¬1¬11
2004¬71¬$24,564¬20¬-¬-¬-¬10
2005¬59¬$60,597¬19¬-¬-¬3¬7
2006¬60¬$58,187¬23¬-¬-¬-¬12
2007¬82¬$44,672¬26¬-¬-¬1¬16
Totals*¬87¬$300,994¬146¬1¬-¬7¬82
*Totals played as Tour member


2008 Asian Tour results
Name¬Date¬Pos.¬Score¬Par¬Rounds
Astro Indonesia Open¬Feb-14-08¬130=¬145¬5¬71 74 * *
Sail Open Golf Championship¬Feb-20-08¬5=¬279¬-9¬68 70 69 72
Maybank Malaysian Open Mar-06-08¬41=¬281¬-7¬65 67 80 69
Asian Tour International¬Mar-20-08¬64¬286¬-2¬70 71 73 72
Philippine Open Apr-03-08¬2¬284¬-4¬71 71 76 66
Volvo China Open Apr-17-08¬141=¬157¬13¬77 80 * *
Bmw Asian Open Apr-24-08¬97=¬150¬6¬70 80 * *
27th Gs Caltex Maekyung Open¬May-01-08¬148¬160¬16¬78 82 * *
Pine Valley Beijing Open May-08-08¬51=¬291¬3¬71 71 78 71
Bangkok Airways Open¬Jun-05-08¬81=¬146¬4¬73 73 * *
Singha Thailand Pga C'ship 08¬Jun-26-08¬70=¬146¬2¬74 72 * *