Hoan (fourth right) poses with the organising committee before the tee-off at Bintulu Golf Club (KGB) yesterday.
BINTULU: Lee Ka Tung of Sibu Golf Club opened his campaign at the 46th SGA Sarawak Amateur Open golf championship at Kelab Golf Bintulu (KGB) yesterday on a bright note when he registered a gross score of 72 for a four-stroke lead.
His brother Kah Ming, who represented Kelab Golf Sarawak, is in second spot after beating Bintulu Golf Club’s John Ling and Khavish Varman of the Malaysian Golf Association to third and fourth spots on a count back.
Kah Ming, who won the PGM Satellite Tour at KGS in 2013, stole the limelight of yesterday’s morning round when he almost hit a hole-in-one over Hole 7.
A brand new Toyota Camry car was up for grabs for those achieving the feat but the KGS golf ace missed it by a whisker and eventually managed a par shot there.
Kah Ming returned the day with a gross score of four-over 76 after hitting bogeys over Hole 2, 5, 6 and 17. Finishing in fifth to seventh spots were Sigar Tidan of Bintulu Golf Club, Lau Chin Leong of Sibu Golf Club and Suzari Iqma from Sabah Golf Club, all decided on a count back after they returned with similar scores of 77.
A stroke further back were Albright Chong of Sabah Golf Club, Lim Beng Kiat of Miri Golf Club and Lee Ka Tiong of Bintulu Golf Club respectively.
All eyes were on the junior golfers even though they returned the day with mixed fortunes but the juniors from Sarawak, Sabah, Malaysia Golf Association (MGA) and Brunei played their part in making the three-day event more exciting.
Among the juniors who attracted the spectators’ attention was 12-year-old Matthew Peregrime Ong, a first-timer to the event who carded an opening 92.
The youngest participant in the event played in the same flight with Suzari Iqma, one of Sabah’s top juniors who is a zero-handicapper from the Sukma squad.
State juniors namely Aaron Law Tze Min, Aziel Teo Ken Yi, Mohd Nazeem Jefery, Samdrick Yeo and Bernard Yeo were also expected to face a stiff challenge from their peers representing golf clubs from Sabah, Brunei and MGA.
Sarawak Golf Association (SGA) president Hoan Kee Hock, who performed the first tee-off yesterday, was happy with the overwhelming response towards the event hosted by Bintulu Golf Club (KGB) this year.
According to him, the large number of junior golfers taking part in the event augured well for the promotion and development of the game among the youngsters including those training for next year’s Malaysia Games (Sukma).
He said the competition among the golfers was stiff with over 20 of them including the juniors playing with handicap 5 and below while the number of participants from neighbouring states had increased when compared to previous years.
The 27th Sarawak Amateur Ladies Open golf championship was also held concurrently at KGB and defending champion Nur Dahiyyah Damian from Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) returned the day with a gross score of 85 while last year’s Sarawak Classic ladies’ champion Tan Chlo Wee from the Samarahan Golf & Country Club carded a 84.
The opening day of the ladies’ category was led by Ashley Lau from the national junior squad who carded a total gross score of six-over 78.
Ashley, who is from Bintulu, started her campaign on a right note yesterday morning and had a bogey over the first nine but her outing was spoiled by disastrous double hazard over last hole of the second nine.