Angel poses with her trophy.
KUCHING: Angel Hii savoured a historic moment at the Bukit Jawi Golf and Country Club on Thursday when she captured the women’s gross title at the Penang Amateur Open.
The 15-year old golfer from Kelab Golf Sarawak carded a two-over 74 in the first round, three-under 69s in the second and third rounds for a three-day total score of four-under 212 to beat 13 other contestants.
This was a major breakthrough for the young golfer who had won the Girls A title at the KGS Junior Open last month because she earned her first World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) points.
It was also her debut appearance in the Penang Amateur Open.
Angel, who was the only female golfer from Sarawak competing, was simply too good for the rest of the field, with her closest rival Ashley Goh of the Malaysian Golf Association finishing nine strokes behind the Tunku Putra School student.
The third to fifth placings went to Nur Afifah Muhammad Razif of UUM (228), Ashley Chin Yen Ling of PGA (229 OCB) and Singapore’s Callista Chen Wan Qing (229).
“I am very happy to win this title because it is my first WAGR win.
“I knew I had to keep my scores low to fight for the title so I had to fight at every hole. I couldn’t sleep the night before the final round because I kept thinking about the game,” she said.
Angel said she only felt relieved after leading Ashley in the final round.
Meanwhile, Angel’s younger brother Saxen Hii also did well in the tournament. He was third in the Men’s Nett category with a score of 233 strokes.
The Men’s gross title was won by Victor Ng Yu Kai who carded a one-over 213.