Sabah golfers bag second hat-trick
Sabah clinched their third successive SGA Cup win at the Sabah Golf and Country Club (SGCC) in Luyang here yesterday.
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah clinched their third successive SGA Cup win at the Sabah Golf and Country Club (SGCC) in Luyang here yesterday.
The state squad collected 21 points to Sarawak’s 15 points to add to their 2015 and 2016 victories to complete the hat-trick.
It was also the second time that Sabah have achieved a hat-trick of wins in the ala-Ryder Cup formatted tournament following their victories in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
In 17 editions of the tournament, Sabah have won the SGA Cup 11 times while Sarawak had six titles.
Sabah went into Thursday’s final round holding a three-point lead over Sarawak after the first two-day of competition in the Foursomes and Fourball formats ended 13.5 points to 10.5 points.
And Zariq Encho would score the first point yesterday by beating Steven Hii in the first battle of the Individual Match Play before Sarawak threatened to turn the tables on the hosts.
Seasoned campaigner Lee Ka Tung led the brief revival of the visiting team when they recovered 3.5 points from the next four matches.
Ka Tung scored a point by beating Brandon Lai while Aw Yong JJ held Fazley Chua to get half-a-point each. Sarawak would add two more points through Melcolm Ting who beat Neil Bainon and Lau Ching Leong who edged Hillary Tan.
Sabah saw their lead cut to only a single point (15-14) at that stage and to their credit, the state golfers showed great determination to all but end Sarawak’s hope for a comeback.
Albright Chong, Mitchell Steel, Leduin Jordan Mobijohn and Casper Loh won their matches against Lee Ka Ming, Hassan Rahmat, Lokman Mustaffa and Samsudin Molok respectively to make it 19-14 and beyond the reach of their rivals.
Sabah added another two points in the next three matches after the matches between Chang Vui Kiong and Christopher James against Aziel Tei and Lee Ka Ching ended all square before Safarudin Abidin contributed the final point for Sabah with a win against Johari Aman.
“It was a dramatic, meaningful and historic win for us,” said Sabah Golf Association (SGA) deputy president Valerian Hansen Petrus when met after the prize presentation by Youth and Sports Ministry permanent secretary Datuk Awg Damit Ag Anak, who represented the minister Datuk Tawfiq Abu Bakar Titingan.
“The opponents gave us a good fight in the opening day and the pressure was there as it ended 6-6 but we came back for the second day and opened a three-point lead (13.5 - 10.5) before closing the tournament with 7.5 points.
“More importantly was that both teams showed top level sportsmanship and discipline which were of utmost importance thus achieving the aims of the tournament,” he added.
“It was a historic win for us since it was our second hattrick in the tournament. I would like to thank the SGA president Datuk George Bandusena and the SGCC management especially its president Datuk Peter Khoo, sponsors as well as the supporters,” Valerian said.
Also present at the prize presentation were SGA vice president-cum-tournament director Maximillian Jr. Boijol, secretary Oswald Leong and the state squad team manager Peter Tan.