J&J5 pip Blue Lobsters 3.0 for elusive title
KUCHING: J& J5 ended a 21-year wait for the champion’s trophy when they edged Blue Lobsters 3.0 3-2 in the final of the KGS- OBYU Team Match Play Championship at Kelab Golf Sarawak, Petra Jaya yesterday.
They also walked away with the top prize of RM12,000, the championship trophy and medals while Blue Lobsters 3.0 received RM6,000, a trophy and medals.
Team captain Kua Yang Hock said they had prepared very well for the competition and were looking forward to winning the prestigious championship after losing in the final last year.
“We were participating in this event since 1998 and have been in the semi- finals for a number of times and the nearest we got was finishing in the final last year.
“We are really happy to win today and this is a historic victory and moment for us,” said Kua when met after the prize presentation.
Blue Lobsters 3.0 had given them a very tough fight, he added.
“We are proud that our team comprised young promising players and senior players and our team is truly a multi-racial team with players from South Korea Yoo Dae Hee, Chinese, Malays and Ibans.”
En route to the final, J& J beat Titans in the last eight and Tee Off Club in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Blue Lobsters 3.0 gracefully accepted their defeat and congratulated the winners.
“It was a tough fight and we were unlucky to commit errors by not putting a few holes. We were leading in the first fourball and second fourball. But we lost the first and second singles.
“We were still fighting in the foursome when we lost at the final hole,” said team captain Abdul Aziz Ismail.
According to him, they were fully prepared for this tournament and their target this year was to reach the quarterfinals.
“Reaching this far (final) has exceeded out target and it is indeed a good accomplishment for us.
Earlier, Tee Off Club edged HKH in the play- off to finish third in the team competition that was played over the weekends of March and April.
Tee Off Club received RM3,000 and medals while HKH received RM1,000 and medals.
In the KGS Captain Ballsweep, young Darren Tan claimed the nett title after carding a 68 while Harold Tok took second spot after on count back ( OCB) over Bob Chew Poh Vun as both scored a 60.
In fourth to sixth positions were Iman Sallahuddin, Chew Kok Siew and Pauline Gan respectively.
The gross section saw Denn Lau returning a score of 80 strokes to beat Muhammad Hadif (81), Mohd Yusri Jusmail ( 82) and Awang Zailani Awang Bujang into second to fourth positions respectively.
Richard Sim Keng Kie of Titans might not have won any prizes for finishing among the top four teams but he struck the only lucky draw grand prize of a Toshiba Grand Theatre apart from sharing the RM500 prize that Titans won for finishing in the last eight.
Other losing quarterfinalists Cahya Mata, Mafia Hukum and KGS Junior Team each received RM500.
Among the guests present were Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Sulong Mat Jeraie, the chairman of Petra Energy Part of OBYU Group, Ahmad Yusof, the chairman OBYU Holdings Sdn Bhd, Sapiee Ahmad also from OBYU, KGS captain Henry Chuo and deputy captain cum tournament chairman Mazlan Mohamad Salleh.