Champions prepared for world final
Four Sabah courses to host World Amateur Championship showdown next month
THE Perodua World Amateur Golfers Championship (WAGC) national final held at Sabah Golf & Country Club, where the winners of the qualifying rounds held nationwide over the past few months converged, proved a huge success and paraded some top quality golf.
With the tournament format allowing for five handicap categories, five-handicapper Khalid Jikal led the way to the world final from the A Medal with an even-par 72 nett score and was closely followed by Nick Voon, who played off a nine handicap and shot a nett 73 to clinch the B Medal honours.
Hamdan A. Rahman, with a handicap of 12 on the day, emerged as the C Medal champion after returning with a 75 nett.
Affandi Ag Besar, a 17 handicapper, registered the low round of the tournament after he signed for a six-under 66 nett and the D Medal title. Mohidi Jaan had a 75 nett and won the E Medal.
These five amateurs will represent the country at the WAGC world final in Kota Kinabalu next month where four courses will serve as the venues.
The global gathering, set for Oct 19 to 26, should also be an interesting coming together of more than 400 golfers from all over the world when they do battle at Sutera Harbour Marina Golf & Country Club, Sabah Golf & Country Club, Nexus Golf Resort Karambunai and Dalit Bay Golf & Country Club.
The nations participating in the WAGC world final will be drawn from across all the continents, namely North, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
In an annual event held since 1995, all the players have one common aim – to win the title and take the WAGC silverware back home as world champions.
At the national final awards presentation in Sabah, Perodua chairman Tan Sri Asmat Kamaludin led the chorus of congratulations for the winners. Also present were Tourism Malaysia chairman Datuk Ahmad Shah Hussein Tambakau, WAGC Malaysia patron Datuk A. Sani Karim and president Isac Saminathan, as well as Malaysian Golf Association secretary Datuk Zulkifli Ismail.
Tan Sri Asmat said: “We praise the organisation of this wellmanaged tournament and hope that Malaysia will emerge as champions at the world final next month.
“And, Perodua will continue to support sports development in the country, which is in line with Tourism Malaysia’s promotion of golf tourism,” he added.
Saminathan said: “The success of the tournament in Malaysia is made possible by Perodua, being the title sponsor for eight consecutive years.
“The event has grown from strength to strength and annually, more than a thousand local golfers participate in the qualifying rounds.
“Equally important, winning the honour to represent the country is a great achievement for any sportsman” he added.
Malaysian teams have twice been crowned world champions – in South Africa in 2012 and in Turkey in 2015. The country has also twice finished third – in 2016 and last year.
It is understood that the tournament is likely to be staged in Mexico next year. An announcement on this, or an alternative, is expected at the world final next month.
Tourism Malaysia and Sabah Tourism Board are the main sponsors for this year’s World Amateur Golfers Championship.