Five Sabah players qualify for WAGC National Grand Final
KOTA KINABALU: Khalid Jikal leads a list of five Sabah players who qualified for the National Grand Final of the World Amateur Golf Championships (WAGC), which will be happening here in September.
Khalid carded a four-over 76 to win Division A (0-5 handicap) at the qualifying round held at the Dalit Bay Golf and Country Club in Tuaran on Sunday.
Accompanying Khalid through is Division B (6-10 handicap) winner, Nick Voon (67), Sainuddin Dullah (67) from Division C (11-15 handicap), Raymond Alfred (71) from Division D (16-20 handicap) and Bahrul Sahibu (66) from Division E (21-25 handicap).
The tournament, which attracted 80 players, was the fourth out of 12 National Qualifying Rounds scheduled throughout the country.
Another qualifying round was held recently at the Sabah Golf (April 28). The same club will be hosting another round on June 23. There will also be two more qualifying rounds at the Sutera Harbour Golf and Country Club on June 29 and Nexus Golf Resort Karambunai on August 3.
Upon completion of all 12 qualifying rounds, 60 players will go through to compete in the National Grand Finals slated for September 15.
However, organisers Delta Trend Golf & Leisure Holidays have yet to finalise on which club/ course will host the prestigious championship.
Five champions (based on handicap group) will be determined at the National Grand Final. They will represent Malaysia at the WAGC 2019 World Final, which is expected to gather players from 40 countries.
The WAGC 2019 World Final will be held at SHGCC, NGRK, DBGCC and SGCC beginning October 19-26.
The tournament which is organised by the Malaysian Golf Association continues its eightyear partnership with Perodua as the tournament's title sponsor.
Also showing support for the tournament are the Malaysian Youth and Sports Ministry, Tourism Malaysia and Sabah Tourism Board.
The organisers have also partnered with Malaysia Airlines and Sutera Harbour Resort to cater for air travel and accommodation needs of all the tournament's participants.
Other sponsors include Albatrozz, Malaysia Biotropics, the Club House, COWA Coconut Water, nu-caffe Tongkat Ali, nuprep Lelaki, Zurich and Titoni Switzerland.
This is Malaysia's third consecutive hosting of the World Final since it was incepted in 1995 and the first time is being held in Sabah.
WAGC World president-cumDelta Trend Golf & Leisure Holidays managing director Isac Saminathan, officiated at the prize presentation ceremony on Sunday together with Shangri-La's Rasa Ria Resort general manager Alfons Olim and organising chairman Lokman Ishak.