KOTA KINABLU: Winners of qualifying rounds held nationwide over the past few months competed in the national final of the Perodua World Amateur Golfers Championship (WAGC) at Sabah Golf and Country Club on Sunday.
The winners for the five handicap categories were Khalid Jikal, handicap 5 with a score of 72 nett, Nick Voon with handicap 9 scored 73 nett. Hamdan A. Rahman handicap 12 emerged as Medal C champion by hitting a score of 75. Affandi Ag Besar, handicap 7, scored 66 nett while Mohidi Jaan scored 75 nett.
These five amateur golfers will represent Malaysia to compete in the world final of WAGC next month, also in Kota Kinabalu but at four different golf courses.
From Oct 19-26, over 400 top amateur golfers from all over the world will descend on Sabah to compete in the WAGC World Final at the Sutera Harbour Marina Golf & Country Club, Sabah Golf & Country Club, Nexus Golf Resort Karambunai and Dalit Bay Golf & Country Club.
Countries participating in the WAGC are spread across all continents, from North, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania. In each of these participating countries, the number of golfers competing to represent their national teams may number by the hundreds or thousands, making it the largest annual golf tournament globally, which has been held annually since 1995.
By staging the WAGC World Final in Kota Kinabalu this October, tens of thousands of amateur golfers had been eying to visit Sabah this year, either as competitors or supporters. All have one aim in common, that is to win and bring the WAGC crown to their home country and for their national team to return as World Champions.
At the WAGC National Final award presentation on Sunday. Perodua Chairman Tan Sri Asmat Kamaludin congratulated the winners. Also present were Tourism Malaysia Chairman Datuk Ahmad Shah Hussein Tambakau, WAGC Malaysia Patron Datuk A. Sani Karim, WAGC President Isac Saminathan and Malaysian Golf Association Honorary Secretary Datuk Zulkifli Ismail.
The success of WAGC in Malaysia was made possible by Perodua, being the title sponsor for eight consecutive years. The tournament had grown from strength to strength and annually, more than a thousand local golfers wait eagerly to participate in the qualifying rounds. Winning the honour to represent the country is a great achievement for any sportsman.
In previous WAGC, Malaysian teams were twice crowned world champions in South Africa in 2012 and in Turkey in 2015, and twice second runner-up in 2016 and last year. Winning the WAGC this year will be our last chance on home soil as the tournament may be staged in Mexico next year.
“We praise such efforts for a well-managed tournament and hope that Malaysia will emerge as champions at the world tournament. Perodua shall continue to support sports development in the country, in particular golf, which is in line with Tourism Malaysia’s promotion on golf tourism,” Asmat said
Tourism Malaysia and Sabah Tourism Board are also the main sponsors for this year’s WAGC.
