Sending a team of 13 of our finest players, both men and women, to the 2017 South-east Asian Amateur Golf Team Championship held Indonesia at the Gading Raya Padang Golf & Club, the team bonded over a week at this prestigious tournament. A tournament where 4 events run concurrently – 57th Putra Cup, 11th Lion City Cup, 9th Santi Cup and 5th Kartini Cup, its rich history makes it one the South-east Asia majors for amateurs.
Team Singapore played four rounds of golf in both individual and team events, where our SEA Games boys represented for the Putra Cup, Brandon Han, Tommy Tan and Andre Chong for Lion City Cup, Vanessa Khoo, Callista Chen and Nicole Mok for Santi Cup and Shannon Tan, Inez Ng an Hailey Loh for Kartini Cup.
In the individual event, Ong and Foo’s victory for the SEA Games did not lead on to the Putra Cup as both players took 3rd and 4th position behind Thailand’s Kosuke Hamamoto and Sadom Kaewkanjana who shot an impressive (65, 64, 68, 67) 24-under and (66, 66, 67, 67) 22-under respectively. Ong and Foo returned both 18-under with Ong winning on count back. Ho was not far behind with (64, 69, 68, 71) 16-under and winning best score for day 1, while Shou finished with (69, 72, 71, 72) 4-under to place 17th. Team Singapore came in second for the Team event, 9 strokes behind the Thais.
Our up and coming boys competed in the Lion City Cup, where a rough start for the team lead to a 4th place finish in the team event behind Indonesia, Malaysia and the champions, Thailand. Chong wrapping up the week with (76, 71, 72, 71) 2-over to place 6th, Tan with (80, 81, 73, 70) 16-over to finish 13th and Han at 15th with (80, 70, 79, 77) 18-over.
For the ladies, Team Thailand swiped up the Team and individual wins, with Atthaya Thitikul leaving the field in her dust with a fantastic (70, 69, 67, 64) 18-under. Her counterpart, Manuschaya Zeemakorn fired a (65, 69, 70, 72) 12-under to place second while Indonesia’s Patricia Sinolungan shot 10-under to finish 3rd. Team Singapore saw some fresh faces in this event, where they struggled to keep afloat. Chen’s consistent play of (74, 74, 74, 73) 7-over placed her at 9th, Mok’s (83, 78, 76, 73) 22-over sat her at 13th position and Khoo wrapped up with 32-over (80, 80, 79, 81) to finish 15th.
Last but not least, the Kartini Cup girls too had a hard time catching up with the Thais, as they triumphed with Tunrada Piddon racking in (69, 67, 66, 71) 15-under to fellow countrymen, Kan Bunnanbodee whose (71, 70, 67, 72) 8-under was not enough to make the chase. Loh and Ng finished bottom of the field, with 21-over while Tan withdrew after day 3.