GA_googleAddSlot("ca-pub-1197233282945943", "Star_Sports_Skyscraper");

Sports

Friday November 20, 2009

SEA Games Golf Club an uncharted ground for Malaysians

MALAYSIAN golfers will tread on unfamiliar ground when they compete at the newly-built SEA Games Golf Club in Vientiane.

The club was built by a Korea-based company, Booyoung, in exchange for a 50-year lease before it is handed back to the Laos government and it has the first championship course in the country.

And none of the teams will be allowed to train on the course other than the allotted prac­tice sessions before competition begins on Dec 11.

Coach Faridil Atras, who is in charge of the Malaysian women’s team, said that they would not be making any pre-SEA Games visit to check out the course.

“They have just opened the course on Oct 27 and none of the team can make bookings for practice rounds,” he said.

“All teams will be on a level playing field but Thailand will definitely start as favourites as they won the Putra Cup (for men) and Santi Cup (for women) in Chiang Rai a few months back. If we can competitive against the Thais, we have a good chance to challenge even for the gold.”

Knowledge of the set-up of the course was gained through a Malaysian connection in local official A.S. Khamis, who was the advisor to the Laos Golf Association in the organising of the SEA Games competition.

The information gleaned is that the course is quite challenging as the fairways are lined up with trees. It is not surprising as jungle land was cleared to construct the course.

“The golfers spent more time at the Royal Selangor Golf Club in Kuala Lumpur as it has a similar course set-up,” said Faridil, who added the team also train at the Seri Selangor Golf Club in Petaling Jaya.

Both the men’s and women’s squad have been undergoing centralised training since Nov 2.

For the women’s team, comprising Ainil Johani Bakar, Michelle Koh and Kelly Tan, the Malaysian Golf Association want them to win a silver in the team and bronze in the individual. The target for the men is a bronze in both the team and individual events.

At the last Games in Korat, Malaysia bagged two bronze medals through Akhmal Tarmizee and Ainil in the individual competitions.

  • E-mail this story
  • Print this story

Sports Poll