Local golf on the upswing buoyed by positive moves

Singapore

ON a slight downwind, Maximus Toh, blasted his tee-shot over an intimidating water stretch on hole 13 on the Tampines course and found the green 360 metres away.

The small gallery wowed in wonderment, even his flightmate-rivals enthused, as the 20-year-old player - nicknamed Max - was elated with his ''bomb'' during the Tanah Merah Country Club's recent Club Championship.

Hiroshi Tai, a 19-year-old Singapore Golf Association national squad member, is mentally strong whenever he gets on the course, assuring golf officials that he represents the future for the sport here.

These are positive vibes, comforting the golf fraternity that the bruised and battered local game, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, is turning the corner after a year of relative inactivity.

A bright backdrop

Stifled by the absence of competitions and strangled by the lack of venues even for one-off events because of the difficulty even club members face in booking flights with no travel, golf faced a bleak future.

But recent developments have given the game a big fillip because all the stakeholders have compromised to seek confluence after being bogged down by confounding mindsets and a discord in ideas among some key officials.

Now, the imposing presence of influential individuals, who have put their money where their mouths are, has provided a bright backdrop.

Leading the charge for positivity are two local businessmen - Kelvin Chng and James Koh - who, in conjunction with the SGA, have launched an eight-leg Singapore Pro Series that tees off on Wednesday.

Presented by Fintech Alliance Global (FTAG), the first event will be held at the Sentosa Golf Club's Serapong course, concluding with the final leg in January 2022, just before the scheduled SMBC Singapore Open.

Eighteen leading local professionals and six amateurs will compete over two days for the S$10,600 prize money in each leg. Each event will count towards the ''Race to FTAG Cup'' with the winner of the Order of Merit receiving a bonus of S$10,000. Mr Chng, the chairman of the Singapore-based venture capitalist FTAG Group, said he was pleased to create a ''sustainable flow'' of local golf tournaments, given the current drought in tournament golf across the region due to the pandemic.

''The series will not only help the development of the game but also provide a platform for Singapore golfers to best prepare for Tour events and major Games,'' he said.

The leading professionals taking part are Mardan Mamat, Choo Tze Huang, Marc Ong, Abdul Hadi, Gregory Foo, Jesse Yap, Koh Dengshan, Joshua Shou, Mitchell Slorach and Quincy Quek (who will skip the first leg due to injury), all of whom had been slated for this year's Singapore Open before its cancellation last January.

The 24-strong field will be completed with six slots to the Singapore Professional Golfers' Association (SPGA), two for woman pros Amanda Tan and Koh Sock Hwee, and six national amateurs.

''I thank the sponsors for the Pro Series. It comes as a blessing to my fellow pros and me who have been out of competitive golf for a year. This series will help us keep in shape throughout the year until the next Singapore Open,'' said Foo.

Chng and Koh aside, two other businessmen - Ju Kai Meng and Tan Teck Kee - have also shown their benevolence with financial support for events, the latter two mainly for SPGA tournaments.

The synergy among the four businessmen in providing cross-backing and the support by clubs such as Sentosa and Tanah Merah during a challenging period of course-availability bode well for the local game which, not too long ago, was staying just above water.