Golf
As early as August 1948, it was suggested that the Club might as well start training the future champions while they are young and so save them the trials through which many of the Members hack their way! The assignment fell to the lot of Tom Verity who had just a few months before completed the enormous task of restoration and rehabilitation of all the 4 courses that were “mutilated” during the War – an assignment which Tom readily accepted, being the conscientious golf professional that he was.
That was an initiation, at best an exploratory one. Subsequently there are no records of any further progress nor reports on the emergence or discovery of any champion arising therefrom.
Junior Golf Clinic in 1998
The concept and intention to have a Junior Development Programme had been bandied around for quite some time. But it was not until mid-1998 during Tan Bock Hay’s watch that a Junior Golf Clinic was set up, free of charge, to promote golf among the juniors, under the tutelage of our Resident Professional Eshak Bluah and V. Rasinderen. A couple of years later, the Golf Clinic evolved into the Junior Golf Development Programme, managed by the Golf Convenor Bobby Ong and sponsored by DHL Express Service. The response was very encouraging, as a total of about 90 young enthusiastic golfers signed up with a weekly attendance of about 60% for every session – so much so that the 2 coaches could hardly cope without the assistance of our hands-on Committee member Mohd Azlan Mohammed, himself an accomplished golfer.
Indeed, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The very next year in 2001, Henry Chiew and Carl Lai did the Club proud by acquitting themselves well in junior competitions. Before long, Henry tasted his first success in the inaugural RSGC/DHL Junior Golf Tournament on 13th September 2002. Forty-seven juniors from 5 clubs all over the country took part. Our girls also did quite well with Nik Hizwa Jasmin, Eunice Tan and San Ai Ling winning the Team Event and Nik Hizwa Jasmin being placed third in the Girls’ Individual.
It was a poignant moment for the RSGC juniors when they stepped up to receive their prizes. Eshak, affectionately known as “Coach”, had passed on 9 days earlier. Despite this setback and the sadness that prevailed among the RSGC youngsters, they bravely soldiered on – “the way Coach would have wanted us to!” Henry went on to better things, winning the Club’s Piala Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra in 2004 at the age of 19, and again in 2006 stamping his dominance for another Piala.
Carl Lai too enjoyed considerable success with a 3rd placing in the 2001 Volkswagen Junior Classic held in Singapore and a 4th in the 100 Plus “Champion of Champions” held at KGSAAS. Carl started relatively late at age 16 in 2000 and amazingly whittled down his handicap to 4 after less than a year. A hole-in-one, after only 4 months into the game, must have helped a little! He went on to score 2 more aces in later years – all at the RSGC.
After a hiatus from 2003-2010 when he had to prioritize his university studies and embark on a career, he found time to continue from where he left off and shot a career best 65 at Melbourne’s Yarra Bend, a par 70 course. And to cap it all he finally landed the big one – the Club Championship in 2015.
Unfortunately, DHL’s sponsorship came to an end in late 2002. Our Member Chong Chee Ming who had turned professional a few years after winning the Club Championship, came to the rescue and offered to run the Programme for free for the next few years, every Sunday morning from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Practice Range. Additional activities included the staging of Monthly Medals and also a Parent/Child greensome competition on the Suleiman Course, which proved very popular and ideal for family bonding.
Nicholas and his Dad Tay Ah Lek
At the Annual Junior Golf Competition held on 1 August 2004, Gregory Eu successfully defended his title, beating Naquib Hashman. Nik Hizwa Jasmin won the Girls’ title from Eunice Tan.
In the years that followed, under the tutelage of Chong Chee Ming, the accolades among the boys were shared between Lim Xu Xiang, Hazwan Ashraff and Ariff Imran Roose. Among the girls, San Ai Ling continued her good work after which the Wong sisters, Ai Dee and Ai-Vee, took over.
A former Committee Member, Mustapha “Taffy” Hussein, in his delightful perfect English (not Welsh!) where every consonant is clearly articulated (just like Leslie Howard, Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews, Hugh Grant…), chipped in “…. for the first time in our history, we were actively seeking good quality sponsorship which would aid us in preserving our great clubbing events. All our tournaments and inter-club matches as well as other activities would then benefit from having a healthy budget.
2016 Champions: (Left to right) Gregory Eu, Jamie Flynn and Khor Min Li
Through the concerted efforts of our Captain Mohd Azlan Mohammed, RSGC managed to find the perfect partner for the coming years. AmBank Bhd, with our Member Tan Sri Azman Hashim at its helm and a personal friend of Azlan’s, had agreed to be our sponsor from 2011 to 2016 for the majority of our tournaments and events. What was not generally known was that the key to attaining the sponsorship was that we were focused, as was AmBank, on the development of Junior golf. In fact, in the years to come, one could say that the RSGC Junior Amateur Open was Ambank’s marquee event.
More importantly the club now has the budget to initiate a Junior Programme which was intended to provide good golf instruction and to generate a fun and safe environment for the children of our members to engage with each other.
The challenge then was to find an outfit that would be able to provide the best package which would consist of both the Junior Development Programme and the regular driving range and teaching services for RSGC. A selection process was carried out by the Sports Sub-committee which was chaired by the Captain himself. Juara Dunia Sdn Bhd, under Rajah Kelly, was awarded the contract as they had offered the most in return in terms of service, instruction and experience with respect to the budget we proposed. It should be noted that Juara Dunia at the time were also running junior programs at KGPA and KGNS…..”
A special 2-day coaching session, sponsored by a Member, was conducted in October 2011 by Kevin Smeltz, a Director of Instruction from the David Leadbetter Golf Academy. Both days attracted keen interest from the Juniors and Members alike. That year also saw the emergence of Khor Min Li, who was to dominate the Girls Division for the next few years. Among the boys, honours continued to be shared between Ariff Imran and Hazwan with a bunch of newbies in Aimen Sho, Hui Yong Sherng, Leong Chun Yan and Mikhail Merican.
In his rookie year as Junior Development Convenor in 2013, Taffy managed to convince TC to further encourage the juniors to participate in Men’s and Ladies’ club competitions as long as they were qualified to do so based on their golf handicap, irrespective of their age. Prior to that, promising youngsters were only allowed to take part after special permission is obtained from the Committee. As if right on cue, 16 year-old Imran Teh partnering a senior Member, won the Tom Morris Baffy that year and followed it up a couple of months later with a more impressive victory in the Hisamuddin Alam Shah Trophy against seasoned golfers from a number of other clubs in the Klang Valley.
Regrettably, this decision to allow juniors who qualify to participate without having to seek permission, was not filtered down to the Sports Department – resulting in juniors still having to seek permission from 2014 onwards. Thankfully, this “breakdown in communication” has finally been rectified recently and is now set in stone!
Ariff Imran continued his winning ways in the 2014 Annual Junior Championship despite competing against some “rising stars” in Leong Chun Yan, Aimen Sho, Justin Chan and a fast-improving 11 year-old named Nicholas Mark Tay. As part of the RSGC’s push to enhance junior golf, the Junior Triangular tournament had been initiated in 2013 with participating teams from Kelab Golf Perkhidmatan Awam (KGPA), KGNS and RSGC. In the second outing the following year, the RSGC team was again beaten. However Leong Chun Yan salvaged some pride for us by winning the individual event with a gross score of 78!
There is no doubt the JGDP is a great success, as attested by the achievements of those who took part in it. The earlier graduates Henry Chiew, Carl Lai and Gregory Eu followed soon after by Hui Yong Sherng, Ariff Imran, Azwan Ashraff and lately the precocious Nicholas Mark Tay, have all acquitted themselves well in Men’s and Open amateur competitions. All of them are low single handicappers ranging from 0 to 5. Yong Sherng in particular has the distinction of having attained a 2.5 handicap index sometime ago and is currently at 0, as are Gregory Eu and teenager Nicholas Mark Tay. And there are a host of others in their early teens – the likes of Daniel Tok, Jordan Ooi, Jamie Flynn, Ryan Lee, Aiden Kei and Justin Chan – who are hovering at “sixes and sevens” (certainly not the confused or disorganised kind!) in their golf handicaps – all waiting in the wings!
About ten years ago, Members enjoying their apres-golf at the Golfers’ Terrace in the evenings on weekends, could not help but notice and marvel at a little boy, all of 4 feet or perhaps a bit more, diligently putting with deep concentration on the practice green, right until sundown. He would invariably conclude the evening’s performance with an entertaining “Tiger-Woods” display of flawless ball-control, by tapping and keeping the ball in the air with a wedge, over and under his legs as a variation, before his father would then whisk him away—lest the mosquitos make a meal out of him.
Nicholas Mark Tay was placed in the JGDP at the age of 5 in 2007, initially as a means of distracting him from his football, which he merrily kicked around in his home, inevitably breaking vases, pots and household gadgets – much to his mother’s displeasure. Under the watchful eyes of the amiable Chong Chee Ming, Nicholas never looked back and before long he was good enough to participate in junior competitions, earning a wild card for the inaugural AmBank RSGC Junior Amateur Open. It was his first experience playing off the championship tee for the 10 yearold. Representing the RSGC in the Klang Valley Junior Golf Circuit (under 12 category) that same year, he won the Order of Merit. He followed that up with another win in the Sabah International Junior Masters title (under 12 category) the next year. He also received a FALDO young player medal to wrap up his achievements as an 11 yearold at the Cambodia Faldo Series Championship.
An unfortunate knee injury forced him to ease off training for about 2 years. Notwithstanding that setback he still managed to be runner-up in the 2015 and 2016 RSGC Junior Club Championship. Not to be denied again the third time, he came back swinging (so to speak) in 2017 at the age of 14 years 3 months to be RSGC Junior Champion after a play-off with Robin Metzger, and repeated that feat in 2018, defeating Daniel Tok by a whopping 6 strokes.
Recently he took part in the Kids Golf World Championship held at Tanjong Puteri Golf Resort on 17th21st December 2018 where there were more than 300 juniors from 25 countries including great golfing nations like the United States, Great Britain, Scotland, Australia, Japan, Philippines, South Africa and South Korea, just to name a few. Sixteen year-old Nicholas, playing in the 15-18 age group, did Malaysia proud with a 3rd placing, being one of only 3 Malaysian juniors who managed a 2016 Champions: (Left to right) Gregory Eu, Jamie Flynn and Khor Min Li podium finish in other age groups.
2018 Junior Girl Champion: Kelly Low
And he did that with limited practice while preparing for his Cambridge IGCSE exams!
Nicholas is not just a champion in the junior ranks. In fact he has been knocking at the door in Men’s competitions the past couple of years. In the RSGC Club Championship he qualified for the knock-out rounds in both 2017 and 2018 and also did well, albeit without winning, at the 2018 Kuala Lumpur Amateur Open with scores of 81, 71 and 74 – not too far off from his all-time best scores of 69 and 70 in other competitions
The level of golf among the girls (as well as the ladies) is not quite up to the mark of the boys as evidenced by the marked disparity in their respective golf handicaps. Even so, the girls’ competitions are no less exciting especially when contested among the likes of Kelly Low, Khor Min Li, Nur Sabrina, Dania Lau, Julia Talvela and a couple of others – all of whose handicaps range from 10 to 14 – who have been dominating tournaments in recent years.
The latest 2018 Junior Club championship was a thriller. At the end of the first day, Min Li being by far the more experienced, handled the soft ground better and led by 2 strokes, ahead of the diminutive 13 year-old Kelly Low. The second day, in glorious sunshine, the battle heated up, with the lead changing after almost every hole. Dania Lau (daughter of golf professional Lawrence Lau Wing Fook, a gifted sportsman who used to rule the roost in RSGC tennis some 20 years ago and who subsequently discovered he was even better at golf), 4 strokes adrift after the first day, doughtily ground her way to overhaul Min Li and led by one stroke towards the end – only to be swamped by the feisty Kelly Low who charged home to pip her at the post in a grandstand finish.
In line with the steady development of the JGDP, the appointment of a Junior Captain in April 2017, was timely and well received. The honour of being the first, went to Khor Min Li who has since 2011, been a shining example to all not only as a young champion golfer but more importantly as a decorous, articulate and highlyintelligent girl, well-respected by her peers and admired by Members who know her.
Unsurprisingly, the Garden International School where she recently completed her secondary education with sterling results, has also recognized her qualities by positioning her as the school’s principal violinist and the girls’ golf captain where she successfully hosted two golf competitions in RSGC for Kuala Lumpur’s international school students.
Some months ago, Min Li was hand-picked as a recipient of the highly-coveted ASEAN Undergraduate Scholarship for her excellent academic and extracurricular achievements. She has recently commenced her studies at Yale–NUS College where her current interest lies in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
The Captain’s swing
“RSGC has undeniably left its mark on me. I’ve been given many opportunities to develop my golf skills and meet other golfers from around the region, which I greatly appreciate. Through this, and more recently, the captaincy, I’ve matured and become a much more confident person, which has helped with my college applications. In fact, the very first question during my Yale– NUS interview was about my golf captaincies! ….. No matter where I go, I’ll always remember RSGC and all the memories and friends that I’ve made ….”
The JGDP would certainly love to take a modicum of credit from Min Li’s generous words of appreciation, but in all candour, it is unquestionably her devoted father Yew Teik and mother Swee Ai who have been her pillars of support in moulding her into the fine person she is today.
With the departure of Min Li to Singapore, the baton was passed on to another equally impressive youngster in November 2018. Nicholas Mark Tay, like Min Li, joined the JGDP at a very young age and took to golf like a duck to water, amassing a basketful of medals and junior golf trophies within a few years. His parents’ total dedication to his progress knew no bounds: it saw them accompanying him to international tournaments in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Scotland and the United States during his school vacations, where he made many new friends and gained invaluable experience.
Other than golf, Nicholas also plays the violin, football (not in his home this time!) and basketball. He also loves swimming, running and reading, especially about cars. And yet somehow, he finds the time to study and do very well in his external exams. Like Min Li, he too is one of the outstanding students from the Garden International School. When interviewed recently, Nicholas was self-effacing and made light of his achievements by attributing everything to his parents’ (his father Tay Ah Lek and mother Cecilia) selfless efforts and expressing his gratitude to the JGDP, in particular to his coach Chong Chee Ming who kindled his interest and then fanned his enthusiasm thereafter.
Besides these two – the Past Junior Captain and current Junior Captain, there are also quite a number of graduands and graduates from the JGDP who have excelled not only in golf but have also turned out to be well-moulded and levelheaded useful citizens. A just and well-deserved reward for their parents’ self-sacrifice and ardour for their children – and perhaps, a tiny feather in the cap for the JGDP!
Credit to YK Liew – Excerpt from the book ‘The RSGC: Veritably A Royal Heritage’
