Well it's been a very busy year both on and off the golf course with several of our players recording some terrific results. Here's an update on what's been happening since I last posted some news back in March....
The 9th National Inter-School Championships was held in March at Marina Bay Golf Club. 14yr old Marc Ong fired a superb opening round of 5-under par 67 and followed it up with a second round 74 to comfortably defend his National Schools title. Once again our students from the Singapore Sports School (pic below)dominated the competition, collecting 10 medals.
June was a busy month for junior golf in Singapore with a total of four tournaments being contested. Firstly it was the Singapore Junior Open Golf Championship played at Keppel GC. Marc Ong continued his good form to claim the 12-14yrs title by a massive margin of 10 strokes after rounds of 73,74,75. Marc played his way into contention for the overall title with 6 holes to play but could not quite keep up with Malaysia's Jeremiah Kim and Marc eventually ended in a tie for 3rd place overall against the 15-17yr old boys....a great effort for his age! Marc also paired up with Kok Jo Ee (pic below) to win the team event for Singapore. In the female junior category Dion Lim played consistently well over three days to finish as runner-up in the 12-14yrs division.
The second junior event in the June was the NSRCC Junior Open held at Kranji Sanctuary, and yet again it was Marc Ong walking away with the 12-14yrs title after shooting consistent rounds of 73,75,75. Marc beat fellow student Edgar Oh by a comfortable 8 stroke margin. 14yr old Marc looked set to also win the overall title against the 15-17yr old boys until another of our students, Nicholas Lim played flawless golf on the back nine to record a final round of 3-under par 69, denying Marc of the victory. It was a very impressive ball-striking and putting round for Nicholas who managed to successfully defend the title he won in 2009! Other commendable performances from our boys were recorded by Abdul Hadi (2nd, 15-17yrs) and Billie Pay (3rd, 15-17yrs). In the girls division, Academy student Rachel Lim finished 3 shots clear of fellow student Nadhra Aqilah to claim the overall girls championship....her first major junior tournament victory!
The Faldo Series (an Under-21 event) played over 2 rounds at Raffles Country Club on June 9/10 saw some incredible golf by Academy student Edgar Oh. Edgar was out of action early in the season after suffering from a fractured wrist and had struggled with his game since returning to competitive golf. However this tournament proved no struggle whatsoever for the 14yr old, opening with a 3-under par round of 69 to take a share of the lead with SGA National Squad member Jerome Ng. Playing in the championship group on day 2 with boys nearly 6yrs years his senior, Edgar stayed well composed to get it to 7-under for the championship with 9 holes to play. He dropped a few shots on the back nine but bravely hung in there to post a 1-under par 71...forcing a playoff against Jerome. A brilliant up-and-down on the second playoff hole clinched the victory for Edgar (pic below). Edgar's win has earned himself a spot in The Faldo Series Asia Grand Final to be held in China.
The 4th and final junior tournament in the June holidays was the HSBC Youth Challenge which was once again dominated by our students. Due to bad weather the second day's play was abandoned with Nicholas Lim (pic below far left)being named champion in the 15-17yrs division following his 1st day score of 1-under par 72 at Orchid Country Club. Fellow student Ashwin Bhanu took second place with a 1-over par 74. In the 12-14yrs category it was the two up and coming guns in Singapore golf...Marc Ong and Edgar Oh finishing on a similar score of 2-over par 75, with Marc (pic below far right)being named the champion on a countback. The girls 12-14yrs division was won by Singapore Sports School student Rachel Cheang (pic below right).
