In July this year I accompanied Marc Ong and Phoebe Tan (pic below)to the 2010 Junior Open Championship in Scotland. The R&A had invited the leading junior boy and girl from 77nations to compete at this event which was held in the days leading up to The 2010Open Championship. It was an incredible experience for these two young Singaporeans, who had the chance to meet with former Open Champion Paul Lawrie at the tournament's opening ceremony. Once the championship was underway, players were faced with bitterly cold, wet and unbelievably windy conditions....unlike anything you will ever experience in South-East Asia! Both Marc and Phoebe played commendable under these brutally tough conditions, with Marc finishing 18th overall behind Japan's Kenta Konishi and Phoebe (pic below)wrapping up a nice 4th place finish in her division.
Following the final round of the Junior Open Championship, we stayed on as guests of the R&A to follow the action at The 150th Anniversary Open Championship at St Andrews. From watching Tiger play his monday morning practice round (pic below), to Rory McIlroy's incredible opening 63, to supporting Peter Senior as he went on to make the cut at age 50, to Louis Oosthuizen's unlikely yet impressive 7 stroke victory....it was a brilliant week at the Home Of Golf!
During the time we were in Scotland, two of my junior girls, Monica Matsubara (pic below)and Lim Jia Yi were over in the United States competing at the Callaway Junior World Championship. 13yr old Monica had earned herself a place in the tournament after winning the qualifying tournament in California with a sensational round of 73! Playing in the 13-14yr division of the championship, Monica put together rounds 3very consistent rounds to finish T43rd against many girls more than one year older. 14yr old Jia Yi recorded a terrific 2nd round score of 73 but could not maintain her form during the final day's play and slipped back into a tie for 62nd. It was a great experience for these two young girls and no doubt they will have benefitted from playing against many of the world's best junior golfers.
July ended with another fantastic result for the Academy with Marc Ong(pic below)winning the Warren Open Amateur Championship...his first Amateur Title and first World Amateur Ranking Event...all at the age of 14!
In August, Scott Barr stormed home in the final round of the Brunei Open on the Asian Tour with a 7-under par 65, moving him up into a tie for 16th. Scott continued his solid form the following week at the Asian Tour's Worldwide Selangor Masters (pic below)where he recorded a 7th place finish. Scott then teed it up in The Merecedez-Benz Masters Singapore, held at Laguna National Country Club. With rounds of 70,67,73 and 68, Scott finished 10-under par and T5th behind Thailand's Chawalit Plaphol.
The next event in Singapore was the National Amateur Championship held at Tanah Merah Tampines Course. After the strokeplay section of the championship, it was our two 14yr old superstars Marc Ong and Edgar Oh who once again upstaged the older more experienced amateurs with total scores of 1-over and 2-over respectively to lead the top 16 qualifiers through to the matchplay section. Edgar won his opening match but lost his 2nd match on the last hole to National player Johnson Poh. Marc defeated former Academy student Tim Pinnegar in round 1 (pic below)and then fought his way through to the semi-finals against Johnson Poh. Johnson was too strong however and went on to win the final against former Academy student George Foo. Marc then won a thrilling playoff match for 3rd place against Jerome Ng after a 37-hole marathon!
Rounding off the August tournament schedule was the biggest event on the local calendar for Amateurs...The Singapore Open Amateur Championship, held at Warren Golf & Country Club. With some incredible results this year for our juniors Marc Ong and Edgar Oh, we eagerly waited in anticipation to see how these 14yr old future stars of the game would perform against an international field of leading amateurs. After showing great form in preparation for the event, Marc was unfortunately forced to withdraw owing to illness. It was then left to Edgar to demonstrate his talent and he did not fail to disappoint with consistent rounds of 71,73,73 and 74. He held off challenges from some of Asia's most accomplished Amateur golfers to make history in being crowned the youngest ever Singapore Open Amateur Champion! Adding to this amazing achievement, as the Amateur Champion, Edgar (pic below)earns himself a spot to play in the 2010 Barclays Singapore Open!! When he tees it up at Sentosa in November alongside many of the best professional golfers in the world he will again make history as the youngest to have ever qualified for this tournament and one of the youngest to ever play in a European Tour event.
A team of our golfers representing the Singapore Sports School travelled to Jiraprawat Golf Club in August for the 2010 Thai Sports School Games. Lucius Toh and Nadhra Aqilah did us proud by winning the Individual Gold medals in their respective divisions with Tan Yong Jia bringing home a Bronze. In the team event we claimed one Gold and three Silver medals.
In September, Marc Ong and Edgar Oh represented Singapore at the Lion City Cup played in Kuala Lumpur. The Lion City Cup is the junior version of the Putra Cup which sees the very best amateur golfers from South-East Asia compete for the team and individual titles. It was yet another incredible performance from our very own Edgar Oh (pic below)who won the Individual title with a sensational final round 68, beating Jobim Antonio Carlos of the Philippines by 2 strokes. The Singapore team took 3rd place behind Philippines and Thailand.
