5 amateurs get shot to do S'pore proud

For the second year, five amateur golfers will be picked to represent Singapore at the World Amateur Golfers Championship (WAGC) held at the resort courses of Antalya in Turkey in November.

Unlike most other amateur events, the WAGC tournament is played at five different handicap categories, allowing golfers of all abilities the rare chance to represent their country at a prestigious world event.

The handicap categories are: 0 to 5.4, 5.5 to 10.4, 10.5 to 15.4, 15.5 to 20.4 and 20.5 to 25.4.

And for the second year, the national qualifying tournament will be the SPH World Amateur Golfers Championship organised by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH).

Patrick Daniel, editor-in-chief of the SPH's English/Malay/Tamil Media Group, which set up a new unit, SPH Golf, said: "We are delighted to host an event that gives amateurs the rare opportunity to represent Singapore in a major international tournament.

"We finished second overall last year, among 32 international teams. We hope our team can go one better this time."

Three qualifying rounds will be held on Sept 25, Sept 28 and Oct 2 at Sentosa's Serapong course, followed by the national qualifying finals on Oct 14 at the same venue.

Each round will comprise up to 144 golfers across the five handicap categories.

The top 80 qualifiers will advance to the qualifying final, where they will be joined by up to 40 others on a direct entry.

Once the team are picked, the winners will be given coaching by top coach and former Singapore Open winner M. Balraj.

Individual entry fees for the SPH World Golfers Championship Qualifiers are $568, with an early-bird price of $528.

Those who wish to play in the national final directly need to pay $1,288, with limited slots available.

Corporate flights are also available. All the participants will receive goodie bags worth more than $500 each.

The hole-in-one prize for the qualifiers and the final will be a BMWi3 worth $166,800.

All the participants must possess an official handicap that is recognised by the Singapore Golf Association, which has sanctioned the tournament.

To register for the tournament, go to www.tnp.sg/wagc or call Amy on 6319-5915 for more details.

This article was first published on August 6, 2015.
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