KUCHING: Incessant rain had disrupted the second day of the ongoing the PGM-MNRB Sarawak Golf Championship 2017 which was at Damai Golf and Country Club (DGCC) in Santubong Thursday. According to DGCC general manager Roslan Mohd Salleh, the delay was inevitable and due to the advice of the tournament directors who fear the safety aspects of the 63 golfers who are vying top honours in the prestigious event.
“As far as the fairway is concerned it is playable but there is a concern for the safety of players, especially when there is lightning in the rain,” said Roslan on the cause of the delay of play which was scheduled to start at 7:30 am Thursday.
“In fact, we were all ready to tee off but it started to rain just a few minutes before that,” he said on the weather conditions which turned for the worse and forced the event to be delayed until 11am but eventually the players teed off at 2pm. Roslan, however, said the opening day was totally the opposite of what the golfers had experienced earlier and the wet conditions will be a good test for them to experience in managing the challenges posed by the weather as the competition progresses. One of the tournament directors, Ting Bang Kong said the wet weather is nothing unusual considering Sarawak is presently experiencing the monsoon season and generally all of the participants, including those from overseas are fully aware of the situation.
“There is nothing we can do about the weather because it is the monsoon season and the golfers are aware about this,” Ting said on the event which is subjected to the inclement of weather. According to him, the fairways at DGCC are playable during the rain but it is the bunkers which may posed a challenge for the golfers who will have to be extra careful when eyeing for the birdies or par shots.
Organised by Professional Golf Malaysia (PGM), the Sarawak leg of this year’s Asia Development Tour (ADT) event is offering a total prize money of RM200,000 where the overall champion will walk home with RM35,500. Among the competing field are three amateurs including former Sarawak Classic champion, Mohd Lokman Mustaffa and top local professionals Sofian Kepli from Miri and Mohd Azli. So far only Mohd Azli who had competed in seven of the past events held in other states, including the recent one in Sabah and he had confirmed taking part in the Miri leg to be held on Oct 13–15 at Eastwood Golf and Country Club together with Mirian Sopian Kepli.
Lokman is skipping the Miri event in order to compete in the coming 4th Sarawak Grand Golf Championship 2017 at DGCC, where over 100 golfers including top local golfers throughout Sarawak have confirmed their participation in the annual event.
