Winnie Ng Yu Xuan’s victory in the 45th RSGC Ladies Amateur Open continued the national team stalwart’s strong return to competitive golf following a two-month-plus break to focus on her GCSE examinations.
The talented 17-year-old carded rounds of 75, 72 and 70 for two-under-par 217 total at Royal Selangor Golf Club’s East Course (par 73) to claim the prestigious title by one shot from Australia’s Sarah Wilson In addition to the Tuanku Bahiyah Trophy, Ng also took home a gold and diamond necklace worth RM2,500 sponsored by Poh Kong.
Winnie, who has won 15 titles in local amateur competitions since 2015, will be heading to the University of Washington this September on a full golf scholarship.
“I am thrilled and blessed to be among the top players who have won this tournament. I feel awesome as they are great players and being able to maintain my emotions on the course was good enough for me. I hope that I can win titles like the NCAA championships, the Olympics and LPGA Tour,” said Winnie, who won the Selangor Amateur Oen ladies’ title last month.
2018 champion Geraldine Wong of Malaysia finished third on 220, one stroke ahead of compatriots Siti Zulaikhaa Shaari and Warda Amira.
It was a double win for Winnie as she also bagged the gross team title with Siti and Warda for the Malaysian Ladies Golf Association (MALGA).
The Category D World Amateur Golf Ranking event featured 100 from 12 countries including Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Australia. The players competed for four coveted trophies – Tuanku Bahiyah (Gross Champion), Toh Puan Norashikin (Nett Champion), Datin Azian (Team Gross Champion) and Clarissa Lee (Team Nett Champion). 11 players in the field had handicaps of zero and below.
The tournament’s official airline, Malaysia Airlines, offered two return business class tickets to Tokyo as a hole-in-one prize. Each participant will receive a Pilot Parker teddy bear, the official mascot of the airline. The other hole-in-one prizes were a Mercedes-Benz A200 sponsored by NZ Wheels (which was won by Malaysia’s Caitlyn Jane Ambrose in the first round), a Tahitian diamond and South Sea pearl ring worth RM16,000 from La Putri and a Titoni timepiece from ATG Watch.
MKH (Metro Kajang Holdings Berhad) returned as co-sponsor of the championship, as did Poh Kong as main sponsor. The other tournament partners were Impiana KLCC (Official Hotel), 100 Plus (Official Drink), Titoni (Official Timekeeper), Kia (Official Car), the Social Group, Agile, Senheng Electric and Love18.
