109th Amateur Open in Malacca

THE Malaysian Golf Association (MGA) will be
organising the prestigious 109th Malaysian Amateur
Open in Malacca on May 19-22 at the A’Famosa Golf
Resort.
Attracting participants mainly from the
Asia-Pacific region, Malaysian contenders are no
more accorded automatic entry as they are required
to qualify through the Sabah Amateur Open,
Sarawak Amateur Open and Malaysian Amateur
Close tournaments.
“The MGA is working towards achieving the target
of having Malaysian champions in both the
men’s and the newly launched women's division. It
has been a while since we’ve had a Malaysian
name engraved on the championship trophy,” said
MGA President, Datuk Robin Loh.
“As locals no longer enjoy automatic entry, the MAO
is a culmination of the qualifying rounds
for the Peninsular (45th Malaysian Amateur Close
scheduled for April 5-7), Sabah Amateur Open
(April 22-24) and Sarawak Amateur Open (May
13-15).”
Since its inauguration in 1894, the Malaysian
Amateur Open Golf Championship has gone through
several transformations in name, challenge
trophies, title sponsors and format of play.
This will be only the third edition that will include a
women's division after it was introduced at
the 107th Malaysian Amateur Open at the Kelab
Golf Sarawak in 2009.
R. Nachimuthu was the last Malaysian to have won
the title when the championship was held at
the Kelab Golf Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah in 1997.
There have been several near-misses for our
players as was the case with Iylia Jamil finishing
runner-up to champion Mhark Fernando
of the Philippines at the Damai Laut Golf & Country
Club last year.
In the ladies’ division, 17-year-old Thidapa
Suwannapura from Thailand overcame a
threestroke
deficit in the final round to clinch the title by two
shots over compatriot Yupaporn
Kawinpakorn with our national player Kelly Tan
finishing third in the 2010 edition.