Jeev Milka warms up for Saujana

19/01/1999

THE US$750,000 Benson and Hedges Malaysian Open golf championship is
shaping up nicely with nine players who won on the 1998 PGA European Tour
and 14 who snared titles on the Asian PGA Tour confirmed on Feb 4-7.
Although the cut-off date for entries from Europe is on Thursday, some
of the top players in the world have already confirmed.
"Most of the Asian pros will be taking part in the Myanmar Open in
Yangon while the European Tour players will be in the Perth Invitational
next week. So we will only get the full list by Thursday," said a member
of the organising committee yesterday.
But England's Lee Westwood, who won four times on his home circuit, once
in the United States and ended a glittering season with back-to-back
victories in Japan, will not be in Perth.
"Westwood has decided to skip Perth because he got married last week, so
the Malaysian Open will be his first tournament of the year. The crowd
will surely want to see what he can achieve this year."
Westwood, who won the 1997 Malaysian Open title but blew it last year
when he drove an iron shot into the top of a palm tree in sudden-death
play, has scheduled Kuala Lumpur as the first outing since his wedding.
Frankie Minoza, 39, an established player on the Japanese tour and
currently ranked 52nd in the world will make his appearance after the
Myanmar Open. Minoza narrowly missed playing in the President's Cup for
the World team after the most successful season of his career in 1998.
But the man to watch will be India's Jeev Milka Singh, who finished
joint third in the South African PGA championship in Johannesburg on
Sunday.
Singh, who has earned his European Tour card for the second year,
finished tied with Steve Webster, David Frost and Stephen Leaney on eight-
under 280 - seven strokes behind the winner, newly-married South African
Ernie Els.
On the home front, Ali Kadir, who topped the 1998 MPGA Order Of Merit
with wins at the PFP Classic in Johor Baru and Penang Masters for a total
of 1,597 points, will lead the Malaysian challenge.
Ticket sales, introduced for the first time since the inception of the
Open in 1962, have been slow but the organisers are confident of a sellout
crowd after the festive holidays.
Saujana Golf and Country Club, venue for the second straight year, will
charge RM10 for the first two days while the third and final day will be
RM20. There is also a package deal of RM35 on a first-come-basis.
Tickets, which went on sale three days ago, are available at all leading
golf clubs while plans are afoot to set up stalls at strategic locations
in the Klang Valley.
The promising field also includes Warren Bennett of England, who won
three times on the European Challenge Tour on his way to top place on the
rankings and an automatic spot on the main tour for 1999.
Malaysian Open defending champion Ed Fryatt of England captured the
China Open during 1998 and Korea's Kang Wook-soon, top money earner on the
Asian PGA Tour, won consecutive events - the Hong Kong Open and the
season-ending Hong Kong PGA championship.
Chris Williams of England also entered the winner's enclosure twice on
the Asian PGA Tour. He lifted the Volvo Masters of Malaysia and the
Singapore PGA championship.
The Malaysian Open will also be part of the PGA European Tour and with
vital Ryder Cup points on offer, anybody who is a somebody in golf would
want to give it a miss.
(END)

MLBF target six medals in Brunei Games

17/01/1999

THE Malaysian Lawn Bowls Federation (MLBF) yesterday unveiled a three-year
programme, and their immediate target is six medals at Brunei Sea Games in
August.
"Winning six medals at the Sea Games is not beyond the reach of our
athletes because we have already developed a base during the Commonwealth
Games.
"The challenge will be to sustain the sport in the long run," said MLBF
president Tan Sri Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid yesterday.
The three-year programme, developed with the help of the National Sports
Council (NSC) who have also pledged to help financially, will be put to
test when the bowlers take to the Brunei greens.
"Thailand and Brunei have a long history in the sport but they are not
expected to pose any serious challenge. We are only wary of Singapore, who
have a good women's side."
Brunei do not have a lawn bowls stadium and the lack of natural greens
may force them to lay an artificial turf because of time constraints.
The national team took a break after the Commonwealth Games and will
only resume training after Hari Raya to prepare for the Sea Games in
August and the Asia Pacific championship which Malaysia will host in
September.
In the year 2000, there is the women's World Bowls in New South Wales,
Australia in March and the men's World Bowls in Johannesburg in April.
"We have decided to do away with centralised trainings and will instead
concentrate on weekend training, which is expected to be more fruitful.
For this year, we have marked 84 days for training at the Bukit Kiara
greens," said Ahmad Sarji.
A four-nation meet is also on the cards as well as a tour of Perth to
prepare for the Sea Games.
MLBF have decided to do away with foreign expertise on a full-time
basis.
For the three-year blueprint to produce results, MLFB will need at least
RM1 million.
(END)

Sandrine not defending her crown

16/01/1999

DEFENDING champion Sandrine Mendiburu of France is not among the entries
submitted for the US$70,000 Kosaido Malaysian Open women's golf
championship at Glenmarie Golf and Country Club on Jan 28-30.
In her absence, Chung Il Mi of South Korea, winner of the 1998 Asian
circuit Order of Merit, will be the player to watch in the tournament.
Australian Lorraine Lambert, runnerup at last year's Open, has also
confirmed her entry. Il Mi finished third last year behind Sandrine and
Lorraine.
Irene Yeoh and Lim Siew Ai, who finished fourth and fifth in the last
edition, will shoulder Malaysia's challenge.
"Their achievements have boosted the standard of women's golf in this
country," said organising committee chairperson Tunku Jawahir at a Press
conference in Petaling Jaya yesterday.
Besides Siew Ai and Irene, the other Malaysian entries include Lim Ai
Lian, who won the amateur category in 1997, Koe Lai Yin, Mary Ting, Nyana
Kalaiwani, Maritah Broberg and Datin Rahmah Arshad.
The championship, third leg of the Asian women's circuit, has attracted
85 pros and eight amateurs.
"The first and second legs will be held in Taipei and Manila
respectively while the last two will be in Jakarta and Bangkok," said
Tunku Jawahir who is also Malaysian Ladies Golf Association (MALGA)
president.
Japan will parade 36 golfers followed by the United States and South
Korea (7), Sweden (6).
Some of the top names are Tina Fischer (Germany), Lara Tadiotto
(Belgium), Mary Grace Estuesta (Philippines), Nicola Moult, Wendy Dicks
and Johanne Head (England) and Stephanie Dallongeville and Ludivine Kreutz
(France).
(END)

No appearance fees, no Monty

15/01/1999

THE issue of appearance fees may be the reason why Malaysian golf fans
won't enjoy the privilege of watching European No 1 Colin Montgomerie in
action at the US$750,000 (RM2.85mil) Benson and Hedges Malaysian Open
championship on Feb 4-7.
Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke, who have both confirmed for the date at
Saujana Golf and Country Club, were offered appearance fees. Montgomerie
wasn't.
"Westwood and Clarke have always received an appearance fee to play in
Malaysia. However, Montgomerie was not approached," said a member of the
organising committee.
Montgomerie, Europe's top money winner for the last four years, is
expected to play in the US$1 million Dubai Desert Classic to be held a
week after the Malaysian Open.
Westwood, Europe's No 2, and Clarke, who is No 3, will join 65 other
European pros in the tournament, which is the fourth leg of the European
Tour this year.
The Open, founded in 1962, was previously aligned to the Asian Tour.
The Asian challenge in the Open this year could come from South Korea's
Kang Wook-soon, last season's top money winner in the Asian PGA Tour.
Kang will join the likes of Frankie Minoza of the Philippines and
India's Jeev Milka Singh as Asia's best hopes.
Kang won the final two strokeplay events on the 1998 Asian PGA Tour -
the Hong Kong Open and the Omega PGA championship - to edge last year's
Malaysian Open champion Ed Fryatt of England in the race for the Order of
Merit.
Fryatt, who beat Westwood in a thrilling playoff last year, has also
confirmed his entry for the event, which is co-sanctioned by the Asian PGA
and European PGA Tours.
The other challengers from the Asian PGA include China's No 1 Zhang
Lian-wei and Thai stars Boonchu Ruangkit and Prayad Marksaeng.
Also on the list are South Korean veteran Park Nam-sin, Lu Wen-Teh and
Lin Keng-chi of Taiwan.
Ali Kadir, M. Ramayah, Danny Chia and P. Gunasegaran will be gunning for
the title which has always eluded Malaysian golfers.
Kang's victories at the HK Open and Omega PGA brought his number of
titles to four and placed him second in the Order of Merit. On the money
list, he came out tops with US$150,771.
His performance dipped alarmingly after his Tour triumph in 1996 but
weight training and a full recovery from a string of injuries helped him
climb up the ladder.
Asia's golfing record books were rewritten when Kang won the Omega PGA
championship, making him the first player to win the Order of Merit twice
and also the first to record back-to-back Tour victories.
Completing a remarkable end to the year, the unassuming South Korean won
by three shots from Taiwan's Hsieh Chin-sheng with a final round four-
under 66 for a four-round aggregate of 17-under 263.
(END)

Kiara greens are here to stay

12/01/1999

WHEN the Sports Ministry proposed that a lawn bowls stadium be built for
the Commonwealth Games, many felt it was a waste of time and money.
But lawn bowls defied all odds, holding their own against Australia,
South Africa and Scotland, to land a deserved silver and two bronze medals
at the Kuala Lumpur Games to justify the greens at Bukit Kiara.
Now it looks like the sport is here to stay and they have another chance
to prove their worth at the Brunei Sea Games in August.
Lawn bowls, traditionally a Commonwealth Games sport, will make its Sea
Games debut in Brunei and Malaysia are expected to grab the bulk of the
medals at stake.
And when Malaysia host the Sea Games in 2001, the stadium will again be
put to good use.
Malaysian Lawn Bowls Federation (MLBF) vice-president Razak Hitam is
optimistic of a good showing in Brunei.
"The president (Tan Sri Ahmad Sarji) will unveil a blueprint which will
chart the future of lawn bowls right up to the year 2008," he said.
"Many felt that after spending so much on the sport for the Commonwealth
Games, the Federation have slowed down their efforts.
"For the record, we took a well deserved break after the KL Games and
will start our Sea Games preparations after the Hari Raya holidays."
The National Lawn Bowls Centre is part of the RM26 million Bukit Kiara
Sports Complex which also houses netball's Stadium Juara. The fully-lit
centre has five greens.
Maintenance of the centre amounts to RM20,000 a month and this includes
grass-cutting, manuring and curing of the greens and workers' salaries.
The public are not familiar with this sport although it was played
during British rule of Malaya and was still popular after independence
among the expatriates.
In the 50s, the Royal Australian Air Force base in Butterworth was one
of the most popular sites for lawn bowls. When a stadium was built for the
sport at Bukit Kiara, world champions Scotland and the South Africans were
caught by surprise - for even they didn't have one!
Despite the lack of awareness in Malaysia and the Malaysian Lawn Bowls
Federation being formed only in 1992 to oversee Malaysia's participation
in the KL Games, our lawn bowlers played like veterans to land the medals
and `re-introduce' the sport.
Former Sports Minister Datuk Annuar Musa mooted the idea of constructing
26 greens to popularise the sport back in 1994 after Malaysia won the bid
to host the Commonwealth Games. The estimated cost then was about RM10
million.
Greens were installed in each State and each university, and one each
for the Police, Armed Forces and another at the Kampung Pandan Sports
Centre.
But after the KL Games, interest in the sport waned and even the
contract of foreign coach Robbie Dobbins was terminated. This short-
sighted approach in planning is retrogressive for the sport.
Lawn bowlers who took part in the KL Games took a long rest and some
have left the sport to concentrate on their careers.
But it is still not too late since MLBF are ready to implement a
comprehensive programme to enable the national players to keep in touch
with the game.
Malaysia will bid to host the 2008 World Bowls championship. The World
Bowls 2000 will be held in South Africa while Scotland will host World
Bowls 2004.
Malaysia will also host the Asia-Pacific Games in September.
The plus factor in lawn bowls is that to be a world champion, you need
not have strong arms, a powerful build or be physically perfect.
It would be a shame if the lawn bowlers stop at this stage after all the
hard work and sacrifice done for the KL Games.
(END)