Regional Juniors Set for RSGC-SportExcel Invitational

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Leading juniors from the Southeast Asian region will showcase their talents on the storied fairways of The Royal Selangor Golf Club (RSGC) when the eighth edition of the RSGC-SportExcel Junior Invitational Golf Championship tees off from June 7-9.

Originally known as the RSGC Junior Amateur Open, the championship has been renamed to mark the club’s first collaboration with the Foundation for Malaysian Sporting Excellence, known in short as SportExcel. Established in 1991, SportExcel supports elite development in multiple sports and runs its own junior golf circuit.

For the first time, the championship will be played as an invitational event for leading juniors from the SportExcel circuit, state and club champions, and players from selected Asian countries. Players must be aged 18 years and under and play off handicap indices of 10.6 and below for boys, and 13.4 and lower for girls.

The three-day championship will be played on RSGC’s championship combination of the first nine of the Old Course and second nine of the New Course, known collectively as the East Course. This composite layout has traditionally been used for high-profile tournaments such as the 2016 Maybank Championship.

“RSGC has been supporting junior golf development for many years now. For this year, we wanted to take a step up and get more elite players to participate in the championship, and who better to work with than SportExcel. The juniors will be able to play on a golf course that has lots of heritage and is of championship standard,” said Ezani Abu Bakar, Championship Organising Chairman and RSGC Golf Convenor.

Ezani added that the leading male and female Malaysian players will be sent for an international event in Southeast Asia. “We will be working with the Malaysian Golf Association to identify the events,” he said.

Tournament Director Dr Chew Seng Poh added that the golf course will be set up to provide a worthy test for the elite juniors. “We want to make the golf course challenging for the juniors so they can test their skills and mental strength. The course will be in tip-top condition for the championship and the players can expect fast green speeds, interesting pin placements and challenging rough,” he said.

SportExcel Executive Director C. Sivanandan stressed that the collaboration was one of mutual benefit.

“SportExcel has been around for 32 years now, and we have done a lot   for junior development in golf and other sports. This collaboration is a   great opportunity for us to work with RSGC towards a common interest, which is to develop junior golf in Malaysia. We look forward to a competitive event which will give our juniors an opportunity to showcase their skills and gauge their standards against players from other countries,” said Sivanandan.

Established in 1893, RSGC is the oldest active golf club in Malaysia and is situated in the heart of bustling Kuala Lumpur amidst a backdrop of towering skyscrapers. The club has two parkland 18-hole courses, the Old Course and the New Course, and is widely acknowledged as the most prestigious members’ club in the country. 

Over the years, the club has hosted numerous high-profile tournaments including the Malaysian Open, Putra Cup, Nomura Cup and the Maybank Championship.

To find out more about the RSGC-SportExcel Junior Invitational Golf Championship, go to jao.thersgc.com