Driving S'pore golf forward with Lexus

A nervous Brayden Lee, 13, walked into the Singapore Island Country Club (SICC) ballroom yesterday afternoon not knowing what to expect.

After an hour, the Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) student left the room brimming with confidence and showering praises on the Singapore Golf Association (SGA).

The association had just signed a three-year partnership with Borneo Motors (Singapore), the authorised distributor for Lexus on the island, which seeks to promote golf development here with the goal of driving interest and nurturing the next generation of local talents to compete at international level.

Brayden was euphoric yesterday after watching videos of Lexus-sponsored Hideki Matsuyama's historic Masters triumph this month, as well as Singapore's SEA Games team victory in 2017 and James Leow's gold-medal success at the 2019 event.

The Japanese carmaker, which made a big impact in Singapore golf by staging the Lexus Cup here previously, had engaged Masters champion Matsuyama, who won the Asian Amateur Championships in 2010 and 2011 - the second title at SICC - after he turned pro in 2013.

After listening to the speeches and watching the videos, Brayden, who also took to the stage with national golfer Jen Goh, 25, to laud the sponsorship, said: "I see this partnership setting a pathway for me to raise my own standards and take golf to a new level here.

"The sponsorship will enable juniors like me to compete internationally, which will allow me to test my game against the best juniors in the world. This increased tournament exposure and experience will prepare me for major Games."

To elevate competition and engage the community, the partnership sets three programmes: the Singapore Junior Golf Championship 2021, Get Golfing with SGA campaign to introduce golf to the masses (community centres, fields and multi-purpose halls) and the SGA Fundraising Golf Day 2021.

Jasmmine Wong, chief executive officer of Inchcape Greater China and Singapore, said: "Two out of three Lexus customers are avid golfers. In listening to them, we are looking to provide this platform for more family time and bonding by sparking interests in multi-generational golf.

"Together with SGA, we will work towards youth golf development and I will invite our valued Lexus customers on this journey to increase junior golf participation and nurture the next 'Joseph Schooling of Singapore golf'."

Borneo Motors (BM) is also the partner of Olympic swimming champion Schooling in his quest for glory at the Tokyo Games.

Jerome Ng, SGA's general manager said that association has been "reminding ourselves to stay relevant, engaging and dynamic in the way we promote the game of golf in Singapore".

He added that the SGA high performance and junior development programmes are aimed at developing athletes "who go on to be ambassadors of our sport and create a positive impact unto others through sporting and personal excellence".

"The key is to groom champions of life through sport, through golf," said Ng.

Samuel Yong, BM's director for marketing and business strategy, praised the approach, noting: "It is this commitment that led us to work with the SGA, who impressed us with their development programmes and professional approach (which aim) to take the game to new heights after having success on the regional level."

SGA president Ross Tan added: "The rapid development of our high performance and junior development programmes are testimonies of our effort to give golf a new dimension here.

"We have been in talks with Lexus for almost two years now, and I am happy to see this come to fruition."