S'pore 2nd in World Amateur C'ship

From left: Frankie Lim, Willy Teo, Patrick Goh, Sushminder Singh and Ron Totton are all smiles as Team Singapore repeat their runners-up finish in 2014.
From left: Frankie Lim, Willy Teo, Patrick Goh, Sushminder Singh and Ron Totton are all smiles as Team Singapore repeat their runners-up finish in 2014. PHOTO: THE NEW PAPER

Another sparkling set of performances helped Team Singapore finish second at the World Amateur Golfers Championship in Antalya, Turkey on Friday.

The quintet - Ron Totton, Sushminder Singh, Patrick Goh, Willy Teo and Frankie Lim - entered the final round ahead by five strokes.

But a combination of illness and injury allowed arch-rivals Malaysia to push ahead and win.

Said team captain S. Murali: "I could see the disappointment etched on all their faces...

"But I told the team that they had played fantastic golf to put themselves in the top two."

Malaysia won with a combined total of 851 strokes, seven better than Singapore. Vietnam finished third.

A total of 35 teams competed.

Totton, who played in Division A (handicap 0-5), suffered a freak finger injury prior to the first round, and was unable to grip his club properly in the first two rounds. Still, the BT Telecoms (South-east Asia) CEO managed to shoot rounds of 78, 73 and 70.

Another player to suffer a bad injury was Division E (handicap 20-25) representative Lim.

After carding nett rounds of 69 and 67, he slipped and fell on the driving range before his final round after encountering some icy steps at the Lykia Links Course range.

The 45-year-old businessman still shot a nett 77 to finish second overall in his division.

Teo, who was leading Division D (handicap 16-20) after the second round, endured the full brunt of the cold weather on the final two days and fell ill. The 51-year-old described his final round of 82 nett as one of the "worst" in his life.

Electrical contractor Goh failed to hit top form in his final round, carding a nett 77 in Division C (handicap 11-15).

Sushminder, who played in the Singapore team who were second overall in 2014, had a nett 69 in his final round. Said the 45-year-old prisons officer: "There are so many countries here and for Singapore to finish in the top two again is a remarkable achievement."

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 07, 2015, with the headline S'pore 2nd in World Amateur C'ship. Subscribe