Singapore produced a final-round rally to pip hosts Malaysia to second spot at the World Amateur Golf Championships (WAGC) World Finals in Johor on Friday .
Singapore, the 2016 champions, recorded 1,175 shots to pip Malaysia by one stroke and improve on their fourth placing last year. Vietnam retained their title with 1,160.
Singapore were represented by Samir Bedi (Division A, 0-5.4 handicap index), Teo Hock Guan (Div B, 5.5-10.4), Ricky Huang (Div C, 10.5-15.4), Patrick Low (Div D, 15.5-20.4), and Ong Siew Yong (Div E, 20.5-25).
The best four individual scores in each round were used to compute each country's overall score. The golfers played at the Forest City Golf Resort, Horizon Hills Golf & Country Club, Palm Resort Golf & Country Club and The Els Club.
Bedi and Low finished second in their respective divisions, while Teo, Huang and Ong were 19th, fourth and 10th respectively.
Ernst & Young partner Bedi carded a four-day total of 290, two shots adrift of New Zealand's Thomas Spearman-Burn.
The 40-year-old said: "I'm happy to put in my best for Singapore with a bogey-free final-round nett of 65.
"The camaraderie and team spirit spurred me to rise to the occasion and every player in our team contributed in the four days."
Low's 293 put him five behind Indonesia's Abdul Aziz.
The 58-year-old managing director of an engineering company said: "We've played on these courses since they are quite close to home. Such an advantage and familiarity meant we were expected to perform better, but there was also stress to manage this expectation.
"But we did well and the organisers were also thoughtful enough to arrange for local traffic police assistance to ensure we got to the courses on time, and the accommodation at the Forest City Golf Hotel, the hospitality, lunch and refreshments were good too."
Jacqueline Wu, deputy managing director of SPH Pacom, organiser of the WAGC Singapore qualifiers, hailed the team's performance.
She said: "Although we have a relatively small population, Singapore has over 40,000 golfers and many strong players among them.
"This year, the five golfers that came through the qualifiers did the country proud again. Finishing second is no mean feat and I hope they will spur more Singaporeans to take up the sport and enjoy it."
