KUCHING: Habiib Musththofa Abu Bakar clinched his first junior title this year when he won the Boys A (Handicap 16 & Below) gross event of the Sarawak Sports Corporation (SSC) Junior Golf Championship at Kelab Golf Sarawak, Petra Jaya on Wednesday.
The 19-year-old, a member of the SSC junior development programme under coach Paul Bryant, carded a seven-over 79 on Day 1 and another four-over 76 on Day 2 for a total gross score of 11-over 155 to finish three strokes ahead of Darren Tan.
It was a special achievement for Habiib who took up golf when he was nine years old and trained seriously when he was 14.
He also attended special education class at SK Laksamana before moving to PPKI SMK Demak Laut.
However, he did not complete his studies there because he wanted to focus full time on golf.
Habiib is also a member of the MH KGS Junior team which is competing in this year’s KGS-OBYU Inter-team Match Play championship and the team had successfully advanced to the quarterfinals.
In third place was Saxen Hii Shang Yao who shot a 166, followed by Iman Sallahuddin Mohd Lokman (175) and Filemon Amos Francis (183) in third to fifth placings respectively.
Andy Chew Kok Siew took the Boys A nett title when he returned with a total score of 150 while Harrold Tok Kwan Hang was second on 151 and third place went to Abang Al Qayyoom Abang Sarbini six strokes further back.
The Boys B (Handicap 17 & Above) gross category was won by Kulleh Tajang who shot a 187 while in second and third placings were sole representative from Sibu Reynard Lau Yi Jun with a 192 and Ho Yuk Pin with a 211 score respectively.
The top three winners in this Boys B nett category were Jason Liew Zhong Han (135), Acho Prince Kee Zing Yang (177) and Ferdinand Liak Qu Zheng (195).
Meanwhile, Eva Puyang Deng was victorious in the Girls gross competition as she returned a two-day total score of 182, finishing two strokes ahead of Ho Yunxi while Myra Lisa Mohamad Morhadie (204) and Mia Lau Lee Choo (236) finished third and fourth respectively.
The winners of the Girl nett event were Debbie Tan Sun Guan (159), Nayomi Sim Le Ee (163), Esther Chong Jia May (180) and Chantal Liak Yu Xuan (187).
The first series of the SSC Junior Golf Championship attracted 38 participants from Kuching, Samarahan and Sibu.
Right after the competition, the participants attended a talk on nutrition conducted by SSC High Performance Unit staff Jennet Judith Unying.
Tournament organising chairman Anthony Tan Hong Chiang was happy with how things went in the competition.
“We were blessed with good weather for two days and everything went on smoothly.
“This is a very good experience for the juniors and they and their parents were all very happy and are now looking forward to more of this competition,” he said.
“We could have more participants especially from Sibu, Miri and Bintulu if not for the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Only one junior each from Sibu and Samarahan took part in this competition.
“We are hoping that the next event that will be hosted by the Damai Golf and Country Club after Hari Raya Adilfitri will receive a bigger participation.
“Hopefully the pandemic situation has improved by then,” added Tan.
The post Habiib bags first title at SSC Junior Golf C’ship appeared first on Borneo Post Online.