Many Malaysian golfers have made the country proud internationally, with Danny Chia being one of the more successful.
Currently, Gavin Kyle Green is making waves on the men’s European Tour after winning the Asia Tour Order of Merit in 2017. In the women’s game, Kelly Tan is our flag-bearer on the LPGA tour.
What all three have in common are solid amateur and junior backgrounds and now Chia hopes to create a new wave of Malaysian heroes with the Zurich PGAM Junior Invitational at Kota Permai Golf and Country Club from Feb 26 and 27.
The 47-year-old, who reached a career high of 210 in the 2015 world rankings, is a Zurich Golf Ambassador and vice-president of the Professional Golf Association of Malaysia (PGAM) and has been a strong advocate of junior golf.
He hopes the new tournament, which will see seasoned professionals teaming up with up and coming young talents from MYFutures Junior Golf, will ignite a new wave of golfers.
The junior golfers for the tournament are a good mix of boys and girls aged between 12 and 18.
“I am proud to be part of this initiative as young boys and girls are given the opportunity to team up with some of Malaysia’s top PGAM professionals in a competitive setting,” said Chia.
“This invitational will provide a great opportunity for professional golfers to impart their knowledge and experience to the next generation of golfers.”
The professionals will compete for a prize purse of RM70,000 while the junior division winners will get exciting Callaway golf merchandise.
A pro-junior team category will be contested on the final day, adding more excitement to the invitational.
The Zurich PGAM Junior Invitational will also serve as the perfect testing ground for the professionals in their preparations for the national Open, with the US$1 million Bandar Malaysia Open being contested at the same venue from March 5-8.
Chia was the first Malaysian to win on the Asian Tour –2002 Acer Taiwan Open – and played in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
In 2010, he became the first Malaysian to play in all four rounds in a major championship at The Open.
“To think that I’m an inspiration to these Malaysian juniors is truly an honour,” he said.
“I know I have set the benchmark, but I don’t want them to follow in my footsteps; I want them to be better than Danny Chia.”
So instead of dreaming of being the next Tiger Woods, it would be better for Malaysian golfers to first aspire to be the next Chia, Green or Tan.
Too often our budding golfers crash and burn as they cannot survive the rigorous demands of being a professional.
Hopefully, those who compete in the Zurich PGAM Junior Invitational at Kota Permai Golf would one day live up to Chia’s wish of them surpassing his achievements.
