Tering Bay Open tees off today
Tering Bay Open tees off today
BATAM ISLAND, Riau (JP): About 140 professional and amateur
golfers from both host Indonesia and neighboring southeast Asian
countries are expected to take part in the Tering Bay Open Golf
Championships which tees off here today.
The four-day tournament, which offers total cash prizes of
US$50,0000 (Rp 175 million), is being played at the Tering Bay
Golf and Country Club, designed by world golfing great Greg
Norman of Australia.
"We organized the event as our contribution to help develop
the sport in the region and especially in Indonesia," said
Warban, assistant to the club's general manager.
"The tournament, which we plan to hold every year, has already
been included in the Indonesia Golf Association's calender of
events," he said.
The country's top-ranked golfer, Kasiadi from Surabaya's Yani
Golf Club, Maan Naasim and Ilyasaak will lead the local
challengers. Their main rivals will be leading Singaporean player
M Murugiah, V Arumugan from Malaysia and Arjin Sophon of
Thailand.
Favorite Kasiadi has been drawn to play with P Gunasaran from
Malaysia and Alex Junaedi from Jagorawi Golf Club. They tee off
at 12.20 p.m. today. Scheduled to start at the same, but in
another group, are Johny Wong from Malaysia, Patrick Young from
Taman Dayu Golf Club, in Pandaan, East Java, and Singapore's
Murugiah.
The complex, which includes a sprawling real estate
development, was taken over earlier this year by PT Sumatra
Timber Utama Damai (STUD). The company plans to establish a
fitness center, tennis courts, marina and swimming pool on the
site.
In the pro-am tournament scheduled to be played on Saturday to
mark the closing of the four-day event, senior Indonesian Golf
Association official Mohammad "Bob" Hasan and Budi Widodo, the
owner and president director of STUD, are scheduled to play.
"The course is fine and ready for the tournament," chief
referee Rudy Lisapally said. Rudy, Indonesia's senior referee,
graduated from a course run at St Andrews in Scotland. (rsl)