THE third leg of the Uumism-Sportexcel Malaysian Junior Golf Tour held at Tasik Puteri Golf Club in Rawang, Selangor, set a new record for the competition with the number of golfers participating. No fewer than 169 junior golfers competed in 14 categories, which were divided into age groups, ranging from six to 18 years old. The annual tour, comprising 12 rounds – staged at various venues throughout Malaysia, offers junior golfers the opportunity to showcase their talent and earn golf scholarships at Universiti Utara Malaysia International Secondary School Melaka (Uumism) in Ayer Keroh, Melaka, to pursue academic and golf studies. The tour, organised by the Foundation for Malaysian Sporting Excellence (Sportexcel), has without doubt raised the standard of junior golf in the country. In addition to being recognised as the best in their categories, the top juniors from the Tour are selected to participate in international competitions and training facilities like the Hills Golf Academy on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, which hosts the Asia-Pacific Junior Golf Series. Universiti Utara Malaysia has received much applause for its support of junior golf development in the country and the organisers of the Tasik Puteri tournament said they hoped more corporations would follow suit and support junior sports development in Malaysia. For the record, there are some 50 juniors pursuing their studies in the United States through scholarships offered by US colleges, via golf. Sportexcel said members of the Malaysian men’s and women’s teams that won medals at the South-East Asian (SEA) Games in Vietnam last month, were groomed through their junior golf programmes over the years. Indeed, notable names like Datuk Shalin Zulkifli, Datuk Nicol David, Ong Beng Hee, Gavin Green and Kelly Tan are also products of the Sportexcel programme. Apart from the title sponsor Uumism at the Tasik Puteri event, golf equipment distributor BeGolfPro Sdn Bhd chipped in as the official ball sponsor, supplying Gutty golf balls as prizes.