1. 40 golfdigestmalaysia | july 2014
The Golf Life The Observer by V. Ravindran
We need more ladies to
play the game. The right
of governance with major
steps forward holds the
key to development
Ladies first
V. Ravindran is the General Manager
of Samarahan Country Club in
Kuching and has served two national
golf associations in 28 years.
According to past National
Handicapping System
records, there are only 9,000
registered active lady golfers
in Malaysia. That’s a paltry
figure compared to most
Asian countries.
Before we ask why, let’s
look at how the ladies game is
governed and developed.
As per the Malaysian Golf
Association constitution,
ladies golf development falls
under their prerogative as the
only governing body of golf in
the country since 1929.
Since then, the selection
and participation has been
made by the MGA on a
moderate scale due to a lack of
budget and poor participation
of women golfers.
According to records,
during the presidency of
the late Tun Abdul Hamid
Omar, the Malaysian Ladies
Golf Association (MALGA)
was officially formed in 1984
as an affiliate to assist in the
development of ladies golf.
While it remains a mystery
why another association was
registered, MALGA’s roll was
to support MGA by promoting
the game via the hosting of
regular ladies tournaments
and seminars.
This function is similar to
the Senior Golfers’ Society
that was formed in 1931.
Despite the formation of
MALGA, MGA had always
been involved in the selection
of ladies players for the Sea
Games, the World Amateur
Team Championship and
other international events
under the sanction of the
Olympic Council of Malaysia
(OCM) and the Kementerian
Belia & Sukan (KBS).
In 2002, during the
presidency of Dato’ Thomas
M.L. Lee, Malaysia was
awarded the honour to
host the World Amateur
Team Championship for
the Eisenhower Trophy and
Espirito Santo Trophy.
This was the catalyst that
began the race to “pole start”
ladies golf development.
According to records, the
Majlis Sukan Negara (MSN)
had given funds to both MGA
and MALGA to assemble their
respective teams for both
these events to put up a strong
showing on home ground.
After the event, MALGA
embarked with their normal
activities. The 2004 World
Cup saw only the men’s team
in action.
This sparked criticism
and debate by participating
countries in Puerto Rico.
The absence of a ladies
national team continued onto
the 2006 Asian Games held in
Doha, Qatar.
That prompted the MGA
Executive Committee to
deliberate on the matter. A
decision was made for the
MGA to step in and play a
pivotal role to send our girls for
international tournaments.
In 2006, I was appointed as
the deputy general manager
of the Competition and Rules
Sub-Committee and was part
of the movement to expand
the development of the ladies
game to other states. Under
the chairmanship of Lee Tuck
Chiew, Melaka state was our
launch pad.
We were assisted by Rom
Muslim, the Captain of
Ayer Keroh Country Club.
The Melaka Amateur Open,
traditionally a Men’s Event,
was converted to a State
Open to accommodate both
genders, whereby 80 slots
were allocated to males and
40 to the ladies.
This served as an unofficial
“blue print” for other state
level open tournaments.
Before that, only the club
opens staged at the Royal
Selangor Golf Club, Kelab Golf
Negara Subang and Seremban
International Golf Club to
name a few, were popular in
the Peninsular.
Sabah and Sarawak had a
head start with ladies events
and these events mostly
attracted corporate and social
golfers.
When YAM Tunku Abdul
Majid Iskandar took over
the presidency in 2007,
the State Opens were given
a new lease of life with a
subsidy of RM5,000 for Men’s
and RM2,000 for Ladies
Event. With this subsidy
the ladies events begin to
get popular and saw more
young and upcoming juniors
participating.
Currently except for
Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and
Terengganu, the states have
included a ladies category for
their events that have seen a
slight increase of lady golfers.
At the national level,
the ladies category was
included in the National
Closed beginning from 2009,
followed by the President’s
Challenge for the Dato’ Robin
Loh Trophy in 2010, and the
combination of the National
Amateur Open in 2011, when
Loh was the president then.
Current MGA president,
Tan Sri Anwar Mohd Noor,
handed back the Malaysian
Ladies Amateur Open (MLAO)
event back to MALGA in 2012.
For the record MALGA
has been managing and
organizing the MLAO without
assistance from the MGA for
more than 25 years.
With the recent completion
of The Queen Sirikit Cup
hosted by MALGA, the big
question is who should
really be taking charge
and manage ladies golf
development?
Should it be MGA, MALGA
or jointly?