Nurturing budding golf talents | The Star

TO grow and blossom in sports, young talent needs to be nurtured and skilfully cultivated.

The US Kids Golf Malaysian Championship 2024, organised by SportExcel, provides juniors aged five to 18 the opportunity to compete in a multi-day International Partner event, which qualifies them to earn US Kids Golf Priority Status.

Players can qualify for US Kids Golf Major Championships by earning different levels of status at regional, international and World or World Teen championships.

SportExcel executive director Sivanandan Chinnadurai said the tournament focused on grassroots development, which was crucial for junior players.

“It is the only tournament where you can get players as young as five years old to participate, so this platform can be used as a starting point for them to realise their potential and advance in the sport.

“This championship allows them to earn Priority Status, and if they manage to obtain Level 14, they stand a chance to be invited to World Championships 2024, namely the US Kids World Teen Championship (13 to 18 years old) in July and US Kids Golf World Championship (5 to 12 years old) in August at Pinehurst in North Carolina, the United States.

“As for players who obtain lower levels, the doors are not completely close as they can try out for other US Kids International Championships in other countries, which could get them tickets to the next World Championships.

“It is a great opportunity for all young golfers, especially Malaysian young golfers,” he told StarMetro.

Sivanandan said there were plans to expand US Kids Golf Malaysian Championship to three zones, namely the Central, Northern and East Malaysia zones.

“The three zones will be holding 18 one-day local tournaments that are scheduled to take place in May, June and July this year,” he added.

Presented by Bermaz Motor Trading Sdn Bhd, the tournament is scheduled to take place from March 5 to 7 at Glenmarie Golf and Country Club, Shah Alam, Selangor.

A total of 106 junior golfers from 16 countries, including 37 players from Malaysia, will be competing in the three-day tournament.

Bermaz marketing department manager Rekha Shan said the company had been focused on providing sponsorship for sports programmes involving professional players.

“But now we have started to look into sponsoring events involving the younger generation as it is important to develop talent from a young age,” she told StarMetro.