The stunning Els Club Desaru Coast once again played host to the 4th edition of the Tourism Johor Golf Tournament 2021 for the Tunku Panglima Johor Challenge Trophy on 27 November 2021 rounding up a total of 166 golfers. This highly- acclaimed tournament was organised by Johor Golf Tourism Association (JGTA) and supported by Tourism Johor and Tourism Malaysia.

The prestigious tournament had raised RM1,121,500 to benefit the Tunku Laksamana Johor Cancer Foundation from partnership contributions, sponsorships in cash as well as from sales generated through an auction of exciting items. Among the cash donors were Qul Holdings who had donated an amount of RM100,000; Tenaga Nasional Bhd with RM20,000; and GTMed with RM5,001. An auction of a few exciting items including TWO hole-in-one prizes were put up for auction as there were no hole-in-one winners. The HIO prizes that were put up for auction were given away by Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas and One&Only Desaru Coast. A mock cheque for RM1,121,500 was presented by Col. Mohd Jamal Salleh, President of JGTA to His Highness Tunku Abu Bakar Alhaj ibni Sultan Ibrahim, Tunku Putera Johor on behalf of Tunku Laksamana Johor Cancer Foundation.

The tournament marked a historical moment when His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar graced the royal luncheon and prize presentation that was attended by about 220 participants, partners, sponsors and dignitaries. Thedignitaries who had attended were The Honourable YAB Dato’ Hj Hasni Mohammad, Chief Minister of Johor, YB Dato’ Hj Azmi Rohani, Johor State Secretary, YB Dato’ Onn Hafiz Ghazi, Chairman of the Johor State Tourism, Youth and Sports Committee, and YB Datuk Seri Dr. Santhara Kumar Ramanaidu, Deputy Minister of Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.

The Tourism Johor Golf Tournament for the Tunku Panglima Johor Challenge Trophy has now become one of the most coveted golf events in the country with growing followership each year. This year the tournament had to be held at two highly-rated golf courses – the Ocean Course and the championship Valley Course due to the overwhelming participation from the golf fraternity. A total number of 58 participants with low handicap teed-off at the Valley Course in the Championship Category whilst another 108 participants with higher handicap teed-off at the Ocean Course in the Open Category at 8.30 am on a shotgun start. Once again His Highness Tunku Putera Johor graced the tournament by playing at the Ocean Course with 108 participants.

Col. Mohd Jamal Salleh, the president of Johor Golf Tourism Association said, “There are no words to describe how deeply blessed we feel to be given this privilege to host the fourth edition of this tournament at an exquisite golf course and setting a new record with an unprecedented number of 166 participants coming from many parts of the country, particularly Johor, including international golfers from the UK, Belgium, Japan, Korea and Indonesia. JGTA humbly expresses our sincere gratitude to have the gracious presence of His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar at the Royal Luncheon and Prize Presentation. JGTA is also blessed to have the continued strong support from our Royal Patron Tunku Panglima Johor, His Highness Tunku Abdul Rahman ibni Sultan Ibrahim in organising this tournament.

Once again, we are also blessed to have the gracious participation from His Highness Tunku Putera Johor in the tournament.” He continued, “In conjunction with the tournament JGTA also organised a charity drive and auction to raise funds to benefit the Tunku Laksamana Johor Cancer Foundation through cash contribution and auctioning of some exciting items including accommodations at the exquisite Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas and One&Only Desaru Coast. We are very pleased to receive generous cash contributions from donors totalling to RM1,121,500 which will all be channelled directly to the Tunku Laksamana Johor Cancer Foundation.”

Col. Jamal further said, “After months of lockdown and MCO, it is JGTA's hope to see that this tournament will jumpstart the golf industry and bring back the glorious days of golf tourism to Johor Darul Ta'zim. JGTA hopes that this prestigious tournament will make a great headway to 2022 and expedite the road to recovery for our tourism

industry. We observed from the strong support and participation from 166 golfers the golf tourism industry in Johor Darul Ta’zim looks very promising and we wish to see more tournaments that are able to attract participation not only from within Johor but more so from other parts of the country”.

“JGTA is very humbled by the success of this tournament and are grateful to all our charitable partners and sponsors as well as participants who have strongly supported and participated in this event” he continued. The participants were rewarded with noteworthy golfers’ goodies - tournament t-shirt & tournament golf balls, and goodies sponsored by Desaru Coast, Adventure Waterpark Desaru Coast, GTMed, Mediven, Tourism Johor and Tourism Malaysia.

Aside from 8 attractive prizes for 4 holes-in-one at Ocean Course and another 4 holes-in-one at Valley Course there were also friendly novelty competitions – 4 prizes for Nearest-to-the-Pin at Ocean Course & Valley Course and another 4 prizes for Nearest-to-the-Line at Ocean Course & Valley Course. All the 8 novelties prizes were sponsored by MST Golf, our Golf Partner.

The 8 prizes for the hole-in-one were sponsored by:

(1) Mutiara Motorsports, Lexus Johor, Toyota Plentong and Toyota Iskandar Puteri sponsored one New Lexus UX200 Luxury at Valley Course and one Toyota Hilux 2.4V at Ocean Course,

(2) Weststar sponsored one Maxus T60 at Valley Course and one Maxus G10 at Ocean Course,

(3) Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas sponsored one accommodation stay,

(4) One&Only Desaru Coast sponsored one accommodation stay, and

(5) The Els Club Desaru Coast sponsored two hole-in-one prizes - one year club memberships.

To add to the excitement, there were also “On-the-Green” Challenge at Hole #2 Lakes Ocean Course and Hole #17 Valley Course. The prizes were sponsored by 360 Hospitality (Trinidad Group of Companies) which are accommodation vouchers of a choice of Ramada Suites KLCC, Trinidad Suites Puteri Harbour, Shahzan Hotel Kuantan and Ramada by Wyndham Langkawi Marina. More than 40 participants had won these exciting “On-the-Green” Challenge prizes. Additionally, there were also lots of lucky draw prizes which were won by many participants during the royal luncheon and prize giving presentation.

Apart from the attractive hole-in-one prizes, ‘on-the-green’ challenge, and novelties there were also the main tournament prizes for both Championship Category at Valley Course and Open Category at Ocean Course. The overall gross champion

from the Championship Category at Valley Course walked away with the exquisite Tunku Panglima Johor Challenge Trophy. Other main prizes included the top three gross and top three nett at both courses. Below are the names of the winners at the 4th edition of the Tourism Johor Golf Tournament 2021 for the Tunku Panglima Johor Challenge Trophy:

Overall Champion (Gross): Mohd Nasharuddin Mat Nasir

1st Runner-Up: Nazrin Kassim

2nd Runner-Up: Edzat Edzmir Bahari

Best Nett System 36 Stroke Play – Championship Category at Valley Course:

Best Nett Champion: Raja Mohd Hafiz Raja Daud

1st Runner-Up: Perumal Naidu Muthoo

2nd Runner-Up: Mohd Eddy Ismail

Best Gross – Open Category at Ocean Course:

Best Gross Champion: Saiful Supar

1st Runner-Up: Mohd Anizam Jamian

2nd Runner-Up: Mohd Fauzi Mesran

Best Nett System 36 Stroke Play – Open Category at Ocean Course:

Best Nett Champion: Mohd Johari Tarmidi

1st Runner-Up: Datuk Arsad Salam

2nd Runner-Up: Mohd Faadzli Mohd Najib

The novelties prizes were won by the following winners:

Open category at Ocean Course:

(1) Nearest to the Pin at Hole #6 Lakes: Chong Honn Ming

(2) Nearest to the Pin at Hole #3 Coast: Bapak Ari Wardhana

(3) Nearest to the Line at Hole #5 Lakes: Simon Goh

(4) Nearest to the Line at Hole #7 Coast: YM Tunku Muinuddin Putra

Championship category at Valley Course:

(1) Nearest to the Pin at Hole #2: Ahmad Johanif Mohd Ali

(2) Nearest to the Pin at Hole #17: Raja Ahmad Terjudin Raja Anua

(3) Nearest to the Line at Hole #5: M.J. Logaa S.

(4) Nearest to the Line at Hole #18: David Pubalan

This tournament would not have been possible without the strong commitment,support and participation from Tourism Johor, Tourism Malaysia and JGTA’s esteemed principal partners, Qul Holdings and Tenaga Nasional Berhad. The other

partners included The Els Club Desaru Coast, Weststar, Mutiara Motorsports, Lexus Johor, Toyota Plentong, Toyota Iskandar Puteri, Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas, One&Only Desaru Coast, 360 Hospitality, Desaru Coast, MST Golf, GTMed, Mediven, Watatime, Hard Rock Hotel Desaru Coast, The Westin Desaru Coast Resort, Firefly, Pristine Works, 100 Plus, and Ombak.