Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s budding golfers Paul San Weng Yau and Sarfina Vinota Seretharan will join six of their ASEAN contemporaries for an intensive training stint in the hallowed grounds of TPC Sawgrass later this year as part of the final phase of the CIMB Junior Golf Development Programme.

This is the second batch of juniors sent by CIMB Foundation to undergo the overseas training programme, which will be conducted by the PGA Tour Academy at its headquarters in Florida, USA.

The other six participants selected to receive the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity are Putri Aisyah Amani and Joshua Andrew Wirawan from Indonesia, Puwit Anupansuebsai and Savitree Thavong from Thailand, and Caleb Ng and Rachel Cheang from Singapore.

The development programme is one of the cornerstone of the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic, Malaysia, which aims to nurture the region’s future top golf professionals. A total of 128 junior golfers from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore were shortlisted for the programme earlier this year with three training camps conducted in February, June and October by the TOUR Academy’s top coaches led by Shane Gillespie, the head professional of the PGA Tour Academy.

During a simple presentation held at the grounds of the Mines Resort & Golf Club today, the top eight juniors – two boys and two girls from each of the participating ASEAN nation – received their scholarships from CIMB Group chairman Tan Sri Md Nor Yusof.  Also present at the event were Dato’ Mohd Shukri Hussin, CEO of CIMB Foundation, Ed Moorhouse, co-chief operating officer of the PGA TOUR as well as representatives of the golf associations of the four countries.

Speaking at the event, Shukri said, “We are very pleased that through CIMB’s title sponsorship of the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic, Malaysia, we are able to create development opportunities for the region’s top juniors with top coaches from the United States but are also able to link them with the PGA TOUR.”