The eyes of fans of top-level golf may well have been firmly focused on the US Open on Saturday 14th June, but for the eleven mixed-ability teams battling it out hole to hole at the latest Alice Smith School Golf Day, the drama was certainly
no less intense.

The termly tournament, hosted by one of Malaysia's leading international schools, took place at the Impian Golf and
Country Club in Kuala Lumpur. The participants were a mixed bag of teachers, parents, friends and pupils from the
school, whose age range was almost as wide as the difference in handicaps. "Old timers" shared the challenging
greens with enthusiastic teenagers in the Texas Scramble format event, which was played out under cloudless KL
skies.

A variety of prizes were up for grabs, including a prize for the longest drive (Mike Speed, 237m), the first shot closest
to the pin (Alan Savidge, 1.62m), and enticing hotel accommodation and bottles of wine prizes for the winning team.

The Yellow Ball Rule was also incorporated into the day's challenge, with each of the four-person teams being issued
with a yellow ball, which they had to do their utmost not to lose during the tournament.

Those teams which kept their yellow balls were ultimately awarded bonus points, but those which lost them were
required to produce a creatively written account of how their balls had gone astray. In the spirit of contemporary
educational trends, the various pieces of writing were closely scrutinised, and a National Curriculum Writing Level
duly awarded.

The winning team was a motley crew of two teachers from Equine Park (the Alice Smith Secondary School) and
two members of the Dublin College, KL.

Team captain John Edmonds (Lecturer at Dublin College) was - if sparing in his adjectives - undoubtedly delighted with
his team's performance; 'Good tournament, good team, good course, good victory,' he told us. 'We're thrilled to win such
a well-organised tournament at such a lovely course. We'll definitely be playing next term to defend the trophy.'

Intriguingly, one of the winning team members had only ever played one round of golf prior to the tournament. Despite
the occasional air-shot induced expletive and a goodly number of spectacularly spinning divots, the determined novice
- a physics teacher at Equine Park - proved particularly adept at locating his team's yellow ball.

Mark Jones, the organiser of the tournament and a relatively new arrival at the Alice Smith School, was understandably pleased that the Golf Day went so smoothly; 'I'm delighted with the support from our sponsors,' he said. 'I hope everyone enjoyed themselves and I would like to see even more competitors, hopefully from some of the other KL international schools, at the next event'.

The event's ultimate aim was to raise funds for The Rumah Peace Children's Home and this was very successful, with
RM 2,000 now being sent to them to buy new mattresses and pillows for the children who live there.

Thank you once again to all our sponsors (Xyratex, Dizy Vines, Renaissance KL, Bukit Tinggi Resort, Cititel MidValley, Saujana Golf & Country Club, Tiger in A Box, BMC Travel, Finnegans, Old Club House, Plus 3 Consultants, Network
Foods, HSBC and not forgetting the Alice Smith School PTA) for providing such wonderful prizes and helping make the
day such a success.