KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Golf and Country Club (SGCC) has been forced to cancel all golfing tournaments for at least a few months after a fire razed its buggy house here early Friday.
Its president Andrew Yap said this was because all 63 buggies were destroyed in the blaze.
When contacted yesterday, he said all the club in Jalan Kolam, Bukit Padang, has left now is a couple of old buggies used for maintenance work.
“I’m not sure how many tournaments we have planned as I have yet to be updated by the club captain, but yes, all tourneys have been cancelled for now,” said Yap, who was only elected SGCC president about two weeks ago.
As of now, he is unable to give a time frame when SGCC will be fully operational, although golfers can still play at the course.
“But they will have to walk on their own,” he said, adding the SGCC office was fortunately situated in a different building.
On Friday, firefighters found that almost 80% of the two-storey building used to house the buggies had been destroyed when they reached the scene shortly after receiving a distress call at 12.28am.
Lintas Fire and Rescue station chief Agustavia Joe Guasi said they managed to get the fire under control by 1.15am.
“We are still investigating the cause of the fire and assessing the actual losses,” she said.
Yap said the losses could be somewhere between RM5mil and RM6mil.
“Being unable to hold golfing tournaments will hit us even further,” he said.
The Fire Department told SGCC the report would be completed in two to three weeks.
In the meantime, SGCC has called for quotations on new golf carts.
“According to the latest market prices, one buggy costs over RM30,000 and delivery would take four to five months.
“Hopefully, we can get the buggies in before year-end,” Yap said.
According to its website, SGCC is the oldest 18-hole golf club in Sabah, having first opened in 1976.
