KUALA LUMPUR: Virtual golf is slowly, but surely gaining traction in Malaysia.
There's now a great opportunity for golf enthusiasts to put their skills to the test on the simulator among themselves and claim the bragging rights of being the first-ever national eGolf champion.
They can tee off at the inaugural Toyota Tour eGolf Championship from April 1-Aug 31 at four MST Golf Arena indoor golf simulators across the nation.
The venues are The Gardens Mall in Kuala Lumpur, Tropicana Gardens Mall in Selangor, Gurney Paragon Mall in Penang and Toppen Shopping Centre in Johor.
Open to non-professional golfers, participants will get to compete for lucrative prizes worth RM200,000 with the overall champion to be rewarded with an opportunity to play alongside the country's top professionals in a Toyota Tour event.
The national eGolf champion will earn an invite to the Yaris Cup, the penultimate event of this year's Toyota Tour season, at Mines Resort and Golf Club in Seri Kembangan from Nov 5-7.
"We are thrilled to host the Toyota Tour eGolf Championship at our state-of-the-art indoor golf centres at MST Golf Arena locations nationwide," said Ng Yap, Group CEO of MST Golf Group Berhad at the launch on Tuesday.
"The indoor golf tournament is timely following what we observe from the global golf scene which has soared to new heights globally, which is also apparent following the increase of indoor golf centres and golf technologies locally."
Competitive indoor simulation golf has been gaining momentum as even two of the world's biggest names in the sport, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, have joined forces to start an indoor golf league scheduled for next year.
Toyota Malaysia is no stranger to being a staunch supporter of electronic sports as it has also been running the TGR GT Cup Malaysia Championship, a simulation racing competition held nationwide.