Raffles Country Club (“RCC”) held its last ever annual charity golf open over the first weekend of July 2017. This was a fitting swansong for this beloved club, which will see its land acquired in July 2018 for the High Speed Rail and Trans-Island MRT Depot. Over the club’s 30-year plus history, the two Robert Trent Jones II designed courses, the Lakes Course and the Palm Course, have contributed to the vibrancy of the Singapore golfing scene. The championship Palm Course has notably hosted the Asian PGA Championship in 1997 and 1998, and the Asian Development Tour’s Player’s Championship in January 2016.

Some 550 golfers participated and did their bit for charity over the 2-day event, which had Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister, Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Emeritus Senior Minister, Goh Chok Tong as Guests-of-Honour, and Mr Lim Boon Heng as a Special Guest gracing the event.

During the dinner presentations on both evenings, auctions were held for items to further raise money for RCC’s charitable causes. The main items were two Sarcar Swiss luxury timepieces that fetched generous bids of S$20,000 and S$28,000 at the two dinners. Including the auction proceeds, RCC Charity Open’s Final Chapter raised a total of S$475,631. The amount raised will support numerous charitable causes which includes St Andrew’s Autism Centre, Kidney Dialysis Foundation, Handicaps Welfare Association, Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped, Society for the Aged Sick and 11 schools in the Jurong area. Since the first Raffles Charity Open until this 27th and final initiative, RCC has raised close to S$8.5 million for various charities. In the event’s souvenir book, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong acknowledged the club’s noble contributions in his message saying, “RCC has been giving back to society with its annual Raffles Charity since 1990. This is indeed commendable. It reflects the generous side of golfers. They do not just chase after pars and birdies but also strive to help the less fortunate through their donations and in the name of golf.”

Mr Paul Singh, President of RCC thanked sponsors and participants for supporting the club’s final charity event. Recognizing RCC members to be kindhearted and generous when it comes to giving to the needy, Mr Singh urged them to support golf charity events at other golf clubs or other charity events even after the closure of the club, and to “keep the RCC spirit of giving back to society going forever”.