{"id":1434,"date":"2023-03-30T17:10:13","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T09:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mysportsflame.com\/sportsflame\/?p=1434"},"modified":"2023-03-30T18:37:05","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T10:37:05","slug":"ramayah-my-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysportsflame.com\/sportsflame\/2023\/03\/ramayah-my-friend\/","title":{"rendered":"Ramayah My Friend"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 dir=\"auto\"><strong>By James Ritchie<\/strong><\/h2>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">In late November 2022 Ramayah contacted me and asked if I could write his story.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">I told him I would be honoured to do so and asked him to send me his CV, photos and all the news clippings, including the articles I wrote on him.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">To proceed, I contacted the golfing fraternity including former PGA President Datuk Ramlan Harun and pro Barie Bluah I was told Ramayah was down with cancer and warded in the hospital,<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">When he called, it did not occur to me that Ramayah was ill! Or did he have a premonition of another obstacle in his illustrious journey as a professional golfer?<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">After all he had three close calls during his lifetime-an accidental shooting, a car accident and a plane crash!<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">I first met Ramayah when he as a 16 year old caddy with RSGC in 1973 when I was a reporter with NST.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">His is the story of poor Indian parents who were employed as workers at one of Malaysian\u2019s oldest golf courses.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">I was 23 and an 11-handicapper but when I met Ramayah he was about to turn pro the following year in 1974.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\u00a0At RSGC Ramayah introduced me to the Yusof brothers Zainal Abidin, Sahabudin and Nazamudin and the elite golfing circle including the late V. Nellan.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">As sportswriter, the Malay Mail sports editor Maurice Khoo, a single handicapper, allowed me to play in corporate pro-am events while keeping in touch with the golfing fraternity.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Through Ramayah\u2019s influence and tips, my game improved by leaps and bounds and Champion of the three-day Malaysian intermediate Championship in Seremban in 1978, Malaysian Mass Media in Subang in 1980 and inaugural two-day Sarawak Tun Rahman Cup in Kuching in 1982.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">After leaving for Kuching in 1981 we lost touch until I read that Ramayah was featured in an air crash in Subang airport in 1983.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">At the last \u201cSports Flame\u201d gathering at Concorde Hotel a few years ago, I met Ramayah and the local golf fraternity and he confirmed the golfer\u2019s unique story.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\u00a0While most of the passenger made a quick departure from the downed aircraft, Ramayah was more concerned with his prized golf set.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Ramayah said: \u201cYes, I carried my golf bag slogging through the mud. Golf is my bread and butter.\u201d<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Yes, we need to pray for Ramayah in this time of spiritual need!<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Ramayah\u2014stay the course as there are only two more holes to go.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">God Bless!!<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By James Ritchie In late November 2022 Ramayah contacted me and asked if I could write his story. I told him I would be honoured to do so and asked him to send me his CV, photos and all the news clippings, including the articles I wrote on him. To proceed, I contacted the golfing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf-malaysia","category-malaysia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ramayah My Friend - My Sports Flame<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mysportsflame.com\/sportsflame\/2023\/03\/ramayah-my-friend\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ramayah My Friend - My Sports Flame\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By James Ritchie In late November 2022 Ramayah contacted me and asked if I could write his story. 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