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Tottori delegates, man’amko face off in golf tourney today
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Posted on Apr 07 2005
Forty delegates from Tottori, Japan, arrived on Saipan Thursday midnight for the 10th Annual Ground Golf Invitational Tournament at 10am today at the Kingfisher Golf Links.
Pacific Development, Inc. marketing manager Gordon Marciano said the tournament is the company’s 10th year but would be the first in eight years that Tottori participants will play on CNMI grounds. Marciano said the group was able to participate in the ground golf tournament in 1997.
The Tottori delegates will compete with the local man’amko in a friendly game of ground golf. There will be 30 man’amko participants from Saipan, 16 from Rota and 12 from Tinian.
Yesterday the Tottori delegates and some local participants had a luncheon at the Office on Aging, and then went to the Sugar King Estate for an hour-long practice of ground golf. PDI also gathered the delegates and the local man’amko at the Chamolinian Cultural Village for a hearty dinner by the beach last night.
CNMI ambassador to Yoshihiro Hamasaki and Tottori acting governor Taniguchi Koji and five other Tottori prefecture officials accompanied the Tottori delegates.
Marciano said the game aims to familiarize the Tottori delegates with the Commonwealth and to see how far the local man’amko have gone in the sport of ground golf. Hamasaki brought the game to the islands in the mid-‘80s, said Marciano.
He said Tottori’s acting governor supported the event also for a cultural exchange between CNMI and Tottori, Japan. He said they are no strangers to Saipan; it is just that it has been a while since they last visited the island.
Marciano said Marianas Visitors Authority, Saipan Mayor’s Office, Department of Community and Cultural Affairs, Office of the Governor, Office on Aging, and DFS Galleria helped in making the event happen. DFS Galleria would be giving away prizes for the top three female and male participants in the game.
