Jazz’s appetite whetted for Masters return
Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond signed off with a three-over-par 75 to complete a memorable maiden appearance in The Masters at Augusta National on Sunday.
In an encouraging performance that bodes well for the future, he finished the tournament on two- over-par 290 in a tie for 51st place – in privileged company, alongside former champions Zach Johnson from the United States and Canadian Mike Weir.
Jazz impressively made the halfway cut with rounds of 69 and 71 to get to four under and at one point was just five off the lead.
My first @themasters ✅ https://t.co/N1W0JCw2Zf pic.twitter.com/7khQOPiMFH
— Jazz Janewattananond (@jazzjanegolf) November 15, 2020
World number one Dustin Johnson won his first Masters title by five strokes as he finished with a record-breaking low score of 20 under par.
The American posted a 68 to hold off Australian Cameron Smith and Korea’s Sungjae Im.
“It’s hard. I was nervous all day. I could feel it,” said Johnson, who will defend his title in five months’ time when The Masters returns to its usual spot in April.
“The Masters is for me the biggest tournament and the one I wanted to win the most. I am just very proud of the way I handled myself and finished off the tournament.
“It still feels like a dream. As a kid, I was dreaming about winning The Masters and having Tiger put the Green Jacket on you still feels like a dream.
“But I am here and what a great feeling it is. I could not feel more excited.”
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA – NOVEMBER 15: Dustin Johnson of the United States poses with the Masters Trophy during the Green Jacket Ceremony after winning the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on November 15, 2020 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
Johnson’s stunning performance saw him beat the record lowest winning score of 18-under-par set by American Tiger Woods in 1997 and his compatriot Jordan Spieth in 2015.
Woods, bidding to don a sixth Green Jacket, carded a 10 on the par-three 12th but recovered with five birdies to finish with a 76 on one under, in tie for 38th.
On 12 his tee shot rolled back off the green into Rae’s Creek, as did his third after taking a drop, and he then found the water again out of a bunker.
“This is unlike any other sport in which you’re so alone out there and you have to figure it out and you have to fight and no one is going to call in a sub and you just have to figure it out, and I did coming in,” said Woods.
“That’s part of our sport. That’s what makes this game so unique and so difficult mentally. We’ve all been there, unfortunately.”
Pre-tournament favourite Bryson DeChambeau from the United States, who won the US Open in September, ended with a 73 put him on two under par for the tournament in equal 34th.
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA – NOVEMBER 15: Tiger Woods of the United States reacts after putting on the 18th green during the final round of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on November 15, 2020 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
Jazz Janewattananond joins an exclusive club of golfers today when he tees-off in The Masters for the first time but when he first turned professional, a decade ago, thoughts of competing in a Major championship were very far from his mind.
In the latest My Time video in partnership with ROLEX, he reveals just how daunting it was at the start of his career and how he did not know what to expect.
“I turned professional the day before I turned 15. I remember it quite clearly,” says Jazz, now aged 24.
“We just decided to go for it. To try and improve myself. I was so young and I was really naïve.”
He made the cut that week he turned professional at the King’s Cup in 2010 and finished in a tie for 44th – to earn a first pay cheque for US$1,590.
“I was just star struck, like a deer in the head lights. I didn’t know what to do but I was there to take it all in and the rest is history,” added the Thai.
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA – NOVEMBER 11: Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand looks on from the 15th tee during a practice round prior to the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on November 11, 2020 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Jazz played in a handful of Asian Tour events prior to joining the play for pay ranks and played all four rounds in the Asian Tour International in 2010 making him the youngest player to make the cut on Tour at the age of 14 years and 71 days.
He goes onto explain how difficult the road to the top has been despite his immense talent and gift for the game.
In 2016, he tried his hand on the Web.com Tour (now the Korn Ferry Tour) but when he returned he had lost his playing rights on the Asian Tour.
As is well documented he went into Monkhood in Thailand in January of 2017 in search of focus and direction. And he most definitely found it.
“They [the Monks] just make you see things in a different perspective. Golf is not the biggest thing in your life,” he says.
“Not even a month after that, I won my first Asian Tour tournament. Everything was automatic and things just clicked. When you win that first tournament and get that weight off your shoulders you don’t have anything to prove anymore.”
That event was the Bashundhara Bangladesh Open – which proved to be the catalyst his career was looking for.
Says Jazz: “I didn’t really think I could win an Asian Tour event, I didn’t have the mind set to go and win”.
The following year he won the Queen’s Cup before his remarkable 2019 season when he won four times and claimed the Asian Tour Order of Merit title.
The first of those victories came at the SMBC Singapore Open at Sentosa Golf Club in January.
SINGAPORE- Jazz Janewattanananond of Thailand pictured with the winner’s trophy on Sunday January 19, 2019 after the final round of the SMBC Singapore Open at the Sentosa Golf Club, Singapore. The USD$ 1 Million event is co- sanctioned with the Asian Tour and Japan Tour. Picture by Paul Lakatos/Lagardére Sports.
“It [the SMBC Singapore Open win] is a rush that I never feel before in my life. [My] heart doesn’t beat faster but it beats louder,” says Jazz.
“The weight was lifted off my shoulder, you get through it and come out on top.”
“It was practically unheard of to win four tournaments in a year,” says Cho Minn Thant, Commissioner and CEO of the Asian Tour.
“We thought he would bloom a lot earlier than he did. We thought he would be a super star by the time he was 18.”
Indeed, there was a slight delay in his progression but that is all a distant memory now as he prepares to play at Augusta – where his phenomenal power and feel for the game could see him challenge despite it being the first time he is playing there.
“I can’t tell my future. I just have to keep working hard,” says Jazz.
“I don’t know how far I can go, but my goal is to be top-three in the world.”
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA – NOVEMBER 11: Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand looks on from the 15th tee during a practice round prior to the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on November 11, 2020 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
With the Masters taking place next week, we caught up with India’s Jeev Milkha Singh to get his thoughts on the event that he, so memorably, played in on three successive occasions starting 2007. Singh is currently in Japan preparing for the Japan PGA tests, which will ultimately allow him to play on the Japan Seniors Tour when he turns 50 in December next year, but he had plenty of time to talk about his incredible memories of Augusta.
AUGUSTA, GA – APRIL 10: Jeev Milkha Singh (R) of India walks with caddie Janet Squire (L) during the first round of the 2008 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 10, 2008 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
At the peak of his powers, just over a decade ago, Jeev Milkha Singh, was winning tournaments all over the world but there was one tournament he played in, which although he did not win, that he loved the most: The Masters tournament.
“Talking about the US Masters. For me personally it is my favourite Major championship,” says the Indian star, the winner of six titles on the Asian Tour and two Order of Merit crowns.
“As a kid from the town of Chandigarh, in India, growing up I used to wait for the cassettes to come back. I was about 10 years old and the cassettes would come back after a month. And I used to do anything to get those tapes to watch the Masters. And I used to beg people and say ‘please when you are done, can I have a look at it’.”
He says he would beg his father – national hero and former athletics star Milkha Singh, also known as ‘The Flying Sikh’ – to buy a video recorder so he could watch at home.
“And after watching I used to go to the golf course and say to my caddie: ‘you know what, this is Amen Corner, and this putt is to win the Masters’, stuff like that. I was a kid and mentally playing the Masters. So that is the background to my love of the event.”
AUGUSTA, GA – APRIL 08: Jeev Milkha Singh of India sit by the clubhouse during the second day of practice prior to the start of the 2008 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 8, 2008 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)
Fast forward some 30 years and the prince of golf in India, thanks to regularly finishing in the top-50 in the Official World Golf Ranking, is driving up Magnolia Lane – the famous driveway that leads up to Augusta Golf Club – to play in the US Masters for the first time.
He says: “In 2007 I went into the tournament with a lot of confidence. I had been working hard on my game. And when I got there I got goose bumps. I still remember when I drove up Magnolia Lane, I was so excited and I had tears in my eyes.”
And, over a magical first few hours he birdied three, six and eight to take the lead in what is traditionally the first Major of the year.
“I had the same feeling I had when I won the Volvo Masters in Spain the year before. I got it done there and I thought I might as well keep it going here at Augusta. But I got ahead of myself and got really excited because of the history behind it. But I had a great week and enjoyed myself. Played a lot of practice rounds. I was just living the moment,” said Singh.
He finished in tie for 37th after posting a costly seven-over-par 79 on Sunday, caused by a calamitous start,
He made an expensive eight on the first hole, playing with Vijay Singh from Fiji.
“I had never carried a lob wedge up until that point but you have to have a lob wedge playing the Masters. On that first hole, when I had the eight, I could not stop the ball on the green. I was two short of the green on the right and the pin was close to the right side and I tried to hit a flop shot, I missed it, it came back, then I went again. Then it was just ping pong from one side to the other. After that experience I put a lob wedge in my bag.”
He says Augusta played different every year he played it and it was the only Major that had done that. And even though it’s the only Major where you play the same course every year you never get bored playing because it is so exciting.
The difference in elevation on the course is also overwhelming when you arrive there for the first time, he says.
“The 10th hole really surprised me. It is at least 200 to 230 yards straight down! People don’t realize it. It is so hilly. And number eight, it is straight up the hill. And number two is straight down,” adds Singh.
He produced his best performance in 2008, finishing in a tie for 25th while he missed the cut the following year by a single stroke.
AUGUSTA, GA – APRIL 09: Tiger Woods (R) waits with Jeev Milkha Singh of India in the 18th fairway during the first round of the 2009 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 9, 2009 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
That third and final year of his participation was arguably the most exciting as he was paired with Americans Tiger Woods and Stewart Cink for the first two days.
Woods had already won the tournament four times up until that point and enormous crowds followed their group.
“I was nervous on the tee. But I was joking with Tiger and said there are going to be a lot of Indians with us today. He took it really well and when we walked down the first hole, he said: ‘you know what, I see a lot of Indians walking here man’. It was funny, it broke the ice. It was great,” added Singh.
Singh said Woods was really supportive over the two days, especially when he needed to make birdie on 18 to have a chance of making the cut.
AUGUSTA, GA – APRIL 10: (L-R) Caddie Janet Squire, Jeev Milkha Singh of India, Tiger Woods and caddie Steve Williams walk together down the 13th fairway during the second round of the 2009 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 10, 2009 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)
“Tiger said to me: ‘Come on Jeev, get this done’. I hit a fabulous approach into 10 feet and made the putt but I just missed the cut by one, but overall the experience was priceless,” commented Singh.
That year, he also made an eagle on the 13th on the first day and was awarded a beer mug.
“I am not a beer drinker but I still have it, it is another wonderful memory. I remember the first year I went to the pro shop and picked up jumpers, wine glasses, whisky glasses, and when I have a drink at home I pour myself a drink in the Masters glass and I cherish it,” adds Singh.
Singh is eagerly anticipating next week’s event and says the beauty of Augusta is that the course requires a lot of imagination and feel, and that you have to be smart aggressive.
As for who he sees prevailing on the famous back nine on Sunday and overcoming Amen Corner.
He says: “Everybody is talking about Bryson Dechambeau, he is hitting it so far, but let’s see what happens. Hopefully Tiger does well, I will always pull for Tiger.”
AUGUSTA, GA – APRIL 04: Jeev Milkha Singh of India reacts to a shot on the 16th hole during the third practice day prior to the start of The Masters at the Augusta National Golf Club on April 4, 2007 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)
Thailand’s Pavit Tangkamolprasert – who added another prestigious feather to his cap last month by wrapping up the All Thailand Golf Tour Order of Merit for the first time in his career – says confidence is the key to being able to win at the top level.
“There is no secret to winning but I think the most important thing is you have to trust yourself that you can win – you will never win if you don’t think you can win,” said the 31-year-old.
He claimed the season-opening Boonchu Ruangkit Championship – an event jointly-sanctioned with the Asian Development Tour (ADT) – back in January and played consistently through the shortened season to secure top spot on the local circuit.
NAKHON RACHASIMA-THAILAND – Pavit Tangkamolprasert of Thailand pictured on Sunday January 26, 2020, with the winner’s trophy during the final round of the Boonchu Ruangkit Championship at the Rancho Charnvee Resort & Country Club, Nakhon Rachasima, Thailand. The approximate USD$ 130.000 event is the 1st event on the 2020 Asian Development Tour. Picture by Paul Lakatos/Asian Development Tour.
“I feel very excited and very happy to win the All Thailand Golf Tour Order of Merit. The reason I was able to do it was because I carried over my good form from last year (after winning the Sabah Masters) and then won the first event and that is my advantage for the whole season.”
Pavit would have been defending his Sabah Masters title this month on the Asian Tour if it wasn’t for the coronavirus pandemic but fortunately he has to prepare for another important event.
“My plan is I am getting married this December. I am really looking forward to it, I haven’t really play much golf, I am so busy right now,” added the Thai about his forthcoming marriage to fiancée Chorphaka.
Pavit with his fiancée Chorphaka at the Boonchu Ruangkit Championship in January.
Just prior to lockdown in March, Pavit also put together four excellent rounds to finish equal 11th in the New Zealand Open to suggest more success would follow on the Asian Tour – where he has won twice.
But his 2020 was abruptly cut short with the onset of COVID-19.
He says: “It [lockdown] was pretty boring I guess. I only stayed in the house because my parents did not allow me to go outside at all! All I could do was cardio at home from Youtube and stretching. I also practiced some chipping at my house in the garden. I didn’t play golf for almost three months.”
Pavit is a prolific winner on the ADT having claimed seven titles and the 2014 ADT Order of Merit. Once the Asian Tour is up and running he hopes to add more silverware to his trophy cabinet.
“I don’t really think about the winning number, but I really want to make it to double digits. So I have eight more to make it 10!”
Both his wins on the main Tour have been in sudden-death play-offs. He claimed the Venetian Macao Open in 2016 after overcoming Indian star Anirban Lahiri on the first extra hole and in last year’s Sabah Masters he sensationally chipped in on the second extra hole to win a four-man play-off.
“I think my putter was on fire that week [in Sabah]. I think that course is not that long, so it depends on putting. I had a very bad start that week, didn’t think about winning at all. I just tried to make the cut only but somehow I managed to come back and win!!”
Two weeks before that he lost to American John Catlin in extra-time at the Thailand Open.
Indeed, there aren’t many weeks in the year these days when Pavit Tangkamolprasert – a professional for 13 years – isn’t in the running.
Sentosa Golf Club has marked its most recent award of ‘World’s Best Eco-Friendly Golf Facility’ by premiering a new environmental documentary film to raise awareness of the importance of climate change in golf.
The documentary forms part of the club’s GAME ON campaign, which has received backing from The R&A following its launch at the SMBC Singapore Open earlier this year.
Coinciding after it was named ‘World’s Best Eco-Friendly Golf Facility’ at the 2020 World Golf Awards this week, the film shows viewers some of the key measures already implemented at the club, such as the creation of bee colonies, the installation of reservoir-lakes and the banning of single-use plastics.
The club, which became the first golf club in the world to sign the UN’s Sports for Climate Action Agreement back in July, hopes the film will serve as inspiration to golf’s response to climate change, as well as help clubs around the world to understand the importance of reducing their carbon footprint by implementing initiatives for the betterment of the environment.
Sentosa is also planning a free environmental toolkit to further help golf clubs deal with the real threat of climate change.
With over 61 million golfers and 39,000 golf courses worldwide, the club firmly believes golf has the ability to become one of the leading industries to help reverse climate change and make a considerable impact.
The wider GAME ON campaign aims to educate and inspire the global golfing community to create a more socially conscious industry and consumer, who will be better prepared to introduce new modern practices for the betterment of the environment, as well as improving the quality of facilities on offer throughout the world. It is closely aligned with The R&A’s 2030 Golf Course Initiative.
Speaking about the unveiling of the documentary, Andrew Johnston, General Manager and Director of Agronomy at Sentosa Golf Club, said: “Today is a very special day. The unveiling of the GAME ON documentary marks the day golf’s major stakeholders and global community unite to fight climate change. Sentosa Golf Club are proud to be at the forefront of this campaign and hope to create a legacy with golf’s leading organisations and community that will have a huge bearing on our future.”
On being awarded ‘World’s Best Eco-Friendly Golf Facility’, Johnston added: “It is a tremendous achievement for Sentosa to be recognised by golf’s leading professionals as the ‘World’s Best Eco-Friendly Facility’ and once again as ‘Singapore’s Best Golf Course’ for the third year running. Being awarded these accolades is down to the hard work that is put in by all our staff and members to maintain the high standards that are set by the club 365 days of the year.
“Since 2018, we have worked hard to create a sustainable environment on-site at the club and are grateful for all the support we have received from our partners and stakeholders in our journey so far. Even with this recognition, the club will continue to improve and look to pioneer new sustainable initiatives as we look to lead the industry in tackling this critical issue.”
Sentosa fought off competition from other leaders in the environmental space to collect their latest eco accolade at the 7th annual World Golf Awards, recognised for the leadership and responsibility it has shown in planning, constructing and managing a resource efficient and ecologically rich golf environment, as well as playing an inspirational role in expanding environmental activity throughout the region.
The club also took home the title of ‘Singapore’s Best Golf Course’ for The Serapong course for the second year in a row. The course plays host to the SMBC Singapore Open every year, welcoming the world’s best players from all around the world.
Chris Gray, Head of Sustainability and Agronomy – Asia-Pacific at The R&A, added: “The R&A is delighted to be part of Sentosa Golf Club’s unveiling of their GAME ON documentary. It is great to be part of something so important and be able to work together on a global scale to fight the issues that really matter to golf and the world. GAME ON, which is closely aligned with our own Golf Course 2030 initiative, is not only a vital campaign in helping to reverse the impact of climate change, but it is also crucial to the overall survival of golf, a game that is so widely loved throughout the world.”
Commenting on the latest award for the club, Sentosa Development Corporation CEO, Thien Kwee Eng, said: “It is a great honour for Sentosa Golf Club to receive two awards at this year’s World Golf Awards. We are extremely proud of the work our team has put in throughout the year, not only expanding its environmental credentials, but also continuously maintaining the top-quality conditions of its two championship courses. By doing so, the club has attracted some of Asia’s most prestigious events and helped showcase Sentosa as one of the world’s top global tourist destinations.”
The newly crowned ‘World’s Best Eco-Friendly Facility’ also boosted its approach to environmental sustainability by forming a partnership with international sustainable golf non-profit, GEO Foundation. The collaboration will see the integration of GEO’s industry-leading OnCourse® program and GEO Certified label with Sentosa’s ‘green-culture’ to pioneer new innovative practices, as well as gather, verify, and report credible results to share with other clubs around the world.
A recent Golf Sustainability Fund Grant by The R&A made Sentosa the first club in Asia able to grind down food and horticultural waste to reuse as fertiliser on its golf courses.
Ends.
In the first of our new monthly Player Q&A series, we talk to Australian Terry Pilkadaris – not only the winner of three titles on Tour but also runner-up on nine occasions. It was a good time to speak to him as he had just come out of lockdown in Melbourne and has recently been nominated into the Asian Tour Tournament Players’ Committee.
This week the lockdown was lifted in Victoria – for the second time this year. You must be relieved. How difficult was the experience for you?
It was kind of hard. We got through it. You can’t do anything. We had a lot of restrictions: we could only travel 5km, that was the maximum we could travel, and we could only get out for an hour of exercise a day. So it was quite strict. We were locked down 23 hours a day so you look forward to your one hour of exercise.
What did you spend your time doing?
I got engaged in late August! In lockdown, Victoria and I were spending all this time together and we were getting along really well so I thought we should do the right thing. She has been great to me, we have travelled the last couple of years together out on Tour and she has been an absolute delight to be with. We have had an absolute ball.
And, I have been doing my PGA of Australia accreditation. So I was doing assignments and things like that. It is called a bridging course, so I get qualified to teach, be a club professional, and manage a pro shop.
I was teaching online as well, so people would send some stuff in and I would do some work with them.
When was the last time you played golf?
I think I played a game in June. I have basically played 18 holes since the Bandar Malaysian Open in March. I played a team event with Peter Wilson and we lost on the 19th hole and I thought, right that’s me done for now. I have been a Touring professional for 21 years and when you have no tournaments in sight there is no interest in practicing. The big thing is the thrill of the competition and we haven’t had that for a while.
But I needed a break as I was burnt out. We didn’t really stop from the end of last year. A six-week break would have been fantastic but unfortunately it’s been a lot longer, everyone has been struggling and locking down, so I have had a longer break.
Difficult to say but what are your plans?
We have just got to wait and see what happens with events. I think I would have got a start this week on the European Tour in Cyprus. There are a couple of events there. The problem we have though is I have not picked up a golf club since June, and haven’t been able to step foot on a golf course for 12 weeks. And then I would have to quarantine when I got back home – sit in a hotel for two weeks. It wasn’t a viable option to fly all the way to Europe and back. The problem with that is they also limit the number of people flying back into Australia – so it could take longer to get back.
How were you playing before lockdown in March?
I was playing pretty good. I had a top-10 in Hong Kong in January. I finished middle of the pack in New Zealand in March but I was running out of gas: I think I only had 10 days off between the Australian PGA at the end of last year and then Hong Kong this year. I was looking forward to a break but now it is frustrating, I wanna get out and play again. I will do some teaching and when we get a definite idea of when the tournaments come I will start prepping.
HONG KONG, CHINA – JANUARY 11: Terry Pilkadaris of Australia tees off the first hole during the third round of the Hong Kong Open at the Hong Kong Golf Club on January 11, 2020 in Hong Kong. (Photo by Yu Chun Christopher Wong/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)
Have you been working on your fitness?
Yes. I am four to five weeks into a 12-week programme. It is a club head speed programme, so I am working with Paul Mews, who is a long-drive guy ranked in the top-five in Australia and also a personal trainer. He has written up some programmes for me. So I have increased my driver head speed by six miles an hour and we want to get it up to 10 miles an hour quicker – so we are on our way. It is a 45-mnute programme, five days-a-week. There is a lot of body weight stuff and band work. When I get back on Tour this will help me get some extra distance which will be a huge bonus. I need an extra 10 metres. But doing all these burpees I realize I am not 25 anymore. I don’t know what happened, I remember being 31 and now I am nearly 47!
This weekend will be the 16th anniversary of your win at the Sanya Open – which came a week after you won the Crowne Plaza Open in Shanghai. You must still remember those amazing two weeks well?
Absolutely. The first one, Crowne Plaza at Tomson Golf Club. We had played the BMW Asian Open there in May and as soon as I found out it was on I thought I can win this one because I liked the course and it just suited my eye. Leading up to it I was playing well and should have won the Korean Open but finished fourth and finished second in the Taiwan Open a few weeks later. I just played nicely and didn’t make too many mistakes. It helped the course was set up like a Sandbelt course in Australia – the greens were fast and firm.
Sanya was a different type of golf course, it was windy, but I was shooting the lights out and playing well. I ended up in a play-off with Clay Devers and I remember his caddie looked as if he had 10 Red Bulls, he was just bouncing off the walls and was really pumped up, more than Clay. I won it on the second play-off hole after hitting my second to a foot. Clay had a 40 footer for birdie and after he missed he picked up my marker and congratulated me but the ref stepped in and said no no I had to putt out. But I tapped it in and all of a sudden it’s back-to-back wins. Wow! It was bizarre.
The Korean Open was a big influence. I had the lead and I was playing with Ernie Els – who was number three in the world at that time. I was going toe-to-toe with him. I was leading by four at one point and had a one-shot lead going into Sunday but I made triple on 14. But I was talking to Ernie afterwards and I asked him what do you think of my game and he was full of praise and that gave me the confidence to go on.
This week you were elected to the Tournament Players’ Committee of the Asian Tour. What are some of the things you are hoping to achieve?
I have been out here long enough and feel like I can contribute. It’s going to be a lot of work and I am looking forward to it. I want to go more on the players perspective and I have some ideas on what I would like to see happen. Having been out here 21 years I have seen how some things have worked and how some things haven’t worked. But I am really looking forward to getting going once the Tour is up and running. I definitely feel revived and ready to go!
Ends.
In the second and final part of our feature on three-time Asian Tour winner Anthony Kang, the American talks about his famous victory at the Maybank Malaysian Open, swing fundamentals and his transition into TV land.
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – FEBRUARY 15: Anthony Kang of USA poses with the trophy after winning the Final round of the 2009 Maybank Malaysian Open at Saujana Golf and Country Club on February 15, 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Photo by Ian Walton/Getty Images)
While Anthony Kang always looks back on his victory at Casino Filipino Philippine Open in 1999 as one of the great highlights of his career – because it was his maiden win – his triumph in Malaysia’s National Open 10 years later carries as much significance to him, and perhaps even more.
It is the manner of that win, which came down to a nail-biting finish, which is so important to him.
“At the Maybank Malaysian Open having a chance to hit my second shot on the par-five final hole of the tournament, the 72nd hole, and knowing if I pulled the shot off I was going to win the tournament was an incredible moment and experience.
“To me it is a rare occasion in golf to be in a position to hit that winning shot when the time is ticking off – it happens in other sports like American football, even soccer, or basketball or baseball. So I felt like it was that moment for me and to experience a moment like that, which all great players have – like Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson – I feel fortunate that at least in Malaysia that tournament provided me the opportunity to experience that moment and then fortunately to come out ahead on the right side of it.”
He birdied the 18th at Saujana Golf and Country Club to win by one from four players: England’s David Horsey and Miles Tunnicliff, Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng and India’s Jyoti Randhawa.
It ended an eight-year title drought and as the event was jointly-sanctioned with the European Tour it secured him playing privileges there.
“As soon as I won, I called my brother and said do you want to come and caddie for me in Europe, because we are going to make millions!” said the American.
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – FEBRUARY 15: Anthony Kang of USA in action during the Final round of the 2009 Maybank Malaysian Open at Saujana Golf and Country Club on February 15, 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Photo by Ian Walton/Getty Images)
He quickly points out that that did not come true but that the opportunity was the most important element.
He adds that his game was gathering momentum in the lead-up to Malaysia: “Before Malaysia, about two years prior to, I was playing pretty solid golf. I wasn’t hitting any wild shots. I was very consistent, week after week, and I was making putts. While I wasn’t contending very much, I still had a lot of top 10 to 20 finishes. I was loving it. I’d show up, play, make some money and sometimes have a chance to win. Week after week after week, everything was in the positive.”
Unfortunately, success at Saujana did not open the floodgates to more firsts. In fact, quite the opposite happened.
“My game started to go about one month after the Malaysian Open,” says Kang.
He remembers playing a practice tournament at the Ballantines Championship in Korea on Jeju Island with Ted Oh, Unho Park and Lam Chih Bing (his regular practice group) when things started to go wrong.
“On the eighth hole I hit this drive and it went six yards right and I couldn’t figure out why that shot happened and ever since that happened my game started to slowly erode. So every day after that I was trying to fix it – it was like that story of the kid in Amsterdam who is trying to plug the dam wall by plugging the leaks day after day.”
He feels it was his fundamentals and technique that let him down.
“My fundamentals were not very solid. I had a band aid week after week to make the ball go straighter. I was thinking if the ball went straight, whatever I was doing, that’s correct. As opposed to looking at the proper technique, proper sequence, proper timing.
“Back then the information was not available, the technology wasn’t there, the data wasn’t there, to say the swing has to be sequenced this way, the hips have to move this way – it was more trial and error. Back then it was legendary stories of Vijay Singh.
“That was the mentality I had. I needed to see the ball on the driving range going straight, didn’t matter what my swing felt or looked like.
“I think in the end having the lack of knowledge caught up to me.”
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – FEBRUARY 15: Anthony Kang of USA celebrates after winning the Final round of the 2009 Maybank Malaysian Open at Saujana Golf and Country Club on February 15, 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Photo by Ian Walton/Getty Images)
Kang jokes that it was missing cuts that led to opportunities working in television commentary but in the ensuing years he still went on to become one of the most successful players on the Asian Tour with over US$2 million in career earnings. He currently sits in 22nd position on the Career Earnings list.
He first got into commentary at the Indonesian Open in 2014, where Dominique Boulet – a key member of Asian Tour Media broadcast team – suggested he turn his hand to some on course commentary.
“I had just missed another cut and it was a televised event and Dom came into the clubhouse and he sat down with us and asked me if I wanted to go on the golf course tomorrow and do on-course commentary. And I looked at him and I thought that might be fun. Let me give it a go,” says Kang.
“I still find it extremely difficult. It is really difficult. But it was especially in the beginning. I remember that first time in Indonesia in the morning when I arrived, I looked at the amount of people who were there and the amount of equipment. It was all foreign to me, I had never seen anything like it. And my first thought was I don’t want to be the one guy who messes this up for everybody. The first time is what like I was a soldier and I had never had any weapons training and they gave me a rifle and told me to go out there and do your thing.”
Kang was on our television screens in September working for FOX Sports covering the US Open.
“I still get very nervous before the show starts, especially the five minutes before the show starts, and probably about five to 10 minutes into it. But once you get through that you start to get into the flow of things and relax. When they say it’s going to go live it gets your nervous energy up,” he says.
“It is a lot of hard work. You do a lot more than show up and answer questions. You have to do your prep work. You have to make sure you are prepared and that you have something relevant and then on top of it you have to follow the structure of the programme.”
Kang turns 48 in November and fully intends to play the senior circuit in two years time.
He will be exempt on the European Seniors Tour (now called the Legends Tour) thanks to his win in Malaysia and says: “I am going to give that a go because through that Tour there is a very, very small window that can lead you onto the Champions Tour in the US. It is a very small window. But because of that I am going to give it a go.”
He has come a long way since growing up in Seoul before emigrating with his family to Hawaii when aged 10, in 1982 – which is when he started playing golf.
“Nobody taught us, we just went out with my Dad and Mum and played. They just thought it would be a good idea for the family to spend time at the weekend,” he says.
He picked up the game like a natural and by 1990 a couple of colleges offered him a golf scholarship but he settled on Oregon States University.
Said Kang: “I thought Oregon would be better for my golf career.”
An understatement if ever there was one and probably the most important ‘club’ selection of his career.
Recent Comments