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Teenager Amy Yang has grand plans to rule the golfing world
By admin | October 22, 2006
But first she has to finish school, Peter Stone writes.
WHEN Amy Yang isn’t in class as a year 11 student at Robina High on
the Gold Coast, she’s on the practice range. But, at nights, she lives
in her dreams.
In them she goes head-to-head with Annika Sorenstam down to the wire
in a major. She wins a major. She has a healthy bank balance to repay
the investment of her parents who brought her to Australia from South
Korea a little more than two years ago to have her taught the finer
techniques of the golf swing. And so much more.
Just over a week ago, the 17-year-old Yang turned professional with
little fanfare, and certainly without the estimated $10 million plus in
endorsements received a year earlier when another player of Korean
ancestry, based in Hawaii, turned professional as a 16-year-old and has
since mainly made a name for herself by missing cuts on the men’s tours.
Yang is not Michelle Wie, but there are many similarities. Wie has
played a limited schedule in the past 12 months while completing her
schooling and that is exactly what Yang will do for the next 12 months
while playing on the Ladies European Tour (LET), which has accepted her
as a member.
She’ll continue to attend Robina High next year to complete year 12
and in the school holidays, with maybe a little give and take on either
side, will play 10 to 12 LET tournaments for the year, two of which are
in Australia in February when she defends the ANZ Ladies Masters and
plays the Women’s Australian Open at Royal Sydney.
It was because of her victory as a 16-year-old amateur in the
Masters last February - when she defeated American Catherine Cartwright
on the first sudden-death play-off hole against a class field which
included Karrie Webb - that LET officials relaxed the rules that
stipulate a player cannot play full-time on their tour until the age
18. Dispensation, in Yang’s case, was given because they felt she had
the psychological strength and necessary financial support. And, of
course, the game.
Now, she’s in seventh heaven. She wasn’t savouring amateur golf
after her victory at Royal Pines. She won the West Australian
strokeplay title by a country mile at Lake Karrinyup, but the emphasis
in women’s amateur golf is on matchplay. She was beaten by players far
less credentialled and her confidence was eroding.
“She wasn’t enjoying it,” says coach Lawrie Montague, who runs the Australian High Performance Golf Academy
on the practice range at Palm Meadows. “In her mind it was a bit of a
letdown from winning a major professional event and going back to the
amateur world where, in matchplay, it can be a lottery over 18 holes if
someone has a real good day out.”
Three weeks ago, Yang and her father James, with ALPG boss Warren
Sevil and Amy’s confidante Anna Gammon, met at her home club of The
Glades on the Gold Coast to discuss her future over dinner. Yang was
sure about two things: she wanted to complete her schooling and she
wanted to turn professional.
“She’s the type of girl who wants to finish things off,” Montague says. “She doesn’t want to just walk out at the end of year 11. In her mind, she wants to wrap up that side of it.”
The decision was reached. They approached LET for membership, which,
as she is a tournament winner, means she is exempt until the end of
2009. Not that she’ll stay on that side of the Atlantic until then. The
plan is for her to cut her teeth in Europe next year, complete her
schooling and then go to the LPGA Tour school late next year.
“Everyone is happy with the decision,” Montague says. “It took a lot of pressure off her.”
Yang has the full support of staff at Robina High. Why wouldn’t she?
In July-August she played the rich Evian Masters in France, finishing
tied 52nd of 77, and then was leading amateur at the Women’s British
Open for which she received a handsome trophy and a voucher for $1250.
She donated the voucher to her school and it was used to help buy
video and camera equipment. School is very much part of her life.
Adolescence is not something to be lost in the pursuit of golf.
Speaking to her on the phone, there were language difficulties, but
she has come a long way since her media interview after winning the
Masters. “My target first year is to win a tournament, trying to do my
best,” she says.
And school? “Too hard.” But she will persist because she loves it.
At the British Open, she met Sorenstam and, in her words, said to
the world No.1: “Nice to meet you.” A Korean TV reporter arranged the
meeting and, no, Yang did not ask for Sorenstam’s autograph.
Se Ri Pak, one of the “Seoul sisters”, and a couple of other leading
Korean players took her out for dinner, to informally welcome her to
the ranks of the Korean women players in world golf.
When Pak came onto the scene in 1997, there was not a single Korean
woman on tour. This year, there are 32 playing the LPGA Tour and 36 on
the secondary Futures Tour. Koreans have won nine of the tournaments on
the LPGA Tour.
Korean parents are driving it. Their sons are out of the question
as, in their formative years, they are thrust into two years’
compulsory military service. It is the girls left at home - and on the
golf course.
Today Yang leaves to play her first tournament as a professional -
the rich, inaugural Dubai Women’s Classic, which is a LET event.
Sorenstam and Webb are also playing.
When she finally heads to the corporate capital of the world - the
US - there will be sponsors lining up to throw money her way. But right
now, she is not worried about the money, nor the potential money. She
just wants to play golf as a professional, to increase her learning
curve - and to complete her schooling.
Source: The Sun-Herald
Topics: AHPGA, Amy Yang, Golf News |
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