Thursday 28 April 2011

Marc and Edgar Tie for 4th



Academy juniors Marc Ong and Edgar Oh have upstaged their older competitors in the 3rd and final round of the 2nd National Ranking Game for 2011. Marc followed up his earlier rounds of 76,72 with the final days low round of 67 to move him up into a tie for 4th. Edgar finished off his Ranking Game with a solid but disappointing 69, after closing with a double bogey six on the last hole. Edgar's earlier rounds of 74,72 placed him in a tie with Marc for 4th place.

The 2nd National Ranking Game was won by former Academy student and Singapore Sports School graduate Lam Zhi Qun. Lam fired rounds of 72, 66 and 72 to win by 2-shots. This is a good start for these boys in their bid to gain selection into Singapore's 2011 SEA Games Team.

In the Girls division, Phoebe Tan shot a final round of 79 to finish in 3rd place behind Kok Jo Eee and Stephanie Loi.

Monday 25 April 2011

Rory Tied 9th behind Westwood


Rory Hie birdied his final two holes at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club to sign off with a final round 69 to place him in a tie for 9th at the Asian Tours US$750,000 Indonesian Masters. It was a nice way to finish yet another major tournament in front of his home crowd after securing outright 2nd place in the Indonesian PGA Championship a few weeks back.

The adjustments we made to Rory's posture and backswing early in the week really paid dividends, as his ball-striking was most impressive throughout the tournament. If not for a poor putting round on Day 2, Rory would have been a serious contender over the weekend. Rounds of 68,74,69,69 gave him a four round total of 8-under par. Speaking with the Asian Tour media, Rory had this to say...."It was probably one of the best weeks that I hit the ball. I only missed one fairway and hit my tee shots really solid. I just couldn’t capitalize on the birdie putts again. It was a good finish for me. I managed to put in three good rounds for me".

Scott Barr had another good week on Tour, finishing in a tie for 20th on 5-under. All aspects of Scott's game are in very good shape and it's only a matter of time before he seriously challenges for a Tour victory.

With several players in the mix heading to the weekend, it was World No.2 Lee Westwood who eventually romped home to a 3-stroke victory over Thongchai Jaidee.

Sunday 24 April 2011

Cambo Finishes with 69 in Volvo China Open

Michael Campbell has ended his week in the Volvo China Open by shooting a 3-under par final round of 69 at the Luxehills International Country Club. It was the 4th consecutive cut made on the European Tour for Cambo this season. The results are showing for all the work Cambo and Gary Edwin have put in toward revamping his swing technique.

Peter Senior Leads Liberty Mutual Event


Peter Senior has teamed up with Sandy Lyle to take a share of the lead heading into the final days play at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf.

Played under the best-ball format, Senior and Lyle have fired two brilliant rounds of 63, 61 to be tied for the lead on 20-under par with Wayne Levi and Keith Fergus. A host of Legend teams breathing down there neck include Kenny Perry/Scott Hoch and Tom Kite/Gil Morgan who are just one shot behind. Ian Baker-Finch/Joe Ozaki are in a group of 4 teams tied a further shot back on 18-under.

All the best to Pete in his bid to claim his maiden Champions Tour win.

Thursday 21 April 2011

Rory Leads Local Challenge at Indonesian Masters


Indonesia's No.1 player Rory Hie fired an opening round 4-under par 68 to be the leading local professional at the Asian Tour's Indonesian Masters in Jakarta.

I was in Jakarta early in the week to assist Rory in his preparation for this event. We did some great work with Rory's swing on Monday....making some slight adjustments to his posture and considerable narrowing of his backswing, Rory's ball flight became much more consistent and penetrating. His wedge play showed great improvement, with shallower divots allowing for better distance and spin control.


After a solid days practice on Monday, Rory was fortunate to put his game to the test as he joined World No.2 Lee Westwood for a practice round. This was a priceless learning experience for Rory who's round of 68 yesterday equalled that of the World No.2! Both players are just 2 shots off the lead held by Siddikur after he shot a fine round of 66.

During practice on Tuesday, I followed Scott Barr as he joined one of Asia's best players Thongchai Jaidee. Scott and Thongchai were both striking the ball extremely during practice and it therefore came as no surprise when Thongchai shot 6-under par 30 for his first 9 holes played yesterday! Barr opened his campaign with a disappointing 73 but I am sure he will turn on the birdies tomorrow.

Monday 18 April 2011

Maybank Malaysian Open


It was off to Kuala Lumpur for me last week to help out our Academy students in their preparation for the US$2.5 million dollar Maybank Malaysian Open.

The tournament was played at the beautiful Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club (pics below). With the event co-sanctioned with the European Tour, it attracted the strongest field ever assembled in Malaysia for the countries National Open.

With the likes of Martin Kaymer, Rory McIlroy, Charles Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen, the tournament had actually gained more World Ranking points than the Valero Texas Open being played at the same time on the PGA Tour.

My week started out walking a practice round with Scott Barr, who was joined by fellow Aussie David Gleeson and America's Todd Hamilton (pic below right)....one of 5 Major Champions in the field. Hamilton captured the 2004 Open Championship in a playoff against Ernie Els at Royal Troon, won the PGA Tour's Honda Classic and has accumulated another 11 victories on the Japan Tour during his career. It was therefore a great experience for myself and Scott to observe and discuss tournament preparations with Todd.



Did some good work with Scott early in the week, squaring up his clubface and shallowing his downswing path. These minor adjustments together with a change of shaft in his rescue club, made a significant improvement to his ball flight.

2005 US Open Champion Michael Campbell was also in the Malaysian Open field. Campbell has been working closely with Gary Edwin since December last year and is evidently getting better every week. I helped Cambo and Gary Edwin out early in the week by taking some video footage which was emailed across to the Academy in Australia where Gary instructed Campbell and myself of a few things for him to focus on technically in his preparation for the event.


After monitoring these positions in Cambo's swing during practice on Tuesday and Wednesday it was obvious to me that he was going to put up a good performance. Both Gary and Michael have done some great work in their short time together....exciting to see Cambo getting his game back on track. From what I saw of Campbell last week, it's only a matter before he's back in the winners circle.

The weather delays in Kuala Lumpur proved to be a real challenge for those players teeing off late on Friday...unfortunately that was the case for both Scott Barr and Michael Campbell. When play was finally abandoned on Friday, Barr was playing superbly and featured on the leaderboard at 6-under through 28 holes. Both players would return to complete their 2nd round early on Saturday morning. Barr's momentum from Friday did not quite carry over into Saturday, however rounds of 69,73 saw him comfortably survive the cut mark. It was a brilliant 2nd round for Campbell who after opening with 73, reeled off 8 birdies to shoot a 5-under par 67 and climb his way up the leaderboard. Cambo put together yet another solid round on Saturday afternoon, posting a 2-under 70.

With sweltering heat, difficult pin locations and faster greens, Sunday was a tough and slightly disappointing end to the week with Campbell and Barr shooting final rounds of 76 and 77 respectively. Keep an eye on both these players, as the way they are striking the ball, they will surely feature highly in several events this season.

In a most impressive display of golf, the tournament was won by teenage sensation Matteo Manassero....just two days shy of his 18th birthday!

Wednesday 6 April 2011

Academy Students Sweep National Titles


The 10th National Inter-School Golf Championships were played over the past 3 days at the Marina Bay Golf Course, with many of our Academy students successfully claiming Individual and Team titles.

Secondary 2 student Lucius Toh shot solid rounds of 75,77 to take out the Individual Boys "C" Division Championship by a comfortable 6-stroke margin over another of our students Leonard Tee, also representing the Singapore Sports School. The Girls "C" Division Championship came down to the final hole with Rachel Cheang hanging on for a 2-stroke victory over Wong Yen Ting. Maisarah Bte Saadon finished just outside the medals in 4th position for the Championship.

The Boys "B" Division Championship was dominated by the Singapore Sports School students, taking out 5 of the top 6 placings. Defending champion Marc Ong and fellow SGA National Squad member Edgar Oh could not quite get the birdie putts to drop during the Individual competition, both players finishing the 36-hole event on 3-over par 147. Fellow Sports School student Nicklaus Chiam had no such trouble on the greens, reeling off 5 birdies over his 2nd round back nine to shoot an impressive 3-under par 69. Nicklaus was crowned the 2011 Champion with Edgar knocking Marc out of 2nd place on a countback. Academy students Abdul Hadi and Billie Pay also performed well in the Boys "B" Division, finishing just outside the medals in 5th and 6th place respectively.

In the Girls "B" Division, Lim Jia Yi returned to competition for the first time this year. Jia Yi posted rounds of 74,79 to take 2nd place behind the in-form Jennifer Yan.

After the completion of the Individual events, Day 3 witnessed some terrific golf in the fight for the National Inter-School Team Championships. In the Girls "A" Division, Phoebe Tan teamed up with Kok Jo Ee to take out the first of the Girls Titles up for grabs. Phoebe's round of 77, steered the VJC Team to victory by 8 strokes.

In the Boys "B" Division, it was no surprise to see the Singapore Sports School's Team of Marc Ong and Edgar Oh claim the Championship trophy. The pair of 15yr old's sailed home for a commanding 17-stroke winning margin, courtesy of Marc Ong's incredible 7-under par round of 65! Marc put on a brilliant ball-striking and putting display around Marina Bay Golf Course, making 7 birdies and not a single bogey on his scorecard. Marc's 65 matched the lowest score ever recorded by one of our juniors in tournament play, equalling the 65 recorded by his Team-mate Edgar Oh last year at Laguna National, Masters Course. An impressive feat by these two talented junior golfers.

In the Girls "B" Division, Rachel Lim and Dion Lim teamed-up to claim 3rd place for the Singapore Sports School, just 2 shots out of 2nd. Elizabeth Ang and her team-mate representing SJC took out 4th.

The Singapore Sports School's Lucius Toh and Leonard Tee proved a tough Team to beat in the Boys "C" Division, claiming the Championship Title by a massive 16-strokes! Lucius, having also won the Individual title, posted a fine round of 74 to steer his Team to victory.

It was not so clear-cut in the Girls "C" Division after Rachel Cheang and Choi Seon Hee representing the Singapore Sports School finished on exactly the same score as their opponents from MGS. Unfortunately the countback went against our girls and they had to be content with 2nd place.

Congratulations to all our juniors for their achievements at this Championship!

Sunday 3 April 2011

Marc Attempts Hat Trick of National Titles


15yr old SGA National Squad member Marc Ong will attempt to win his 3rd consecutive National Inter-School Championship when he tees it up at Marina Bay on Monday.

Marc has dominated this event over the past 2 years, claiming the title by 5-strokes in 2010 and also winning by 7-strokes back in 2009.

We would like to wish Marc and all Academy students competing in this year's National Inter-School Championship the very best of luck!