TAIWAN'S Yeh Chang-ting finally revealed the 'secret' of his success when he won the US$500,000 (HK$3.86 million) Omega PGA Championship at Clear Water Bay yesterday.
But it had nothing to do with special tonics, spiritual forces or mysterious mind games.
Yeh, 29, who beat Welshman Mark Mouland by five strokes, vowed two months ago to reveal his secret should he triumph at the Hong Kong Open. But the Japanese Tour regular, who led after the third day at Fanling, faltered on the final 18 holes letting American Gary Webb take the title.
He went on to repeat his promise at Clear Water Bay. And after shooting a fourth-round three-under-par 67 to win the event, the richest ever in Hong Kong, Yeh told all.
But his answer revealed no more than a simple mental strategy employed by most athletes - set yourself a target and do your best to achieve it.
'At Fanling, I set myself a target of shooting par in the last round, which I thought would be enough to win,' said Yeh, who fulfilled that aim by shooting even-par 71 in the final round, only to finish third. 'Today, I wanted to shoot 68. I shot 67, but it would have been enough anyway to win the tournament.' As disappointed journalists stared blankly at Yeh, trying to figure out if he was hiding something else, the Taiwanese chuckled and left hurriedly for the airport to catch a flight home - US$80,750 richer for his efforts.