Lack of mental fortitude? Jimmy'll fix it
With their rounds complete, the golfers, who had straggled into the clubhouse from mid-morning to early afternoon, were enjoying some lunch and a beer or two. Jimmy Ko Ming-kit, the winner of the Hong Kong Open qualifying tournament, was no exception, taking his lunch out on to the veranda of the Hong Kong Golf Club. But instead of a beer, he sips a soft drink to wash down a lunch of chicken, rice and steamed vegetables.
At 19, Ko was the youngest - and the only amateur - to earn one of the five entries into the UBS Hong Kong Open, shooting an impressive 66 in the first round and winning the tournament by two strokes after finishing with a par-71 in the second round.
Ko qualified for next month's tournament for the second year in a row. He also won the Faldo Series Asia Hong Kong Championship, which was played in conjunction with the qualifier. By today's junior golfing standards, 19 is not young, but if Ko is a late-bloomer, then, as his former coach suggests, winning this tournament can help improve the mental part of his game.
'Jimmy works really hard and it's starting to pay off,' said Brad Schadewitz, who was Ko's coach when he was part of the Hong Kong Golf Association junior team. 'He needed a boost of confidence and I think that's what this tournament has done for him.'
Ko acknowledged the positive mental implications of winning the qualifier. But he also admitted that he has succumbed to nerves on the back nine of the second round. He was three under on the 14th hole, but double bogeyed on 15, bogeyed the 16th, before birdieing on 17 and finishing the day with another bogey. While he called his first round of 66 the best he had played in his golf career (Ko started golf at the age seven), he was aiming not for a repeat of his first-day score, but a more realistic finish of one or two under par.
'He started off fantastically,' said Dominque Boulet, the former number one golfer in Hong Kong, who was in the same final-day grouping as Ko.
'He looked very composed and when he started off, he didn't miss a shot.'
In the second round, Ko held his own against Boulet and Tang Shing-chi, who also earned one of the Hong Kong Open entries, along with Boulet, Derek Fung and Tong Man-kee.
Ko began the day on a calm note, and said he enjoyed playing with Boulet, adding that he felt the two played a round of golf that was normal, relaxed and comfortable.
This new level of ease can be partially attributed to Ko's six-month stint at a golfing academy in California this past summer. Schadewitz, who still works with Ko, said that by being in an environment filled with high-level junior golfers, his own standard was forced to rise. However, the mental work is not done.
'My technique is OK, but my mental side needs to improve a bit,' said Ko, adding that he would work on that aspect of his game during the five weeks leading up to the Hong Kong Open.
Where the confidence is most obvious was in Ko's answer as to whether he would be nervous playing alongside some of the top European players in the Hong Kong Open. Shyly, but simply, Ko answered: 'No.'