Golf Asia - February 2018

GOLF ASIA 21

SPECIAL OLYMPICS GLOBAL

AMBASSADOR IN-KYUNG KIM

South Korean professional golfer, Special Olympics

Global Ambassador, and 2017 winner of the

Women’s British Open, In-Kyung Kim, took to the

golf course at Emirates Golf Club, to help train

almost a dozen Special Olympics athletes with

intellectual disabilities. I.K. Kim, who was in the UAE

for the Omega Dubai Ladies Classic, held 1-2-1

training clinics with several young people to help

enhance their golf skills ahead of Special Olympics

World Games 2019 in Abu Dhabi. Kim has won

three times on the LPGA Tour during the 2017

season, most recently at the Women’s British Open.

JON RAHM CAPTURES 2ND PGA TOUR VICTORY

Jon Rahm picked up right where he left off in 2017 with a playoff victory at the Career

Builder Challenge in La Quinta. Relying on a full 14-club bag of TaylorMade equipment,

the Spaniard - who has now risen to #2 in the Official World Golf Ranking - carded 27

birdies set up by superb driving with his new M4 driver and brilliant ball striking in windy

conditions. Rahm’s victory is his second PGA Tour win and his fourth on global tours in

the last 12 months. He added a new M4 driver (9.5°) set to standard after testing with

TaylorMade's Tour staff. For the week, Rahm averaged 310 yards off the tee and found

71.43% of fairways. In addition to his distance and accuracy off the tee, Rahm carded 27

birdies or better with his Spider Tour putter, which he's had in the bag since this same

tournament last year. Rahm now moves up to No.2 in the Official World Golf Rankings (at

time of print), giving TaylorMade #1, #2, #6 & #11 in the world.

(L-R) Shannon Tan, Nathen Tan En Quan,

Callista Chen and Emerson Boon.

In-Kyung Kim teaches a golf clinic to

encourage athletes ahead of Special

Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019

FALDO SERIES SINGAPORE CHAMPIONSHIP

Nine months after suffering a crushing sudden-death play-off defeat,

Callista Chen experienced the joy of extra-time success in the 12th

Faldo Series Singapore Championship. In February, Chen was beaten

in a play-off at the HSBC Women’s Champions National Qualifying

Tournament at Sentosa Golf Club. Riddled with nerves, she drove

out of bounds and missed out on a coveted place among the game’s

elite female professionals in the LPGA Tour event. Displaying a new-

found mental toughness, the 19-year-old Chen made amends for that

disappointment with a tense triumph at the first extra hole of a play-off

at Raffles Country Club to take top honours in her debut Faldo Series

appearance. Victory completed a memorable year for Singapore

Sports School student Chen, who flew the flag for Singapore at the

Queen Sirikit Cup and Southeast Asian Games. Now, she will go on

to represent Singapore in the 12th Faldo Series Asia Grand Final, to

be hosted by Sir Nick Faldo at Laguna Loˇng Cô in Danang, Central

Vietnam, in March, 2018. As Boys’ Under-16 winner, Boon will also

make the trip along with Shannon Tan, who topped the standings in

the Girls’ Under-16 category. The 2017-18 Faldo Series Asia season is

supported by The R&A and endorsed by the Asian Tour and the Asia

Pacific Golf Confederation. The International Junior Golf Academy is a

partner of the Faldo Series.