These days, Australians are spread vast and wide across the golfing world, our coaches particularly seen as highly valued commodities with a special ability to develop young talented players.
Gareth Jones, the Japanese National Coach, is the archetype of this role, while Matt Ballard, former short game coach to Adam Scott, is now in charge of the Singapore national teams. The Queenslander following another Aussie, Andrew Welsford, into the role.
Beyond the actual coaching, it seems the Aussie invasion of world golf is having perhaps unplanned benefits.
“For sure we have gotten to learn a couple of Aussie slangs along the way. ‘How ya goin?’ Think I am slowly nailing that bit over the years,” Aloysa Atienza told this publication when asked of Ballard’s influence.
Taking a more serious bent, the 24-year-old expanded on the coach’s influence.
“We got a couple of opportunities to travel to Australia, it is always windy over there, so I think we are a bit more confident when it is windy nowadays.”
That ability to play in the wind could very well come in handy at this week’s Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific in Thailand, where Atienza opened with a one-under 71 to lead the Singapore charge and sit in a very respectable share of 17th.
“For me it is definitely a huge honour to represent Singapore and it is my second WAAP, and I think it is always a good opportunity for me to see where I stand among the other players in the region and fly national the national flag high is also another big thing for me,” she said.
Atienza certainly did that on Thursday where it was very much a case of two varying nines.
Her all par back nine must have felt boring after opening her account with birdie at the 1st and mixing two more shots against par with two bogeys.
Likely Singapore’s best chance at contending this week at Siam Country Club, Atienza is also like so many other players who haven’t yet developed the profile of a Kelsey Bennett, Natthakritta Vongtaveelap, Saki Baba or even leader Liyana Durisic. The National University of Singapore student taking the chance to see where she stands in region.
“Just within this one year I have competed a lot more, played with a lot of elite players, played with a lot of people who have won tournaments, so I definitely learn from them,” Atienza said when asked to compare her debut where she failed to make the weekend to this week. “Mentally I also feel a bit more confident, so I am pretty excited to see how much I have grown over the last year.”
Judging how players have advanced and indeed learned is a big part of coach's, like Ballard, job. He just might not have envisaged Aussie language lessons were part of that golfing education.
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