Golf is in a good spot, making history and inspiring a nation

By Chuah Choo Chiang

Two feats five days and some 15,000 km apart, delivered timely reminders of golf’s many-layered and widespread appeal.

They also underlined that inspired accomplishments and historic proportions prove that the true essence of the sport is alive and well. 

At the Tiger Woods-hosted Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles, Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama broke a personal psychological barrier by pulling off a historic triumph with a final round 62 that made him the winningest Asian-born golfer with nine PGA Tour titles.

The victory was worth a cool $4 million but it truly wasn’t on the 32-year-old’s mind after he ended a frustrating two-year win drought. For him, it was about earning a place in golf annals after wondering if he would ever hoist another trophy following a niggling neck injury.

A few days later in faraway Nairobi, another slice of golf history was rewritten when an unheralded 31-year-old, Ronald Rugumayo, became the first ever Ugandan to make the cut in a DP World Tour tournament.

The wild scenes around the 18^th green and the welcome celebrations showed what it meant for the game in that part of the world.

Consequential result

Rugumayo finished 71^st in the Magical Kenyan Open where his achievement was certainly worth far more than the $3,700 he earned as his magical run, forgive the pun, will resonate across in his native country and the African continent for years to come.

At a time when there is more money than ever in our sport and with the phrase “growing the game” in danger of being used too loosely, it is a relief and an encouragement to see an elite golfer in Matsuyama and a wannabe-star like Rugumayo being driven by much bigger causes.

After Matsuyama had surpassed compatriot Shigeki Maruyama, who is a three-time PGA Tour winner, the older Japanese told him that he needed to surpass K.J. Choi of Korea, who was the leading Asian winner then with eight wins.

In other words, Matsuyama was being told by his senior to chase golf history.

“After I won the fourth one, Shigeki told me, “hey, you’ve got to pass K.J. Choi. I was very happy to do that and I’ll definitely text Shigeki that I achieved this win,” said Matsuyama.

“Reaching nine wins was one of my big goals. After my eighth, I’ve been struggling with my back (neck) injury. There were a lot of times where I felt I was never going to win again. I struggled to reach the top 10.”

Chasing history

While a resurgent Matsuyama will continue his pursuit at rewriting more PGA Tour history, Rugumayo, in contrast, believes his fairy-tale run in Kenya will inspire others to follow in his footsteps and pick up the game.

He rolled in a pressure-packed 10-foot birdie putt on his last hole in the second round to make the halfway cut.

“For everyone who is out there, who has a dream, please don’t give up on yourself, believe in yourself and give it all you can. And for the man who wins is the man who thinks he can,” said the Ugandan, who entered the week as the 2,901^st ranked golfer in the world.

“I mean it’s just a surreal experience. My dream after the Kenya Open is to inspire young people in Uganda to take up golf. I always hashtag ‘Golfing To Inspire’ everything I post on social media.

“A few years from now, I would like to see more Ugandans playing on this Tour. Not just Ugandans, but East Africans.”

While there are over 2,300 golf courses in Japan as opposed to 20 in Uganda, the paths for Matsuyama and Rugumayo may never cross.

But with the same kind of passion and drive to chase golf history and inspire others to play the sport and thus grow the game in its truest essence, the duo provides enough reasons to show that the game is on the right side of the fairway to a brighter and better future.

NB: The writer is senior director, marketing and communications – APAC for the PGA Tour based in Malaysia. Fans can follow the PGA Tour on www.pgatour.com

Also read: Despite aborted Genesis outing, a new chapter for Tiger Woods