Coronavirus: S'pore golfer Hadi readying for sport to get back in swing of things

SINGAPORE – Thirteen years ago, Abdul Hadi Uda Thith’s father spoke to him about pursuing a career in golf when the former was about to enrol at the Singapore Sports School.

“I told him there will be more downs than ups and it’s about having the mental fortitude to deal with it as best as you can,” said 52-year-old Uda.

Those words of wisdom will serve Hadi well now, for the 25-year-old professional golfer has seen his season thrown into disarray due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

Ahead of his second year on tour, he had set two goals: Win a tournament, and get a spot on either the Asian Tour or Japan Golf Tour.

But he is now “preparing for the worst” – the possibility that there would be no tournaments to play this year.

While his income and progress in the sport will take a hit, Hadi is choosing to stay optimistic.

But though his income and possibly progress in golf will take a hit this year, Hadi remains optimistic.

Aside from his father’s advice, his positivity also stems from the lessons learnt from his first year as a professional.

He told The Straits Times: “Of course (Covid-19) is a setback … But you can look at it as a chance to take a bigger step back, analyse your game and set a training plan for the next few months to see what weak areas you need to work on.”

Before the circuit breaker measures kicked in on Tuesday (April 7), Hadi had been practising at the Laguna National Golf & Country Club at least six times a week to ensure that he would be ready to compete once tournaments resume.

With sports and recreation facilities, including golf courses, now closed till May 4, however, the Singaporean has been feeling “a bit stuck”.

“It’s definitely a bit frustrating but there’s nothing much we can do now, so I’m just looking forward till the circuit breaker is over and I can get back to practising,” he added.

His first year as a pro also helped build character and resilience as he had to cope with disappointment when he did not perform as well as expected.

Hadi, who turned professional in October 2018, played 24 tournaments last year, of which 13 were PGA Tour Series-China events. He has competed in just three tournaments this season – the SMBC Singapore Open and two events on the Middle East and North Africa Tours.

Now subsisting on his 2019 and 2020 tournament earnings of about US$15,000 (S$21,200) and US$2,000 respectively, he has had to be more prudent with his spending. But he noted that his golf-related expenses are covered via a sponsorship from Peter Ku of Kuo Group.

Uda, an office manager, added: “As more and more tournaments got cancelled, we discussed how it would affect his income stream and we were concerned about how he would manage his expenses.

“We are still able to support him and luckily his training expenses are covered, so that helps.”

The father-and-son duo can also count on veteran golfer and family friend Mardan Mamat for advice. Mardan, 52, told ST: “I told his dad he needs to have a lot of patience in this game. We don’t know when it (success) will come, so just keep doing good things and one day it will come.”

While Uda’s main concern is whether his only son – he has three daughters aged 23, 20 and 18 – can regain his form in time when the season resumes, the latter is confident of being able to quickly shake off any rust when the competition resumes.

He has been working out and practising shadow swings in between watching Netflix while stuck at home.

Hadi, who was travelling for 30 weeks last year, said: “I’m not too worried about being off-form as I know that after the circuit breaker is over we’ll still have a few more months before the tournament season starts again and there will be enough time to prepare.

“You just have to make the best out of it… it again goes back to having a plan, sticking to your routine and to just keep going no matter what setbacks you face.”

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