Katherine Hull
Katherine Hull runner-up to Yani Tseng in last year's Ricoh Women's British Open and a player who is making ever more of an impact, knows what she would be watching were she behind the ropes for this week's HSBC Women's Champions at Tanah Merah.
"I would be looking at the players' pre-shot routines," she said. "They may have different routines but they are equally strict with them. It can make all the difference between pulling off a good shot and not."
Those spectators who choose to follow Hull will notice quite a difference from the Hull of a year ago. "My short game is a lot better, I'm hitting the ball further because I'm working harder in the gym and my hip sequence has improved," she said. "You can't afford to stand still out here because there are more and more girls with more and more talent."
This week, there is a Singaporean player, Christabel Goh, who is shaping to become one of the players to whom Hull was referring.
A spectator at the previous HSBC Women's Champions in Singapore, Goh this year won the local qualifying event and is now realising her dream of playing among the top women. Since qualifying, she has had as many as ten practice rounds, the last of which was with Nicole Castrale, one of two sponsor invitees.
Goh, who only turned professional at the end of last year, was wide-eyed with what she saw over the 18 holes. "Nicole and the other professionals spend so much time practising on and around the greens... So much attention to detail that it blows my mind."
"When I was an amateur," she continued, "you would just say to yourself, 'This looks like a good spot to chip from' but it was never any more scientific than that. These girls look at the area where they are in danger of missing the green and chip from there. It's not like random. It's very specific."
Goh, who says she is as a sponge as she soaks up all the information on offer, has already appreciated that there is no such thing as hitting and hoping among the professionals.
"You can see them thinking about everything they do and every shot they play. Sometimes they talk with their caddie, sometimes they don't. Either way, they don't hit the ball until they are ready to hit it - and properly committed."
Cristie Kerr, who was five under par in today's pro-am round, will tell you that she learnt a lot through finishing second here to Ai Miyazato last year. The Solheim Cup golfer was tied for the lead "when I kind of hooked my drive on the 17th." She was given a free drop but the ball ended up in a bad lie and she overshot the green with her third en route to a bogey.
"That bogey," she said, "was kind of warranted but you can't be overly aggressive on certain shots out here. So I'll take that into this year's tournament and make sure that if I'm leading or close to the lead, I stick to playing strategically and staying with my game plan."
That the crowd figures are expected to embrace a higher percentage of juniors and comfortably to exceed the 23,547 of last year, reflects the growing success of the HSBC Women's Champions.
According to Goh, the tournament has done wonders for the junior game in Singapore. "When I was starting out," said the 22-year-old, "parents had to get permission for their children to go out on the course. Now, thanks to HSBC, who have been really supportive of juniors as well as running their tournament, you can see tons of kids out there.
"They are trying to bring the game to everyone and it's not so much an elite sport any more."
