JAKARTA, March 25 - Home favorite Rory Hie has set his sights on a first OneAsia win in 2014, and where better to do it than at this week’s season-opening Enjoy Jakarta Indonesia PGA Championship, presented by Indonesia Port Corporation.
The gifted 25-year-old came close to claiming the title when finishing second to Andre Stolz by a stroke at the 2011 edition of the tournament — he also finished joint runner-up at the Indonesia Open that year — and has shown he thrives in front of a home crowd.
“I always love playing in Indonesia,” said Hie, who won two out of three legs of the Road to the Panasonic Open series in Jakarta last year and also had a top-10 finish in the capital just last month on the Asian Development Tour.
With all the creature comforts of home and doting parents Tommy and Rita, Hie will be able to devote his full attention to the U.S. $1 million tournament taking place at Damai Indah Golf’s Bumi Serpong Damai course, which promises a set-up to test the mettle of one of the classiest fields ever assembled in the world’s fourth most-populous country.
Fully co-sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour and OneAsia, the best players from both circuits will be be in attendance as well as Y.E. Yang, Asia’s only Major champion.
The winners of every Order of Merit since OneAsia’s founding in 2009 have confirmed their entries, as have multiple Japan Tour winners such as Shingo Katayama, Hiroyuki Fujita, Yuta Ikeda and Yoshinori Fujimoto.
Hie’s phenomenal showing in his rookie season in 2011 has yet to transform into a OneAsia win, but the former world top-10 amateur is determined to make the step-up.
“I want to win on OneAsia this year — as in any other year really,” he said, with just a few days to go until the March 27 - 30 tournament.
After a relatively quiet start to 2013, Hie showed his class at the Nanshan China Masters in October with a joint fourth-place finish behind Major winners Charl Schwartzel, Darren Clarke and defending champion Liang Wenchong.
A bit of his inconsistency could be attributed to flitting between contact lenses and spectacles in a bid to sharpen his focus, but Hie intends playing this season entirely in glasses while he mulls whether to undergo Lasik surgery to correct acute short-sightedness.
“I’m sticking with glasses for now,” he said. “Using transition lenses has helped me protect my eyesight so far (but) I’ll wait for the Lasik technology to upgrade so they can perform surgery on a thin cornea.”
Hie is constantly fine-tuning his game in pursuit of improvement and is confident with the feel of the new driver in his bag — as well as another surprising addition.
“I’m using the Taylormade SLDR driver now and a new Taylormade five wood,” he said. “I’ve never used a five wood before, but I feel like am getting too old to hit a two iron.
“I tinker all the time — sometimes not for the better, but golf is best learned from trial and error.
“I know what I am capable of and I would like to get better. You wont get there by staying the same.”
And his opinion of “BSD”, as locals fondly refer to Damai Indah Golf’s Jack Nicklaus-designed Bumi Serpong Damai course?
“It’s definitely a ball strikers golf course. The greens are tricky too, but I’m really looking forward it.”
Playing at home means Hie also get the chance to indulge more in his hobbies off the course.
“I’m an avid music fan — and not just one genre. My favorite band has always been Green Day, but when I am in the mood I listen to some metal from A7X (Avenged Sevenfold) and as well as rap. Eminem is my favorite rapper.
“I also love fast cars and video games.”
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