Golfer pursues pro career in China
Rising New Zealand golf star Laura Hoskin is about to embark on a professional career in China.
The Queenstown-based player has strong Southland links, with the 23-year-old also the daughter of former Sport Southland and Southland Cricket chief executive Richard Hoskin, a Southland Hawke Cup captain and Otago first class cricketer during the late 1970s to early 1990s.
Hoskin played her last event as an amateur in the pro-am field at the 100th New Zealand Open at Millbrook and The Hills last week after a college career in the United States at the University of Mississippi, or Ole Miss as it’s called.
The next phase of her golf journey promises to be an adventure.
‘‘I can officially say that I’m a professional golfer on the China LPGA. My next tournament will be New Caledonia, and then off to China for two weeks,’’ Hoskin said.
She has full playing rights in China and will take part in about 17 events across the mainland and Hong Kong.
‘‘I think professional golf and amateur golf will be so different and this year will be a massive learning experience in terms of how I manage my energy, my playing and being able to perform throughout the week, each week.’’
Hoskin performed strongly in qualifying to gain her playing card for China, needing to finish in the top 30 of 120 hopefuls.
‘‘Q school – they say it’s the hardest tournament because you’ve got the rest of your career relying on three rounds.
‘‘I played really well the first two days, finished seventh after day two, the third day I struggled the first nine but came back with two birdies to finish 14th. You don’t learn how to handle that pressure by practising, you have to learn it in real time.’’
As she played alongside former winner Michael Long at last week’s Open, Hoskin was able to reflect on a college career which provided plenty of highlights both on and off the course.
‘‘I told Michael about my whole experience and he said when I looked back at it I would see it was the best thing I could have done,’’ she said.
‘‘There’s no one way to skin a cat, every golfer can become really good by doing things differently, there’s no one path to becoming a professional golfer. I do look back at my time in the States and think about how lucky I was. We had tubs of Pro V1xs to hit on the range, the university owned the golf course, money was no issue.
‘‘I
learned a lot about how I play golf and who I want to be as a golfer, how I want to be seen on the course. Off the course, it was about my friends, having a good time and living the American college dream.’’
Hoskin studied journalism in the States and has been able to put some of her skills to use already.
‘‘I interned with the American Junior Golf Association for a summer and then I got back to New Zealand and thanks to Andrew Wylie I got a job with NZ Golf magazine and I’ve been writing columns for them. Liz [Witton], the editor, has been amazing and given me opportunities to write, which is awesome.’’
Hoskin will return to New Zealand regularly during breaks in the China tour, making the most of the exquisite course on offer around Queenstown.
‘‘I just cannot thank the Millbrook community enough for putting together all the people to allow me to play in the Open. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be meeting all the people that I’ve met. It has brought up sponsorship, and has helped with that name recognition, and that will be massive for my career.’’
Hoskin is also grateful for the support she has received from family, friends and the wider golf community.
She reserves a special place for her dad, although there’s no danger of him being invited back onto her bag, with Auckland’s Matthew Griffiths set to caddy after working with her at the China Q tournament.
‘‘Dad got fired a long time ago, everyone in Southland would know why. He’s followed my golf forever, so for him to follow my first tournaments as a professional is an obvious thing to happen.’’
Hoskin is fizzing about entering the paid ranks and playing in Asia for the first time. The future awaits, and it’s an exciting one.
‘‘I earned myself a job and now I can go and get myself some money. It’s a dream come true, it really is.’’
This article was supplied by Sport Southland. For more go to southlandsport.com.