Fore! Junior golf sensation ahead
BIG HITTER: Zamokuhle Nxasana with some of his fans at Ebotse Golf Estate east of Johannesburg. At age 11, he is already ranked eighth in the world for under-12 golfers AT 11, golfer Zamokuhle Nxasana is walking in the footsteps of his hero, Rory McIlroy. Barely into puberty, the eighth-best golfer in his age group in the world is clear on what he needs to avoid to achieve success.
“I need to focus hard and leave the girls alone,” he said. “Look what happened to Tiger [Woods]. When Rory McIlroy was hanging out with his girlfriend a lot, his golf also went down.”
Ask his dad, Geoff, and he will tell you Zamo is on track to follow McIlroy. The youngster emulates everything about his hero, from seeing sports psychologists to training with a private coach. “He is a good golfer. He fights back when he is behind and he doesn’t let other things get in the way of his game,” Zamo said of McIlroy.
Although Zamo has shaken hands with Phil Mickelson and local hero Charl Schwartzel, he is keen not to repeat the mistakes of his other hero, Woods. “He let girls get in the way.” Raised in a golf-crazy household with posters of golfing idols on the walls, Zamo has had his family’s support from the day he got his first set of golf clubs — a plastic set bought at the local toy store. “When we bought him the plastic clubs as a three-year-old, he threw them away. He knew they weren’t real and he wanted to play with mine,” said Geoff.
From there, Zamo’s development took a phenomenal upward turn. In 2011, he placed 43rd at the first Junior World Championship for under-12s in the US.
The following year, he jumped 25 places to 18th to receive the most improved player award.
He has since gone from being ranked eighth in the world as an under-12 and third on the Junior European Tour, to being a star in the Netflix documentary The Short Game, about “pint-sized” professional golfers.
Zamo and his dad jetted out on Wednesday for the US for a month-long golfing trip, where he will be chasing the first prize at this year’s Junior World Championship and the Junior World Cup.
Zamo walks and talks with the confidence of a much older child, and his dad has to keep him grounded.
“He is still a child and a child should be allowed to be a child,” said Geoff.
The family live on the Ebotse Golf and Country Estate in Benoni, where Geoff happily “works” as his son’s caddy.