Bubbly Jing Xuen misses home and can’t wait to play in KL Open
PETALING JAYA: National golfer Ng Jing Xuen’s impressive third-place finish at the North Sumatra Amateur Open has fuelled her excitement to compete at a home course next month in Kuala Lumpur.
The 15-year-old got her second top five finish of the year after coming in third at the Royal Sumatra Golf Course with a seven-over 223 total in Medan, Indonesia on Thursday.
With the Kuala Lumpur Amateur Open being the next event on Jing Xuen’s calendar, she’s looking forward to teeing off at home as the tournament will be held at the Kelab Golf Perkhidmatan Awam (KGPA) from May 5-8.
“I’m really looking forward to playing at home as all the events this year have been at international events overseas,” she said.
“Although I’ve gained numerous experiences, I’ve kind of missed Malaysia’s courses.”
Jing Xuen came in fifth at the Taiwan Amateur Championship earlier this month, an improvement following a 69th place finish at the Singapore Women’s Open and 21st spot at the Queen Sirikit Cup in New Zealand last month.
As she gains experience playing overseas, Jing Xuen said her mentality playing at home is to keep things simple.
After her historic SEA Games gold medal win in Cambodia last year, she went on to bag four titles and made nine top 10 finishes in Malaysia.
Jing Xuen added that she needs to improve her mindset when heading into the final holes as she tends to make mistakes towards the end.
In Medan, she said a mistake on the second day’s last hole was costly as the triple bogey dropped her to third after ending the first day in second place.
“I was having neck pain during the tournament but I made a silly mistake,” she said.
“The rain was pouring and I was quite nervous so I ended up not doing well on that hole.”
However, the youngster has some positive takeaways from Medan to further add to her preparation for the tournament at KGPA.
“My irons were performing well this week and I’m happy about that because I have been putting a lot of effort into them recently.
“Overall it was a good learning experience for me, but I guess it wasn’t my time to win yet. I will keep trying,” she said.