Will it be Oh v Hull again at NSW Open?

BY Liz White | ALPG Tour | 2010 Women's NSW Open | Preview | 02 Feb 2010

This week’s LG Bing Lee NSW Open returns to Sydney’s Oatlands Golf course and it would surprise few if the names Oh and Hull figure prominently on the final day.

The pair has made a habit of duelling it out over the past two seasons, most recently two weeks ago when Queenslander Katherine Hull pipped Sydneysider Sarah Oh in an exciting five-hole playoff at the Australian short course Challenge.

“Katherine Hull, she is always up there,” Sarah laughed.

“Whenever I come to Australia I get to play with her in the playoff or the last two rounds of the tournament.

“She has great potential in golf and she fights hard so I am just going to have to fight even stronger.”

At last year’s NSW Open, Oh beat Hull by three shots for the NSW Open title but her victory was laced with controversy. Hull’s caddy reported Oh to officials for two alleged rule breaches during the third and final round. The allegations were dismissed but had they been proven Oh would have lost the championship to Hull by one shot.

While Hull will be looking to turn the tables on Oh this year, the pair won’t have it all their own way with another quality field heading to Oatlands for the $125,000 purse.

One player brimming with confidence is rising West Australian, Kristie Smith. The big hitting 21-year-old blitzed the field at last week’s Actew AGL Royal Canberra Ladies Classic with a final round 9 under 64 to take the title by two    shots over Queenslander Katherine Hull.

Add to the young guns, the veteran and reigning Australian Open Champion Britain’s Laura Davies and one of this season’s form players Sarah Kemp and this week’s tournament looks set for some low scores.

The NSW Open was Oh’s first big win as a professional and she said she is looking forward to the chance to defend her title.

“I’m a little nervous but they are good nerves,” she said.

“I should be all ready once I tidy up a few things with my golf and hopefully I should be all fresh and ready by then.”

Oh knows the Oatlands layout, in Sydney’s western suburbs, like the proverbial back of her hand and has fond memories of the course.

“I have played well there,” she said.

“I played there as an amateur and finished 5th then my first year as a pro I finished second and last year I won, so hopefully I can defend my title this year.”

2009 was a steep learning curve for the Korean born 21-year-old.

She headed back to the place of her birth to compete on the secondary Korean LPGA Tour.

“It’s a different culture there. I grew up in Australia and I haven’t lived in Korea for a long time,” she said.

“The culture is just so different and busy whereas it is more relaxing in Australia.”

Culture aside, Oh found the competition on the tour, where she finished 7th on the Order of Merit, very strong.

“The golf standard is great. There are 18 and 19 year-old girls out there shooting low numbers, but prize money wise unfortunately it wasn’t that great.”

Oh was able to pay her way in Korea courtesy of the prize money she earnt on the 2009 Australian Professional Tour. Thankfully the living in Korea is also not expensive.

“It’s actually cheaper than Australia,” she said.

“I have been living in hotels mainly because the hotels are so cheap, about $30 a night and then if I didn’t have a tournament I would stay with my relatives which was a big help.”

Oh is looking forward to the remainder of the Australian professional season and is excited that her game is developing soundly.

“I have gotten 20 metres longer off the tee, around 230 metres and that is what I wanted and I have achieved that, so that is good,” she said.

“I have done that by hitting a lot of drives because in Korea you don’t really get the chance to get out on the golf course too much and you are just out on the range.

“My coach, Paul Latham, said that if you hit a lot of drives you will gradually know how to hit it further and that’s what I did and that’s what happened.”

At the completion of the Australian season in March Oh will return to Korea to compete on the secondary Tour but she is not content with that.

“No way _ the ultimate goal is America and probably I will try that out in two years’ time when I mature and get a little stronger in my game.

“That’s where I want to be.”