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 So it's a bit ironic that one of the best golfers with an Asian surname to work with the Oak Valley Golf Academy staff was born and raised in Pasadena. Her name is Pearl Jin. And while there are plenty of young golfers these days hyped from one corner of the country to the other, it's hard to argue with Jin's resume. Earlier this year, Jin, 12, became the youngest girl to qualify for the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship. She finished 18th in stroke play and advanced to the second round of match play where she lost to the other 12-year-old to qualify for the prestigious event: Alexis Thompson of Coral Springs, Fla. Jin has won 54 tournaments since 2004, including two notable ones this year. In July, she won the 11-12 girls' division at the Callaway Junior World Championships, and in February, she won the Mayakoba Junior Golf Classic, the American Junior Golf Association's first open event in Mexico. Jin played the course, which was set up at 6,047 yards for the girls division, at 4-under par. Though her name has appeared in publications such as The New York Times and Sports Illustrated, Jin is still easing into the public spotlight. She is a quiet, focused girl with a determination and concentration that golfers twice her age would envy. "Pearl isn't all golf all the time," her mother, Yolanda Jin, said. "She lives like a normal 12-year-old girl. She is a straight-A student, and even makes clothes for her dog. But when she's practicing or playing in a tournament, she is absolutely focused on her game. She pays attention to every shot and every possible situation. And even though she is quiet and sometimes doubts she can express everything she wants to say, she's a natural teacher and loves talking about golf with fellow competitors, which is why so many kids love to play with her." "I think what sets her apart is her passion for the game and that she really loves competition," said Oak Valley general manager Kai Chang, who describes himself as Jin's "golf mentor" at the Oak Valley Golf Academy. "She is a very quiet girl who doesn't talk much, but she's incredibly focused on her game." Chang is guiding Jin as she decides everything from choosing a golf coach to picking which tournaments are most suitable for her. Golf wasn't the first sport or extracurricular pursuit Jin mastered. She earned a first-degree black belt in tae kwon do at the age of 8, and has also tried everything from gymnastics and ice skating to piano and painting. But the minute she picked up a club at a junior golf clinic in the San Gabriel Valley, she knew that golf was her passion, her mother said. Two months after seriously picking up the game, Jin made a hole-in-one on a 97-yard hole, and she topped that by acing a 252-yard par 4 at Scholl Canyon Golf Club in April 2006. So what does this golf prodigy have to say for herself? Well, she likes golf because of the competition and the opportunity "to travel different places and meet new people, which is really exciting," Jin said. She says the strongest part of her game is mental, and she is very vocal about her one golf goal: "I want to be the No. 1 golfer in the world," she said. Her golf hero is Tiger Woods. If one well-placed observer of women golfers is to be believed, Jin may have a shot. Henry Reis, a golf instructor who visits Oak Valley a few times a year to work with his overseas students, saw Jin one day and told Chang that "she was the most talented girl at her age that he'd ever seen," Chang said. Not a bad endorsement, considering that one of Reis's former pupils was Annika Sorenstam. SG |
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