Gratitude and backing of golfing stars help Lipsky excel on greens

David Lipsky can't stop looking skywards in gratitude. His initiation into golf was a little over a decade ago, but the support that's come along the way has made the journey "priceless".

Twice this year, he's mounted the dais with a thanksgiving note, and from the looks of it, Sunday could present another opportunity to show his appreciation. The list is long, but the 23-year-old from Los Angeles goes about naming his mentors slowly, taking care that gratitude is apportioned equally.

Born into a Korean-American family, it was his parents who introduced him to the sport, at age 10. If the influence of Charlie Wi, for "his efforts on the Asian and PGA Tours", will stay on, equally impacting were the sessions with Jay Sinn, Wi's coach, at the Wood Ranch, Simi Valley, California. With each encounter, Lipsky grew as a player, but the men he credits with instilling the belief that he could succeed at the highest level were college coach, Pat Goss, and Luke Donald, the current world No. 1, and his senior in school.

Teaming up with Goss at the North Western University, Chicago, Lipsky landed his first major amateur win --- the Big-10 Conference in 2010. "At 20, I realised I could go all the way."

It wasn't just the golfing tips that mattered. Goss's words, which almost harboured on vanity, "If you don't tee up expecting to win, you're setting yourself up for failure," still ring in the ears.

Putting together Donald's advice via Twitter and Goss's chiding that "there is no substitute for hard work", Lipsky first won the Asian Tour's Q-School at the start of the year and went on to pick up his first pro title at the Handa Faldo Cambodian Classic last month.

A shot off the lead at the ISPS Handa Singapore Classic, now a truncated 54-hole event, if Lipsky were to win at the Orchid Country Club on Sunday, the thanksgiving will again consume some time.

First Published: Apr 08, 2012 00:15 IST