Christopher Yeom of New Hyde Park and Tina Chang of Mineola took very different routes to winning the 2012 Metropolitan Junior Championship last week.
Yeom, 15, scored a final-round 76 to deadlock with Thomas Whelan of Smithtown with a two-day total of 153 at the Apawamis Club course in Rye, N.Y. He won the boys division of the tournament by taking a one-hole playoff.
Chang, 17, scored a final-round 80 for a two-day total of 157 at Apawamis to gain a five-stroke triumph over Kyra Kox of South Salem.
Both of them had already qualified to compete in the Junior PGA Championship starting on July 31 at the Sycamore Hills Golf Club in Fort Wayne, Ind.
“I just want to know how it feels playing in such a big event,” Yeom said.
But it’s the way they’ve reached that milestone in their young careers that really marks a point of departure between the two.
Yeom has been playing golf since he was five years old. Chang picked up the sport just five years ago.
Yeom, going into his sophomore year at New Hyde Park Memorial High School, knew he was up against many juniors and seniors at the Metro Junior Championship. He said it was “one of the biggest” tournament wins he’s scored.
Another strong showing at a tournament in late June secured him his place in the Junior PGA Championship. It’s the kind of atmosphere that he he said he thrives on.
“I mostly enjoy golf because of the competition in the tournaments. It makes it really fun,” he said.
For the opportunity to have that fun, he logs lots of time on the links. During the summer, he practices two or three hours in the early morning, then rests and picks up his clubs again for a late afternoon practice of his short game for a few hours at the Windwatch Golf Course in Happauge. He finishes off that session by playing a few holes on the course.
During the school year, he hits the driving range every day after school.
Yeom started competing on the New Hyde Park Memorial team last year. And he intends to keep on playing for a long time.
“My main goal is to go to college and try to become a professional golfer,” he said.
He said he’s considering a major in business or perhaps golf management.
Chang, who’s played on both the Mineola High School and St, Anthony High School teams, graduated from St. Anthony this year. She’ll be attending William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Va. on a partial scholarship, thanks to her ability at golf.
“I like that it’s just you in the game. It’s helped me to grow in different aspects,” she said. “The mental game is huge in golf and that’s definitely helped in life a lot.”
She said playing golf has helped her to bring greater focus, perseverance and confidence to everything else she does.
But the game didn’t come naturally to her. In fact, it wasn’t even her idea to play originally.
Chang had been training as a figure skater when she began having problems with her feet. She was forced to abandon that first athletic love, and her mother urged to try golf.
Entering her first tournament competition two months after she started playing in eighth grade, the greens seemed like alien turf.
“I felt I’d been thrown into a completely different atmosphere,” she said, recalling that she didn’t even know all the rules yet.
Her Metro Junior Championship win was her first tournament victory.
“I didn’t really expect to [win]. This was one time I had to focus on doing my best. I didn’t expect to win, but I’m really glad that I did,” Chang said.
She said she practices three hours daily in the summer, and two hours a day during the school year. She said her improved long game helped her in Rye and she’ll be putting in plenty of practice time before the PGA Junior Championship.
“Qualifying for the actual PGA Junior, that’s a huge tournament, so I’m really excited about that,” she said.
