One of Australia's most promising young professionals has begun working with Cameron McCormick, renowned US-based coach of the world No. 2, Jordan Spieth.
Teenager Su Oh, the Melburnian who is having some starts on the LPGA Tour in her second year as a pro, began working with McCormick, the Australian who operates out of Dallas, Texas, recently.
"I haven't done too much work with him yet, but the little bit I've done has been really beneficial,'' she told golf.org.au today. "He came out this week to help, yesterday, today and tomorrow. It's been hard for me to schedule with him because of my playing schedule but now it's easier to fit things around.
"He wasn't trying to change the things that I had. I saw him for two days in Dallas and he taught me how to practise and refine my skills to shoot lower scores, how to improve on what I have. It was not so much technical. It wasn't about 'get your face more open'. It was more 'in order to get the ball closer to the hole, try this'. It was different ways to hit different shots, more around the greens. It's been good so far and I'm looking forward to more.''
Oh, who plays out of Metropolitan Golf Club in Melbourne, rose to fame when she won the 2015 Australian Ladies Masters on the Gold Coast at just her second start as a pro, although she was a world-ranked amateur prior to that, teaming with Minjee Lee to win the world amateur team championship.
She first played the Women's Australian Open at just 12 years of age.
Oh, 19, a member of Golf Australia's rookie squad of gifted young professionals, has been making changes over the past year as she graduates to life as a touring pro. She moved from her original coach Matt Cleverdon from Kingston Heath last year and spent time working with Denis McDade at Yarra Bend, but quickly found that it was difficult given that she was spending more time overseas, and sought an American coach.
McCormick was an obvious choice. "I went to Denis last March, then straight away in April I went overseas,'' said Oh. "Everything was new, new country, new place every week, new coach, first year as a pro. That was tough so I tried to find someone in the US and it's great, he (McCormack) is Australian as well.''
Oh's 14th place in the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open at The Grange in Adelaide last February has opened doors for her. On top of a 47th place in the Lotte Championship in Hawaii there was a reshuffle and she has found herself with a series of LPGA starts. After the tournament in Hawaii a fortnight ago she flew to San Francisco, pre-qualified for the Swinging Skirts Championship and ended up finishing inside the top 20.
The result is she has earned $US47,000 for the year and at 78th on the money list, can play the next six straight events on the LPGA Tour although she is not a full member. It is a welcome return to fortune for a player who found it tough on the secondary Symetra Tour in America last year, having missed out on qualifying for the LPGA Tour.
"Because my status is better, I have a lot more motivation,'' she said. "I have an easy mentality. I can't really get ahead of myself at this point because I only have a few starts and I'll try to to do my best at every opportunity. Swinging Skirts was crazy because I played in Hawaii, flew into San Francisco overnight, landed at like 5am which was 2am in Hawaii, then I couldn't get on the golf course straight away. I just kept going, didn't have time to stop, which wasn't such a bad thing, just 'go and play golf'. Then I got to play that entire week.''
Oh can get her LPGA membership if she finishes in the top 80 on the money lists from the starts she has in 2016, and she is feeling comfortable. "I know a lot more people on the LPGA than Symetra, I have a lot more friends, and it's also my second year on tour, second year of being away from home. There are really good people helping me, showing me where to go, finding caddies for me. It's been good. It's only my third tournament in a row so I haven't been away that much.''
The Victorian is teeing it up in the VOA Texas Shootout on the LPGA Tour beginning tonight, along with Karrie Webb, Minjee Lee, Sarah Jane Smith, Katherine Kirk and Sarah Kemp.