Golf: Competitive Hendry off to Asia

Mike Hendry. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

Mike Hendry is to pack his suitcase yet again and head west, but his gaze will be towards the northeast horizon where he sees a long-term future.

The Auckland golf professional flies to Jakarta tomorrow for the Indonesian PGA Championship, the first stop on the OneAsia Tour 2011 where he wants to lay foundations for a pathway to the United States and the wildly lucrative PGA Tour.

While still relatively inexperienced, he is 31 and likes to think he knows his game inside out.

That's why he views his second season on the OneAsia circuit as a stepping stone to potential riches.

Provided his form is right, he is likely to head Stateside in the middle of the year to make use of his PGA Tour limited membership, earned for reaching the third and final stage of tour qualifying school last season.

He knows he has far to go before he earns the right to share tee space with the game's stars, but he will not lower his sights any time soon.

"I would love to be a top 50 player in the world for a long period of time and be competing at major events," he said.

"I really want to test myself against the very best all around the world. To do that I have to be in the top 50. That's a long way away at the moment but that is what I am working towards."

Don't suggest to Hendry that his world ranking of 402nd makes his lofty goals unobtainable. After all, he began 2010 in the mid 700s.

"I don't necessarily think my game is that far away from being at that level. I think it's about getting the opportunity to play bigger events and get more ranking points.

"Realistically, I am two wins away or two good seasons of solid performances like last year, and I could get there."

Craig Dixon, his coach of almost three years, puts nothing beyond Hendry, a driven individual with the inner determination to make the most of what he has.

"His dedication and application of tasks is absolutely outstanding," Dixon said of Hendry.

"He knows what he wants. There is no doubt in my mind that he will be among the top 50 in the world, if not higher, at some point."

Hendry's razor sharp competitive edge leaves him eagerly anticipating the US$3 million ($4.1 million) China Open on April 21-24 when he will rub shoulders with the likes of Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia.

A late bloomer who took to golf only after turning his back on a promising cricket career in his early 20s, Hendry headed to Asia this time last year desperate to make up lost time.

He did that - and more - by winning the Indonesian Open and securing top 10 finishes at the SK Telekom Open in Korea and the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open in Japan, to complete his rookie season third on the tour's moneylist with tournament income of US$247,093, leaving him behind only China's well travelled Liang Wen-chong and Korean Kim Dae-hyun on the circuit rankings.

His breakthrough win in the Indonesian event earned him US$180,000 alone and the victory remains a source of comfort at times when confidence is low.

He won going away from the field, a closing round of seven-under-par 65 featuring seven birdies in a nine-hole stretch to give him a comfy cushion of seven shots on the wily Liang, his closest pursuer.

He is confident he has mastered a couple of technical improvements to aid his development.

"I put in a lot of hard work at the beginning of the year trying to make a couple of subtle changes. When you do that, you can't expect to play well and I did go through a bit of a rough patch there but it is now all starting to knit together nicely."

- NZPA