Dear readers,
It’s a new season and it seems like the right moment to present Lee Westwood as our cover story. The 46-year-old Englishman just earned a landmark victory, claiming his 25th Tour title, his 44th worldwide, in his 27- year professional career. His triumph at the Abu Dhabi Championship puts him back in contention to finally secure himself a major this year.
We’ve also got several encouraging stories about our home-grown players who have managed to contend well in international events. Danny Masrin’s impressive effort at the Indonesian Masters last year saw him become the highest-finishing Indonesian and he continued to enjoy success finishing T8 at the Singapore Open in January.
Secondly, Ida Ayu Melati Putri was surprisingly able to reach the final of the Australian Women’s Amateur. Despite being defeated by England's Charlotte Heath in the 36-hole final, Melati's performance during the tournament drew much attention and earned her the nickname of 'the giant killer'.
This feels like the beginning of Indonesian players making their mark in internationallevel tournaments. There is sure to be more names on the leaderboards over the coming season and hopefully, we will see our players taking part at the Olympics in July. I would love to see that! A huge development in the golf world is the recent implementation of a new paceof-play policy to ensure the game is interesting to watch.
You will find a feature on this new rule in this edition, along with plenty of other interesting features that will add to your knowledge. Before I end this letter, I would like to wish our readers who celebrate Chinese New Year a blessed “Year of the Rat”. We wish you good health, great fortune, and most importantly plenty of laughter throughout the year.
Enjoy your beautiful day
Liza Sutrisno