Featured Players
By Joy Chakravarty
It’s rare for a 13-year-old to have a clear idea of what the future is going to hold for them.
That really doesn’t apply to Hong Kong’s Joseph Cao, the youngest player this week at the 16th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, being played at the Majlis course of Emirates Golf Club.
While his clarity of thought is apparent, missing is the exuberance and excitement that you’d typically associate with someone who has just stepped into his teenage years. Cao won’t say he plans to win this week, or that he hopes to become a future world No. 1. There is a remarkable maturity in his thinking.
Cao is thrilled to be playing in his first AAC, and shows every bit of his age when he can’t stop laughing, recalling the time his father was briefly banned by The Jockey Club Kau Sai Chau Public Golf Course for playing golf too many times in a month.
However, ask for his thoughts on hopes for the championship and his future journey in the sport, and his answers are restrained. Cao is focused on goals that he knows he can achieve. The fact that he is surrounded by players twice his size, doesn’t bother him.
“To be honest, I don’t look at the results. I’m just here to learn. I try to gain as much knowledge and experience. I don’t really have much expectation. Obviously, I want to make the cut, but I just feel like I want to learn from the big players and just gain as much from this tournament,” said Cao.
“I have played quite a lot of tournaments from the back tees. But they are still about 6,800 yards. But this course, it’s definitely longer. I hit my driver about 250 yards, which is pretty good for my age, but most of the par-fours here, I have to use hybrids or five-iron into the green.
“I am not intimidated by players who will hit it several yards past me. I am just going to focus on my own game, stick to my game plan and try to do the best I can do.”
On his ambitions in golf, Cao said that as of now, the big goal for him is to make sure he gets into a good college in the US.
“Of course, I think of turning professional one day, but I’m taking it one step at a time. For me, the big goal would obviously be to get into a good university. We are trying to use golf to get into a good university,” explained Cao, who shot a six-under par round aged 11 at Clearwater Bay, the host venue of the 2015 AAC.
“I’d definitely prefer playing professional golf rather than doing a corporate job. But let’s say I get into a good university, and if I am still doing well in golf, I might turn pro. I’d like to see how good I am at the college level before we make that decision.”
Cao said he started playing golf during the COVID pandemic. A national-level swimmer for his age, he turned to golf because that was one of the very few sporting activities that were allowed at the time.
“I was causing too much chaos at home and my mom (Mel) would always complain about me. So, my dad (Daniel) decided to bring me out to the golf course, and then we started playing bit-by-bit. I joined the Hong Kong golf team and with the help of coach Tim Tang and coach David Freeman, I started playing well and winning big events in Hong Kong. It's just been an upward journey,” said Cao.
“My dad started playing because he took me to the golf course. He was my partner. He wasn’t really into golf. But when I started playing, he just fell in love with it. So much so, he got banned from the golf course because he played too much golf! The maximum time was only four and he booked on my mom’s name and basically switched with her. He got banned because he loves golf and because he loves playing with me!"
“He doesn’t really play that much now, but he loves caddying for me. He will be on the bag this week, and he is really good with strategy and just talking with me and keeping me calm and composed.”
Ask Cao about what he loves most about golf, and you’d see that thoughtful nature of his again.
“I think it’s putting,” he said after a pause for reflecting on the question.
“I just love the sound of the ball getting in the hole. And putting is always fascinating because you have to process so many things. I like the entire process of reading the green. It’s like a puzzle, you have to solve it, put all the pieces together and that’s when you are going to make that putt.”
Taichi Kho, who finished second to Keita Nakajima in the 2021 AAC at Dubai Creek, is an inspiration for young Cao.
“I kind of know him, but I won’t say we are friends. My mum is friends with his dad. We see each other here and there, and we talk for a bit.
“He definitely is an inspiring player for all of us in Hong Kong, because he is the first ever to win an Asian Tour and he also won the Asian Games gold.”
