Featured Players
By Joy Chakravarty
Geoffrey Laklak’s abiding memory of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship was a disastrous double bogey on the 14th hole in the second round at last year’s edition in Japan. He vividly remembers every detail of that hole, which halted his run and denied him the chance to play in the weekend.
The Championship has now given him something more cheerful to remember. On Friday, at Emirates Golf Club in Dubai, the 17-year-old wrote history for his country when he became the first Lebanese player to make the cut in its 16-year history.
Laklak, who is based in Miami, Florida, with his family, shot rounds of 73 and 71 to finish even par after 36 holes and secure his weekend tee times. However, a bogey-bogey finish was not how he wanted to close a round in which he had negotiated the first 13 holes in three under par.
“This means the world to me. Lebanon has always done so much for me and my family, especially giving us amazing opportunities to play in these amazing events,” said Laklak, who became the 13th player from Lebanon to feature in the Championship last year.
“It feels good to finally repay for all they have done for us. It’s a signal of hope, hopefully for the country, and for me, to show that I’m starting to compete a little bit better and put my name on the leaderboard.”
Lebanon has only one golf club – the Golf Club of Lebanon – and the country has been undergoing a political crisis for some time.
“Golf is obviously not the main sport back home. We have only one golf course and not many people play the sport. But there still are some very passionate golfers out there and I am sure they, and the federation officials, will be delighted with this result,” said Laklak, who started playing at the age of two while accompanying his elder brother to the golf course.
“Personally, I thought I was going to become the first Lebanese to make the cut last year, but sadly, I had a rough 14th hole. It was a nightmare, and I still think about it. That’s how much it meant to me and how badly it hurt.”
Ask Laklak about his bogeys and he can talk for hours about them. Birdies are summarised quickly.
“That’s an issue with me. I have been told that I need to focus more on the positives and forget the negatives as soon as possible. Hopefully, I will have a lot of good things to remember this week,” he added.
“The bogeys coming in, I would not say I was nervous. But I’d say I got a little ahead of myself. I was a little excited. Obviously, we are all here trying it make the cut, but at the end of the day we are all trying to compete and finish as high as possible. I was trying to make sure I finished higher, and sometimes when you get too far ahead of yourself, you can get caught up in other things than the ball in front of you. I should have kept my head down and focused on the shot at hand and the task at hand.
“The cut is beautiful, but the goal always has been to win. It means a lot to me and my family and my country, but like Tiger (Woods) said, every event you play in, you want to win. And that’s why I’m a little frustrated with the finish.
“Definitely, the goal’s shifted for the weekend. It is now to put Lebanon and my name at the top of that leaderboard.”
