Heidi crams for tough overseas campaign

Heidi Chua is a lady in a hurry. Bereft of tournaments here and abroad, she’s rushing things up to get back into the groove. In fact, she’d be up at sunrise for a round of golf and would still be thumping balls at varied distances at Wack Wack’s range at sundown.

Such is the comely lady’s routine the last two weeks. For good measure, she hacks it out with the likes of Angelo Que, Carito Villaroman and Cassius Casas at the Manila Southwoods and drops by in a gym in between for the workout needed to develop some muscles in her frail frame.

"For two weeks now, I’m out of the house from 6 a.m. to 5 .m., playing with the likes of Angelo (Que), Carito (Villaroman) and Cassius (Casas), going to the gym in the afternoon, and then hitting around 350-400 balls at the range," said Chua.

But Chua isn’t a bit irritated by her hectic schedule, nor annoyed by the debilitating summer heat that could easily daunt the meek and the faint-hearted. With a big dream up ahead, her regimen even seemed not enough given the toughness of the competition she would face in the next few weeks.

"I want to play with people who can help me concentrate and get back into competitive mood. Hopefully, I can get my groove back," added Chua. "Imagine, almost three months din kaming walang tournament. Kahit sa labas, na-cancel din ang ibang tournament."

She was supposed to leave for South Korea for the Queen Sirikit Cup set mid-May, but the SARS scare had forced the organizers to postpone and cancel the event altogether.

But Chua will do leave on May 17 for the Hawaii qualifier of the US Open where she hopes to do well and make it to the sectional stage in San Francisco. She’s also set to join the US Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship on May 31, hopeful that she can surpass the second round achievement she had last year. Also in her calendar is the US women’s amateur tournament in June.

Actually, there are other events awaiting her in the US, specifically in Pinehurst and Long Beach, and might shuttle to and from Japan and Korea for a couple of tournaments.

Chua is the most dominant lady golfer in the land today after Dorothy Delasin and Jennifer Rosales and with Jayvee Agojo still to come out of age. She reigned supreme in the Philippine Ladies Open at the Manila Golf Club for the second straight year, cutting Agojo down to size in sudden death, then literally rose from the grave to complete a stirring come-from-behind victory in the DHL Open in Canlubang. Weeks later, she dominated the same field in the Southern Ladies Open in Cebu.

In between, she tried her luck and fortunately made the cut in the Kosaido Cup, a pro tournament in Malaysia. But aware and sensitive to the fact that she still had a lot of things to learn before jumping into the big league, Chua feels it’s not yet the right time to take the plunge.

"I hope to gain more experience from these tournaments. I want to further strengthen my mental toughness. I need to have more preparations and I’ll pick it up from there," said Chua, who politely asked the interview, citing the need the go back to the driving range.

It’s way past 5 p.m., she said, and the lady’s in a hurry to empty the last bucket.