Sentosa, Singapore, January 14: Singapore’s Choo Tze Huang was visibly disappointed after missing out on his Asian Tour card at Qualifying School last month. But the SMBC Singapore Open will give the 31-year-old another opportunity to redeem himself again when it tees off on Thursday.

Ahead of the Singapore showpiece where he finished tied-16th last year, Choo talks about the joy of playing on home soil, his closest friends on Tour and how he is hoping to turn disappointment into success.

By Choo Tze Huang

“It’s always good to be playing at home. It’s fun. It’s good to be sleeping on your own bed and waking up in the morning and coming to play in such a prestigious event like this.

I made the cut a few times but last year, I had my best performance at the Singapore Open with a tied-16th place finish. I feel good when I come out here again. Hopefully I can bring back some good vibes this year and keep it going.

It was definitely disappointing to miss out on my Asian Tour card at the Qualifying School two weeks ago. It took me a couple of days to get over that. It was a bit painful but it kind of motivates me to work harder now.

I know my game is going the right direction so it’s just going to push me harder and I will keep moving forward. I’ll take the positives, work on what I am weak in and take it day by day this week and try to get a good year going.

I’ve been talking about a breakthrough for a couple of years now so I am just waiting for that. It has a lot to do with my mental game and some parts of my game need improvement of course. I just need to keep working on that and see if that breakthrough comes along.

I usually take my non-Singaporean friends out for chicken rice or steamboat when they are in Singapore. If they are new to Singapore, then definitely chicken rice!

There are a lot of nice and fun places to go all around Singapore I believe. Singapore is a very safe city with a lot of nice cafes and restaurants around.

Sentosa itself is a good attraction or Orchard Road downtown which is good too.

We are all pretty close. Just having each other around, practicing together and pushing each other, that’s what we look for every week, whether or not we are at home or not. I room a lot with Koh Deng Shan and Danny Chia. I’ve learnt a lot from Danny. He gives me a lot of advice.

He has helped me a lot over the years. He always give me advice on course management and all.

He is very successful himself and I enjoy practicing with him.

Ends.