SINGAPORE – It has been a successful 2023 for Singapore’s amateur women golfers, with Hailey Loh’s National Collegiate Athletic Association conference championship triumph in April and Shannon Tan’s Singapore Ladies Masters title in July.

Jaymie Ng, 18, who was the youngest in the golf squad at May’s SEA Games in Cambodia, is hoping to join her compatriots on the sport’s biggest stages.

For the second straight year, the teenager received the best sportsgirl award (golf) at the 53rd Singapore School Sports Council Colours Award ceremony last Friday at CHIJ St Theresa’s Convent.

A total of 10,130 student athletes across 28 sports from secondary and tertiary-education schools received recognition for their sporting achievements.

Jaymie, who expressed surprise at retaining the accolade, said: “The best sportsgirl award is the highest award and I am very pleased to receive it. I value every award as that is a testament to all the sacrifices and hard work that I have put in.”

One of the biggest sacrifices she made was to switch schools when she was in Secondary 4. She moved from Crescent Girls’ School to Singapore Sports School (SSP) in January 2021 to further her golfing career.

“This was a tough decision for me to make and I had to sacrifice being with my friends who I was very close to from Secondary 1 to 3,” the Year 6 student said.

The move had been in the works since Jaymie was in Secondary 2, when her father Saing Leong was exploring options for her younger sister, Denise, 16, then in Primary 6.

The 49-year-old said: “As I continued to research more on SSP, I realised that it can be a better fit for Jaymie.

“SSP supports student athletes to go for competitions, provide make-up lessons for classes missed and have a very strong track record (in academic scores).”

Jaymie also credited SSP’s flexible and tailored curriculum, which caters for nutritious meals and weight training sessions, for her rapid development.

She said: “My teachers will also record lessons and assign work for the absentees to catch up whenever they have time overseas.

“I also managed to put in weight training sessions at the school’s gym under guidance. This has helped me tremendously. I take all my lunches in school and every day, the menu is catered to the nutritional needs of all athletes. I learnt about the importance of eating right for performance.”

In 2021 alone, Jaymie played in at least 20 local and overseas tournaments while juggling her studies. A year later, she qualified for the prestigious US Girls’ Junior Championship.

Currently ranked No. 403 in the World Amateur Rankings, she is also the only female Singaporean golfer to have won both the Singapore National Amateur Championship and the Singapore Junior Golf Championship.

Saing Leong added: “All her achievements so far are testament to all her perseverance and diligence in the relentless pursuit of her dreams. She chose this path herself and I am more than happy to support her fully.”

Now in the final year of her International Baccalaureate programme at SSP, Jaymie is eyeing the US college golf route after graduation like Loh and Tan.

“The plan is still very much in place. Shannon is my very good friend and we communicate a lot all the time. She shared with me her very good experiences with college golf,” Jaymie said.

“I started communicating with college coaches since early last year, and the conversations are still continuing.”