Simulating Tiger
If you know about Golf then you know about Tiger Woods and you should also know the legendary red golf shirt and black slacks that comes with a famous Tiger win on the last day of a tournament and the scene was no different on the weekend only this time Tiger was competing in the US kids Open.
Simthandile Tshabalala AKA Sim Tiger is a South African golf prodigy. At just 7 years of age he played entered the world of kid’s professional golf this year when he was entered into the Australian Open and immediately impressed everyone with a top 5 finish. While only being 7 years old as a golfer he has the nickname Sim Tiger, paying homage to the real Tiger, who was a golf prodigy himself. In my opinion he can’t go wrong modeling himself on the best golfer to ever walk the earth.
Simthandile at 7 has the world at his feet and yet this 7 year old shows maturity beyond his years. In the Australian Open, instead of saying how excited he is to compete, he instead chose to tell everyone how proud he is to fly the SA flag. The young golfer is also quick to heap praise on his father and uncle for helping him thus far, showing the humility of a future champ as well. Sim is always working on his game and any of his twitter followers will tell you just how hardworking this little man is with videos of himself he recently posted where he is hard at work.
Simthadile’s story has only just begun and he already has the hopes of a nation on his shoulders. My only concern is that with this weight of expectation on him, he might forget to just be a kid. If he makes it as a pro or not shouldn’t be his be all and end all but with the little bits I’ve seen of this youngster I’m sure he has the ability to go down as yet another South African great golfer and perhaps even better than that. He has the skills and it is now up to those around him to teach him a good temperament and life skills. Often with these child stars the people around them are just in it to get rich off their backs and the star usually either doesn’t make it or burns out early on in their career.
One thing is for sure that this young man has a lot of attention on him at the moment and appears to be handling it well like a seasoned vet at this point and that should stand him in good stead for the future. Keep your eye on Sim Tiger as we might be seeing the rise of a great in the game of Golf and a shining light for young golfers the world over.
