The golf? Azzan Al Rumhy will probably say he’s done better.
This week, at prestigious Royal Melbourne in Australia, he’s playing the prestigious Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, where the winner also picks up invites to the Masters and the Open Championship. But Al Rumhy struggled. On Thursday, during the first round, he shot an 86. On Friday, an 83. And he was done. And maybe he’ll remember that. But probably he won’t.
There’s been more, though. Among the field of 120, he’s only the player from Oman, and he returned to the event this year for a ninth time. So after round one, they grabbed him to talk about his story in front of the cameras.
And he brought his young son, Yusuf, the Oman Little National Team Boys Under 9 champion.
Who may have delivered this week’s best moment, when he was asked by reporter Amanda Renner what his dad needed to do, and Yusuf wonderfully answered as only a kid could. Kids say the darndest things, and this was that.
But enough with our thoughts. Below is the video of the interview. Below that are the words, with some comments.
There’s a steady buildup.
Renner: “You are the only player this week representing Oman. I believe this is your, let’s see, ninth appearance. I had to look at that; it’s unbelievable. I think your first one, Yusuf was just 1 years old.”
Azzan Al Rumhy: “Exactly.”
Renner: “How unbelievable is this experience? What keeps you coming back, competing here at the AAC?”
Azzan Al Rumhy: “I love the tournament. To me, it’s the best tournament I have all year. I look forward to it every time and, yeah, as you said, it’s the ninth time. I’ve been so fortunate to be representing Oman. I’m looking forward to a great round today. One better than yesterday, I hope.”
Here, we were introduced to Yusuf, who, until this point, had been looking at his dad, looking at Renner and smiling.
Renner: “How fun is it to watch your dad? You’ve been walking all 18 holes every day, even the practice rounds.”
Yusuf Al Rumhy: “It’s very fun to watch my dad play because it’s the first time to come to a big tournament to see my dad playing a good tournament like this.”
Renner: “What do you think the best part of your dad’s game is?”
Yusuf: “His chipping.”
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Renner: “What’s the best part of your game? I saw you out there a little bit earlier.”
Yusuf: “Putting and my drive.”
Renner: “Putting and drive. So I have a feeling, will we be interviewing you as a player here in a couple of years?”
Yusuf: “Yeah.”
Renner: “That’s the goal, right?”
Yusuf: “That’s the goal.”
Back to dad, who’d been smiling while watching his son. And Renner asked him a question about the AAC academy and his prep for this tournament, and the elder Al Rumhy answered well.
And it was back to Yusuf.
And the kid was just being honest.
Renner: “What does your dad have to do today to play well around Royal Melbourne? It’s a hard course.”
Yusuf: “He needs to get better on his irons and the putting.”
Renner laughed. You just might have too. Azzan put his arm around Yusuf.
Renner: “Dad, do you agree with that?”
Azzan: “Of course, I do, yeah. I want to avoid all of the big numbers I had yesterday. And make him proud.”
Renner: “I think Yusuf might have a future in broadcasting. But first, hopefully going to see you in the Drive, Chip and Putt at Augusta National. How about that? Does that sound good?”
Yusuf: “Yeah.”
Great job, everyone.
