Discover the Legend

For this year’s Ballantine’s Championship, Ballantine’s has been running the ‘Discover the Legend’ campaign; providing a variety of unique insights into both the game of golf and those who play it. Dustin Johnson, Louis Oosthuizen and YE Yang pay tribute to their own legends – the players they believe have most influenced the game

YE Yang in action at the Ballantine’s Championship

When did you discover that you wanted to be a professional golfer?

Dustin Johnson: I always said that I was going to be a professional golfer when I was a little kid growing up. All through high school I was like “I’m going to play on the PGA tour,” but I probably didn’t really believe it until I was in college; that’s when I really started to believe that I can do this.

YE Yang: I began playing a little bit later than the other pros out there and actually started my career as a golf instructor. However, after improving my game over the next few years I then began to build a real determination to succeed as a tour pro.

Louis Oosthuizen: It was probably late on in my school years that I decided to give golf a go. I did really well in those two years and ended up turning pro at the end of the second year so it turned out pretty good.

For any young South African golfer coming through, Ernie Els has been a great inspiration and what he has done for golf in South Africa has been really big. I think being South African; the legend that you really think of is probably Bobby Locke and then you have Ernie coming through; they are just great guys to look up to.

Coming through Ernie Els' foundation inspired me to set up my own foundation and I now share his desire to provide children with the same opportunities in the game that he gave me. It would be great in South African golf to be known as someone who tried to help the game; to get the game out there in the country and get kids playing.

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Written by The Editors

Click here to see the published article.

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