A jubilant Poom Saksansin receiving the shirt autographed by his idol Henrik Stenson during the Maybank Championship pre-tournament press conference at Saujana Golf and country Club. Stenson was impressed with Poom after he was defeated by the Thai at the EurAsia Cup two weeks ago. - AZHAR MAHFOF/The Star
SUBANG: Thailand's Poom Saksansin has found himself a reason to be fired up in the Maybank Championship this week.
The 24-year-old looked like a star-struck kid when he finally got to take a photograph with his idol Henrik Stenson on Tuesday (Jan 30).
Poom, a two-time Asian Tour winner, was apparently too shy to approach the world No. 12 Swede when Team Asia and Team Europe clashed at the EurAsia Cup two weeks ago.
Poom then teamed up superbly with South Korea's Kang Sung-hoon to whip Stenson and Frenchman Alexander Levy 5&4 in the opening fourball sessions.
What Poom probably didn't know was his captain Arjun Atwal eventually helped him to get Stenson signing the shirt as a reward for his stunning victory over the latter.
"I was completely stunned when captain Arjun gave me the autographed shirt during the Singapore Open recently (the week after the EurAsia Cup)," said Poom.
"Captain knew I yearned for Henrik's autograph because I told him about it before the match. But he said 'not unless you beat him!' I really didn't expect captain would get it for me.
"I like him a lot but didn't know how to approach Henrik because he's very cool and doesn't smile a lot. I'm really happy now I got my idol's autograph. Not only that, he also wrote on the shirt 'thanks for kicking my butt'. It was awesome."
Another opportunity to meet up with Henrik in this week's dual sanctioned tournament by the Asian Tour and European Tour was not going to be missed by Poom.
On Tuesday, the former SEA Games gold medallist waited for Stenson to finish his press conference and bravely approached him for a photograph this time.
Poom is surely one of the players to look out for this week.
Besides impressing at the EurAsia Cup where he upset England's two-time Ryder Cup winner Paul Casey in the singles, Poom also did well in his last two Asian Tour starts at the Singapore Open and last week's Myanmar Open - finishing tied 12th and tied 10th respectively.
"I'm confident with my game. But the Saujana course is quite tricky and I have missed the cut last year. So it's all about playing well in the first two days and make the cut first, but I think I can do better that," he said.
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