Ashton O’Kola proudly carrying the Barbados flag during the parade of teams at the New York State Championships with his mother Janeille Matthews behind him.
By Morissa Lindsay
This summer has been a fantastic one as Barbados’ young talented golfer Ashton O’Kola continues to proudly represent his country. He impressively won the New York State Championships and came third at the British Kids Championship which were part of his outstanding achievements.
The gifted six-year-old who will be joining the Providence School family this term after being at St. Luke’s Academy said he felt good about his overall performances this year because he was able to travel a lot more this year and compete. In fact, O’Kola expressed that he surprised himself and did better than he expected to in some of the competitions.
O’Kola shot under par for the first time at the New York State Championships, which he won. He also placed in the top 25 at World Championships which was a tremendous showing where he was the only Caribbean representative. Even better, O’Kola equaled the New York State Championships record of 72 shots in two days which for him resulted in great excitement.
“I was so happy that I jumped up in the air five times. I was happy because it wasn’t an easy course,” he told Barbados TODAY.
The highly promising player came third at the British Kids Championships where he played against mostly seven-year-olds. O’Kola continued to live up to expectation featuring in the top half of the Under Armour Disney World competition but came up against older kids between six to eight-year-olds.
O’Kola believed he accomplished most of the goals he set out to achieve. “Yes, because I shot some birdies, an eagle and I shot under par for the very first time in competition. Oh and I had a tee shot that went 176 yards. I have never hit the ball that far in my life.”
In terms of what has been his major highlight playing this summer, O’Kola said: “Travelling to England was a big highlight so was representing Barbados at Pinehurst for World Championships. I got to walk with the Barbados flag in the parade of nations just like the Olympics until it got too heavy for me. But I still got to walk with the Barbados sign. Oh, and going to Disney World and seeing Mickey Mouse was unbelievable.”
Out of all the tournaments played O’Kola singled out the Under Armour as his favourite which was held at Disney World. He also shared what that experience was like. “I liked the Under Armour tournament at Disney World. They had sand bunkers in the shape of Mickey Mouse! And me and my parents went to Disney World after the tournament and I went on rollercoasters and ate candy. I don’t usually get to eat candy so it was fun for me.”
In terms of how he feels physically and mentally having played in so many tournaments this summer, he outlined that it felt good because it was a lot more experience for him. He has also seen improvements in his game from the exposure of playing international competitions as it relates to his putting which has got a lot better. O’Kola revealed he had much more one-putts than before and his chipping has got better.
The weather was a challenge at times but O’Kola was determined not to give up, particularly playing in cold conditions at the British Kids Championship. He added: “England was so cold that I thought my nose was turning to ice and it was so rainy. I never played in that kind of weather before.”
O’Kola revealed that he had a great summer and is looking forward to his new school, the Australia tournament, but most importantly working on his game.
“I feel sad to leave my old friends but it’s going to be a new experience for me and I hope it will be as fun as I expect. I like that Providence has a lot of sports and chess and I’m excited that they have a library. For golf I hope I can still go to Australia and I have already gone back to golf practice. Now I’m focusing on hitting the ball straight every time I need to and to stop slicing the ball when I don’t need a slice,” O’Kola told Barbados TODAY.
