Wi, 48, spent the past couple of years making up for lost time as he enjoyed some quality family time with his wife and two children having been engaged with tournaments for the most part of his golfing career.
“I haven’t played too much golf in the past few years. I have two kids who are 10 and 13, so I’ve been spending a lot more time with them,” said Wi during a press conference.
“I’m getting older now, so it’s just nice to be able to compete again.”
Wi turned pro in 1995 and soon established himself as a household name in the Asian golfing scene.
Mostly thanks to his stellar record of seven Asian Tour victories and one European Tour title to his name.
The 48-year-old also actively competed in PGA Tour events in the earlier part of his career.
Wi has won in Malaysia previously, in 2006 at the Maybank Malaysian Open and has even played on the Kota Permai Golf & Country Club — before some players at this year’s tournament were even born.
“The last time I played at Kota Permai, I think players like Joohyung Kim weren’t even born yet. It was in 2002 when Kevin Na won the tournament,” said Wi.
“There’s still a lot of familiar faces, some new ones too. But just to see and watch them play is enjoyable enough for me.”
While Wi is mostly excited to be back at competing again, he noted that he wouldn’t be paying attention to any superstitions, preferring to rely on his own ability instead.
“That’s a really easy trap to fall into, you know? Superstitions,” said Wi.
“It’s like ‘Oh, what did I have to eat before I played? Do I have to eat it again?’. It’s too difficult to pay attention to every little thing.”
He added that while he didn’t take superstitions seriously, other golfers, including his compatriot and PGA Tour great K.J. Choi, believes in them so much that he would even eat the same meal for a whole week.
“I hang out with K.J. Choi a lot. That guy is so superstitious that once he likes something and thinks it helps him play better, he would have the same meal every night for a week,” said Wi.
Aussie Wade Ormsby, on the other hand, who like Wi, is competing at this week’s BMO 2020, considers superstitions to be more “routine” than anything else.
“Superstitions? Always have four golf tees in my right pocket and a golf pitchfork in the back,” Ormsby joked.
“It’s always the same for me. But it’s more like the same process rather than the same superstitions. Like getting used to the way you prepare for a tournament.”
Ormsby is the highest-ranked player on the Asian Tour Order Of Merit (OOM) and enjoyed a great start to the year, winning the Hong Kong Open two months ago.
Despite his uplift in form since the turn of the year, Ormsby remains cautiously optimistic of his chances at winning the BMO 2020 title, citing the Malaysian humidity as one of his main causes of concern.
“For me, coming from Australia, we have the heat but not the humidity. We’re used to the one part, but not the other,” said Ormsby.
“The adrenaline sort of takes over on the actual tournament days, compared to practice days, so we get through the tournament days a little easier.”
The BMO 2020 is held at the Kota Permai Golf & Country Club and takes place from March 5 to 8.
Malay Mail is an official media partner for the Bandar Malaysia Open 2020.
For more information and updates about the Bandar Malaysia Open 2020, you can visit the Facebook event page or surf over to https://themalaysianopen.com/
