In another stunning week for New Zealand sport, outstanding prospect Lydia Ko didn’t have to look far for an example of what life in the professional ranks is all about.
Especially, operating in the hurly-burly of the American sporting scene where Ko will ply her trade most of the time.
A few days before the teenager made the inevitable move to join the money game, Kiwi motorsport ace Scott Dixon had just earned a US$1 million bonus for being the best driver over a demanding season in the IndyCar ranks.
It was Dixon’s third crown in the toughest single-seater championship below Formula One and proof that he remains the consummate professional.
His three titles have come five years apart – proof of his perseverance and undying belief in the abilities of his own driving skills and the support team around him.
Ko will need to show similar traits if she is to transfer her incredible game and composure into the grind of professional golf.
The driving skills of Dixon and Ko are different – one is behind a steering wheel, the other off a tee – but there are similarities between the two as the Auckland schoolgirl embarks on a path that Dixon has already travelled and become incredibly comfortable in.
Like Ko, Dixon was a child prodigy in his sport. He quickly became too big for the New Zealand scene, transferred his skills to the Australian market and, with the help of benefactors, decided he had to test his game in America, moving there in 1999 while still a teenager.
A long 14 years later Dixon finds himself still operating at the very top of his abilities.
Motorsport is a demanding game, both physically and mentally. For an athlete there are so many intangibles – the reliance of your engine and car, the sustainability of the high finances involved, the freak accidents that occur around you, the inevitable driving mistakes that come with operating at such speeds, and the questionable tactics of some of your rivals in such a cut-throat business.
Dixon has conquered those repeatedly, claiming 31 IndyCar wins including the 2008 Indy 500. He has more than 130 top-10 finishes to his name.
There has been anguish for Dixon between titles but he is adamant the hard times have helped him grow as a person and allow him to be a persistent force at the pointy end of the field. He did that enough this year to claim his crown and become just the 12th driver in IndyCar history to claim three or more titles.
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These are the sort of stats that Ko would view with understandable awe right now.
Yet everyone involved with her and observing from a distance would believe they are the sort of figures she could achieve herself on the far more placid environment of the golfing fairways.
There are intangibles in golf too, but Ko has already displayed the smooth swing, pure putting stroke and, crucially, the mental toughness to suggest she can thrive and potentially dominate in her new surroundings.
But hers is very much a learning assignment right now and she and her team could do worse than tap the shoulder of Dixon and ask for a few pointers.
He’s not just a master behind the wheel, he also knows how to play the sponsorship game and get the best out of the much-hyped American sporting market.
If a chin-wag between Dixon and Ko doesn’t happen any time soon, there may be an opportunity early next year when the annual Halberg Awards are handed out.
Unless something sensational happens before December 31, it’s hard to see how any Kiwi sportsman can pip Dixon for the male award.
And Ko’s incredible efforts this year where she has won two international titles – defending her Canadian Open on the LPGA Tour and claiming the New Zealand Open – and posted so many strong resultsin the strongest company, will have her pushing hard to wrestle the women’s award away from the steely grip of shot put sensation Val Adams.
