Away from the pool, Schooling masters the greens

HE BOMBED a 270-metre drive that went way past the end of the "Nearest The Line" marking in a cross wind in the fifth leg of the Business Times Corporate Golf League last week. Then he hit a near-perfect downhill shot over 195 metres, the ball landing pin-high but about 12 metres to the left.

Staring at an eagle on the 465-metre par-five 14th hole at the Singapore Island Country Club's Sime Course, Joseph Schooling, 24, asked his playing partner and club member Kevin Kwok for a read of the line for the putt.

"Half-grip left," came the reply. There was tension and anxiety in the air. Schooling - an Olympic world champion swimmer - is used to all that sort of pressure, of course. But when the guest star of Team Hugo Boss saw his putt roll just past the hole, he sighed before breaking out into a grin.