Koga on the prowl for Tiger's Crown

Kota Kagasaki, like most aspiring golfers, dreams of one day beating Tiger Woods.

What makes Kagasaki special is that he has already come within a whisker of achieving his goal - at the age of 12.

Child prodigy Kagasaki, who plays off a handicap of just four, took on Woods one-on-one in a Nike exhibition event at Japan's Narita Golf Club earlier this month. Perhaps even more extraordinary is that the St Stephens College student from the Gold Coast went shot for shot with the greatest golfer of all time and almost beat him.

At the end of their nine-hole contest, Woods finished one-under. His young opponent carded a respectable one-over.

''[Woods] is really gentle, a really nice person,'' Kagasaki told The Sun-Herald.

''When I first met him one-on-one I was a little bit nervous, but when I went to the golf course I wasn't nervous at all.

''My goal was to win two holes against him and I only won one. But winning and losing wasn't the point of the round, it was about me learning.

''It's been a really good starting [point] for me.''

Already, the similarities between the pair are startling. They are both part Asian (Kagasaki was born in Japan before shifting to the Gold Coast via Hawaii and New Zealand). Both are sponsored by Nike.

And both showed an amazing aptitude for the game from the time they first picked up a golf club. In Kagasaki's case, that pivotal moment occurred on his eighth birthday.

''My dad took me to the driving range,'' recalled Kagasaki, who turned 13 during the week.

''He was hitting some golf balls and I said, 'I want to hit some as well.'

''I tried a right-handed swing but everything I do - writing and eating - I do with my left hand.

''Right-handed, I didn't hit it too well. I swapped to my left hand, got some rental clubs and started hitting left-handed.

''The first ball I hit, I hit it pretty good.

''From there, it became really fun.

''Since it was my birthday I asked my dad to get me a set of golf clubs.

''In the pro shop, luckily, there was a junior left-handed golf set.

''I asked him to buy that for me as a birthday present and then I started hitting in the driving range with my new clubs.

''A couple of professional people were watching me.

''They asked me when I started and I said, 'Today is just my first day.'

''They were, 'You're kidding, right?'''

''That's how I started.''

Only four months after he started, he produced his first hole-in-one. Four years later he was hitting up with Tiger. The next time they cross paths, Kagasaki expects to reverse the result.

''My dream is to go to the US PGA by 18 and win against Tiger Woods by the time I'm 20,'' he said.

''I hope I can. My goal is to beat him. I have to keep on breaking his [majors] records to beat him as well.''

Asked what he took from the Woods experience, he replied: ''He taught me a lot of things over the nine holes.

''What he told me was, 'Keep doing what you're doing.'''

The expectations are high but Kagasaki insists his main motivation is simply the love of the game. His coach, father Yoshi, expects the precociously talented youngster to do just as well at school as on the course.

''I wasn't forcing myself to play, I was just enjoying it,'' Kagasaki jnr said.

''I really liked it so I just kept on hitting golf balls.''
SMH