Haig, the next big name for S. African golf?

HE WAS one of the biggest babies to come out of South Africa's Nelspruit Hospital.

Now, 20 years on, Anton Haig looks set to make it big in golf.

He stands at 1.93 metres and weighs 83 kilograms, with 330-yard drives and a great short game.

'I don't know how much I weighed exactly, but my mum said I was a helluva big baby,' he said.

And the swinger is hoping to stand out from the 204-strong field at this week's US$1.1 million (S$1.7 million) Clariden Leu Singapore Masters.

Teeing off today at the Laguna National Golf and Country Club, Haig is gunning for his second win in as many weeks.

'I'm feeling good, I'm hitting the ball solid,' he said, looking relaxed and confident. 'Hopefully, I can just keep my nerves and go out and play my best.'

At last week's Johnnie Walker Classic in Phuket, he sank a 10-foot birdie putt in a sudden-death play-off against compatriot Richard Sterne and England's Oliver Wilson to clinch his maiden European Tour title.

He upstaged a world-class field that included Australia's world No 4 Adam Scott and his golfing idols, compatriots Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.

'All I thought about during the play-off was that if I won, it would change my life - and it has,' said Haig, the youngest of four sons to Tony, a farm owner, and Lorraine, a golfer.

The US$405,000 winner's cheque took his Asian Tour season earnings to US$421,889, catapulting him to the top of the Tour's Order of Merit.

Victory also earned him a priceless two-year exemption on the European Tour, and boosted his world ranking from 285th to 88th.

Not bad for a boy who picked up golf at age 12, only because a knee injury restricted him from his favourite sports - cricket, tennis, swimming and soccer.

Using his mother's cut-down clubs, he was given a first handicap of 13.

His mother promised him a new set of clubs when he reached single figure - a feat achieved in just four months. Within the year, he was a scratch-golfer.

Explained Haig: 'I played cricket in my schooldays and I would hit the ball as hard as I could. I would hit sixers all the time. So I brought that out to the golf course.'

At 18, he failed to make the South African team for the Eisenhower Trophy, a biennial world amateur men's team championship, despite being ranked second in the South African Order of Merit.

It was then that he decided to turn pro, calling it 'the best decision I've ever made'.

To date, he has won twice on the Sunshine Tour, South Africa's professional tour.

He also lifted his maiden Asian Tour title at the Pulai Springs Malaysian Masters in Johor last year - thanks to a borrowed driver from countryman Nico van Rensburg.

At the Clariden Leu Singapore Masters, Haig heads a group of golfers aged 21 and younger who could create a stir.

That group includes Philippine Open 2006 runner-up, South Korea's Park Jun Won, 20; Johnnie Walker Asian Rising Star award winner, Thailand's Chinarat Phadungsil, 18, and England's European Tour rookie Oliver Fisher, 18.

Els predicted a big future ahead for Haig.

'He's one of the longest hitters out there. If he gets control of his game, he's going to be very tough to beat,' said the three-time Major winner, on the Asian Tour website.

Goosen, a two-time US Open champion, added: 'He's a very nice guy, good mannered, friendly and positive, all good for the game.'

Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke called Haig 'a Major winner in the making'.

The Ryder Cup winner added: 'He hits the ball miles and has a great short game. He has the whole package.'

Having just broken into the world's top 100 - a year ahead of schedule - Haig's next goal is to break into the top 20 by the time he turns 25.

Meanwhile, he plans to use his recent winnings to buy a house in Manchester.

Partly because he will he spending the next two years on the European Tour, and partly because he is a big Manchester United fan.

When asked if Premiership leaders United will be caught by second-placed Chelsea, who are nine points adrift, Haig replied with confidence: 'No, no way.'

That, perhaps, is how he hopes his golf will be this week.