OWGR: Obscure golf nations’ top-ranked golfer, part IV

Indonesia

When beginning my research on Indonesia’s Danny Masrin, it amused me to immediately see this news headline: “Rich boy Danny Playing the Best Golf of His Life”

I don’t see these types of headlines living in the US, but at least it wasn’t inaccurate. He’s apparently the son of Jimmy Masrin, one of Indonesia’s top-100 richest men according to The Star.

Jimmy Masrin is also the director of the Asian Tour, where his son has played most of his golf as a pro.

The article alluded to the 2019 Maybank Championship, a co-sanctioned Asian Tour/European Tour event. Masrin got off to a hot start before falling to T-35.

It wasn’t, in fact, the best golf of his life. That was soon to come.

Shortly before turning 27 later that month, Masrin notched his first top-10 on the Asian Tour in September 2019 with a seventh-place finish at the Yeangder TPC. He picked up another top-10 in 2019 after recording zero in three years prior on the Asian Tour and Asian Development Tour.

Masrin got off to a good start in 2020 with four made cuts in five starts, all finishing in the top 30. He finished T-8 against a strong field at the SMBC Singapore Open and posted T-13 at the Bandar Malaysia Open in his last start in early March.

Masrin earned $44,190 USD to sit 14th on the Asian Tour money list. He ranks No. 476 in the OWGR, not far from his apex of No. 465.

He’ll hope the season continues once golf resumes as he’s in position to finish high and not only keep his card, but earn some starts into European Tour co-sanctioned events next season. If he can play good golf in 2020 and 2021, qualifying for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics isn’t out of the question.

He’ll likely need to climb inside the top 250 in the world to represent Indonesia. On Masrin’s heels for top Indonesian are three other players with OWGR points, including No. 565 Rory Hie, a former talented collegiate golfer at USC in the late 2000s/early 2010s.

There are dozens of Indonesians ranked by OWGR, but most have no ranking points.

Backtracking to his amateur career, Masrin played college golf in the U.S. at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. There, he had modest success as a one-time All-Missouri Valley Conference honoree, three-time MVC Golfer of the Week and holding down either the No. 1 or No. 2 spot for a solid mid-major program.

I’m not sure if Masrin’s ceiling is all that high. At the same time, he’s playing well enough to spare himself from at least some scrutiny that could come with being the son of an influential father.

GOLF IN INDONESIA

Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populated country with 320.3 million people. Only the United States, India and China are larger.

All three have significantly more golfers than Indonesia.

Per Deemples.com, there are about 200,000 golfers here spread out around 100 or so golf courses. Nearly half are near the capital city of Jakarta, It’s a sport for the country’s most affluent and is more popular among 40-year-olds and up.

Jack Nicklaus, Robert Trent Jones, Greg Norman, and Gary Player are among the names who have golf courses in Indonesia. The country’s Indian Ocean views, rain forests, volcanoes, and archipelagos make for a variety of types of land to construct a golf course.

Golf rates are fairly cheap for tourists, but are out of reach for much of the native population. While Masrin’s story is far from rags to riches, perhaps he can help, for a lack of a less cliche phrase, grow the game in a country where just .1 % of the population plays,