{"id":371304,"date":"2022-06-27T06:02:21","date_gmt":"2022-06-26T20:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=371304"},"modified":"2022-06-27T06:02:21","modified_gmt":"2022-06-26T20:02:21","slug":"zhimin-strikes-golf-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/zhimin-strikes-golf-gold\/","title":{"rendered":"Zhimin strikes golf gold"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Zhimin Jin is flanked by Cook Islands\u2019 Rotana Howard, left, and Samoa\u2019s Faith Vui after winning the women\u2019s individual gold medal in the golf competition of the Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022 last Friday at the Coral Ocean Resort. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)
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Zhimin Jin is not just the future of CNMI golf as the 15-year-old proved she\u2019s also the present after winning the women\u2019s individual gold medal at the conclusion of the golf competition of the Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022 last Friday at the Coral Ocean Resort.<\/p>\n

The Marianas High School student turned back challenges from Cook Islands\u2019 Rotana Howard and Samoa\u2019s Faith Vui to maintain her perch atop the leaderboard. Jin shot a par 72 in the fourth and final round to finish the tournament at 312, a mere stroke ahead of runner-up Howard\u2019s 313 and two strokes better than Vui\u2019s 314.<\/p>\n

Jin said winning the gold medal in the Mini Games has given her a lot mixed emotions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel really great and I was also emotional and there were people there who saw me cry after the round.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aside from her obvious home course advantage, Jin also credited her caddy, Joe \u201cKamikaze\u201d Camacho, for helping her mentally get through the 72 holes of golf during the four-day tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the familiarity with the course helped because it\u2019s my home course. But at the same time my caddy who is also my coach also tried to help me maintain my composure. Because sometimes when I miss some shots I\u2019d be like feeling mad and he\u2019s helped me calm down,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Jin dedicated her gold medal to two of her biggest supporters\u2014her family and the CNMI National Golf Team. She also extended her gratitude to the Commonwealth Federation of Golf Associations for giving her a chance to represent the Commonwealth in the Mini Games.<\/p>\n

Camacho credited his ward for following his instructions to the T and not wavering even against golfers twice her age.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the most part what was really important and it made all the difference was we worked as a team. We built a game plan for her and we stuck to the plan. A lot of prep talk about the pressures of high-level competition and I prepared her for all that before and during the Games.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Jin is also one of the hardest workers in the sport on island.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe really, really put a lot of hard work into this. I told her on the third day, \u2018you do the playing and I\u2019ll do the thinking\u2019 and on the first day before she teed off I told her, \u2018well champ, this is day that you\u2019ve been waiting for so let\u2019s do this and most importantly a swing and a stroke at a time and let\u2019s have fun doing it,\u2019\u201d said Camacho.<\/p>\n

The veteran striker said he couldn\u2019t be prouder for Jin winning the gold medal in the Games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very proud of her and I\u2019m glad to be a part of her accomplishments in golf. To see your student reach a milestone by winning a gold medal is the most fulfilling and satisfying feeling you can get as a coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CNMI men also hit pay dirt after J.J. Atalig and his son, Joshua, Zhi Yun Li, and Franco Santos came away with the best score in the final 18 holes to salvage the bronze medal. The CNMI men finished with 224 in the last round\u2014seven strokes better than the next best total score.<\/p>\n

The quarter finished third behind powerhouses New Caledonia (893) and Guam (901) after totaling 928 in all four rounds. Santos was in the forefront of the final day assault as he fired a 69, while J.J. came through with a 78 and Joshua and Li shot identical 79s. <\/p>\n

Coach Victor Salas couldn\u2019t be happier for the men\u2019s team getting the gold medal on home soil.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy the men\u2019s won bronze. On the last day of competition Fiji was trailing behind us by just three strokes. I told the men I needed them to shoot 70s or better and they promised they\u2019ll go out and finish strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

He thanked the Commonwealth Federation of Golf Associations, Pacific Mini Games Organizing Committee, volunteers, and the people of the CNMI for their support before, during, and after the Games. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe dedicate this medal to the volunteers and the people of the CNMI. Even if we didn\u2019t win any medals we\u2019re all winners just by the hospitality we\u2019ve shown to our visiting countries,\u201d said Salas, who was joined in the national team coaching staff by Ned Norita and Yuko Togawa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zhimin Jin is not just the future of CNMI golf as the 15-year-old proved she\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":371286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-371304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}