For Jaden Dumdumaya, Golf Is a Family Affair

Everyone who picks up the game of golf has their own unique origin story. Some tales are banal and forgettable, some are fascinating. The best ones are funny. Jaden Dumdumaya has one that starts out fairly benign, but gets better the more you peel back the layers. 

Dumdumaya learned the game from his father Stan — a PGA teaching professional in California — and was playing tournament golf by the age of 4. He emerged as a phenom on the California Junior Golf circuit, and won a 14-15-year-old division of Drive, Chip, and Putt at Augusta National in 2021. He’s gone on to have a standout college career at USC. He grew up in the San Francisco area, but he made regular trips as a teenager to the Philippines to see his grandparents, and that is where the story of how his father picked up the game eventually came to light. 

“He didn’t start playing golf until he was 20,” Dumdumaya said. “My grandfather [Teddy] told him that if he wanted to marry my mom, he had to be able to beat him at golf. I guess he got pretty good in a short amount of time.” 

The details of any kind of epic showdown between Teddy and Stan have remained hazy in the family lore. But Stan Dumdumaya beat his future father-in-law, and the game became his profession. He eventually passed the game down to his older son, Vohn, and his daughter Angela, who excelled. Their success became the inspiration for Jaden’s success. 

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Stan Dumdumaya eventually nicknamed Jaden “Little Dragon” because of how much he liked competition.

“I’m pretty glad my dad beat my grandpa, because if he didn't, he wouldn’t be with my mom,” Dumdumaya said. 

Dumdumaya always considered himself an American kid, but when he was 16, he was granted dual citizenship by the Philippines, and that’s when playing in the Asia-Pacific Amateur became a possibility. “Being able to represent the Philippines after living in the States my whole life is something really special to me,” he said. 

The 20-year-old Trojan sophomore entered this week as one of the championship favorites, but thus far has been a bit befuddled by the greens at Te Arai South. After shooting 73-73 in the first two rounds, he is sitting in 19th place at 4 over, eleven shots back of defending champ Fifa Laopakdee. Dumdumaya said on Friday that he felt like he’d done a nice job of managing the wind on full shots, but putting through random gusts on some of the ocean holes was a complete guessing game. 

“Standing over putts, you could see the ball shaking,” Dumdumaya said. “I mean, there's been a couple instances where I had to replace my ball because it rolled all the way from the mark. 

I definitely think putting is the toughest part out here and being able to trust your line and trust your stroke, there were a couple times like where I'm about to hit the ball, my putter moves because the wind pushes it out of the way. Things like that make it pretty tough out here.” 

News and notes from Day 2 of the Asia-Pacific Amateur

New Zealand’s Zack Swanwick shot the round of the day, firing a 67 in the morning. It was three shots better than anyone else in the field. Asked how he planned to spend the rest of his day, Swanwick gave an extremely New Zealand answer: “Might go fishing.” 

Japan’s Taishi Moto gave the day its best highlight, making a hole-in-one on the 178-yard eighth hole. The wind was blowing hard off his left, so he was focused on hitting a flighted 7-iron and letting the wind push it slightly toward the middle of the green. He had no idea his ball went into the hole. “I didn't see it. I didn't see the ball. My caddie told me, ‘Taishi, you made it,’” he said. “This is my first time hole‑in‑one when I play competition, so yeah it was a really good day.” 

Jonty Lunson, who shot a 1-under 70, didn’t seem phased by the conditions. That’s the kind of attitude you grow up with when you learn to play golf in Tasmania. “I've played in a lot worse. It's still manageable,” he said. “You've just really got to take a lot of spin off the ball.  Make sure it does not float up in the wind.  Just sort of play smart shots and bump your way around the course. Par is a good score.”  

Only five golfers broke par on Friday — three from New Zealand and two from Australia. All nine players from New Zealand in the field ended up making the cut. “It’s good to see a few Kiwis up there on the weekend,” said Ryan Xie, who is in third place at 4 under.