To the other side of the world and halfway back again. In the last 6 weeks I’ve travelled to the delightful South Australia, the balmy Barbados and to the Great Lake town of Benton Harbor in Michigan. Lots of long-haul flights has meant I had to be mindful of keeping my body fit and my mind relaxed. And luckily for me I like aeroplane food!
This year’s South Australian PGA Championships was held at the Mount Gambier Golf Course. A decent length flight from Perth (and a 5-hour drive to the tournament course) for a two-day event might seem counter intuitive for a senior golfer but there’s no practice like match practice. The two-day event gave me an opportunity to fine tune a few parts of my game before heading overseas to start the European senior season. A solid tournament and I came back to Perth reasonably satisfied with the result.
A couple of weeks of practice in Perth then I was on the plane heading to the first tournament of the year in Barbados. Quite literally the other side of the world. After a 36-hour journey via London a much-needed rest was the order of the day. Barbados is a small island, which made it easy to get around, the views were amazing, and the golf course was in great shape. The only thing I found surprising was the general cost of living (for example a box of cereal was around $20). I got off to a very slow start in the first round but managed to slowly claw my way back to reasonable position at the end of the tournament.
Rather than face the daunting trip back to Australia, I flew to the USA from Barbados as the next event was in Michigan. This gave me a perfect opportunity to catch up with friend and fellow pro, Steve, who I met in my first year on the U.S. Tour back in 2002. He showed me around his home town in Ohio, we practiced and played at the course where he teaches and we even played the little municipal course he played as a kid. Lots of side bets, lots of jibes, and plenty of reminiscing.
From Ohio it was north to Benton Harbor, Michigan. First point of business was the US Senior Open Qualifying event. Essentially a one day shoot out with the successful qualifiers getting to play in another major tournament. I rallied to miss automatic qualifying by one shot but I have been given alternate status so there is still a small chance I might get a start.
10 minutes from the qualifying course was the site of the US Senior PGA Championship. Any major is always a great event and it was also a chance to catch up with some American players that I toured with on the PGA Tour.
Harbor Shores is a picturesque Jack Nicklaus designed with long holes and undulating greens. Whilst the result didn’t quite go my way there were many positives to take from the week that will hold me in good stead for the remainder of the season.
The tour now heads to Europe for the next 4 or 5 months. An opportunity to play a lot of golf and see some of the sites. So until the next update I trust you are all playing some good golf but more importantly having fun on the course.
