Want to recieve exclusive news, videos, tournament highlights, golf important tips and more ?
Want to recieve exclusive news, videos, tournament highlights, golf important tips and more ?
Australian golf will find a new home in the heart of Melbourne’s Sandbelt with a new state-of-the-art facility to be built.
The Australian Golf Centre will be the new headquarters for Golf Australia, PGA of Australia, Golf Victoria and Sandringham Golf Links Management.
The $18.8 million project, majority funded by the Victorian Government’s $15.3 million investment, will create one of the country’s premier golf facilities on the site of Sandringham Golf Links, opposite the world-renowned Royal Melbourne Golf Club.
The facility will feature a new public 30-bay driving range with target greens, the redevelopment of the existing 18-hole golf course, a public café and the National High Performance Centre, which will help shape the next generation of golf heroes.
The industry-leading centre will also feature:
The contract for the building construction work, to be undertaken by local firm 2Construct and expected to generate 24 jobs, was signed this week. The projected completion date for these works is April 2021.
Redevelopment of nine holes has been completed, with the remaining nine holes to be finished by December 2020. The course redesign and construction is being undertaken by Australian golf architects Ogilvy Cocking and Mead, with help from the Royal Melbourne Golf Club.
PGA of Australia chairman Rodger Davis said the project was another sign of the increasing unity in Australian golf.
“The Australian Golf Centre will help unify golf’s peak bodies and create efficiencies that will introduce more participants to our great game,” Davis said.
Golf Australia chairman Andrew Newbold said the centre would generate many benefits.
“Not only for our emerging talent but for Australian professionals as well, which gives the entire industry a base and a place to inspire the next generation into the sport,” Newbold said.
Stephen Spargo, president of Golf Victoria which is the project principal, was excited about the centre’s potential to be a nationally unifying force for the golf community.
“It’s fantastic to see those in the sport rally behind such a great project and we’re delighted that it can take place in the heartland of Melbourne golf,” Spargo said.
Victorian Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events Martin Pakula said the new centre would enhance the state’s reputation as “the home of golf in Australia” and continue to help the community’s re-emergence from the impacts of COVID-19.
“Golf is a great employer at the local and elite levels and investments like this are important in setting up the industry to thrive on the other side of the pandemic,” Pakula said.
If we were conducting a poll to determine Australia’s Nicest Golfer, Ian Baker-Finch and Greg Chalmers would likely meet in the final. But as we put their respective playing records up against each other, only one can advance to the quarter-finals of Australia’s Greatest Golfer.
Now regarded as one of the finest golf analysts in the world through his work with CBS and a member of the PGA of Australia board, Baker-Finch held the 36-hole lead in his first major appearance at the 1984 Open Championship, a championship he would claim in style seven years later at Royal Birkdale.
After starting his career in Europe, Baker-Finch joined the PGA TOUR on a full-time basis ahead of the 1989 season, announcing his arrival in the US with a four-stroke victory at the Southwestern Bell Colonial tournament.
A three-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour – including successive wins in April 1988 – Baker-Finch was a prolific winner on home soil, recording his maiden professional victory at the 1983 New Zealand Open and claiming two of our three major tournaments, the Australian Masters in 1988 and Australian PGA Championship in 1993 where he shot 64 in the final round to force a playoff with Peter Fowler and Kiwi Grant Waite.
The 1993 Australian Amateur champion, Greg Chalmers plotted a similar professional path to that of Baker-Finch and so many who had come before him.
Chalmers joined the pro ranks in 1995 and after finishing tied for third at the Optus Players Championship closed out his rookie year with top-10 finishes at both the Alfred Dunhill Masters and Epson Singapore Open.
The left-hander known affectional as ‘Snake’ climbed to 161st in the world when he claimed the 1997 Australian Players Championship and having won the Challenge Tour’s Tour Championship also that year progressed to the European Tour in 1998.
Chalmers finished 25th on the Order of Merit in his rookie year courtesy of runner-up finishes at the Peugeot Open de Espana and NCR English Open but with the first of two Australian Open titles under his belt that summer, he joined the PGA TOUR in 1999.
It took 386 starts before he earned his first win at the 2016 Barracuda Championship but winning in Australia was never an issue.
Chalmers etched his name onto the Stonehaven Cup for a second time when he claimed the 2011 Australian Open at The Lakes and two weeks later defeated Robert Allenby and Marcus Fraser in a playoff to win the Australian PGA Championship.
It took a final round of 8-under 64 and a marathon seven-hole playoff against Wade Ormsby and Adam Scott but Chalmers won the Joe Kirkwood Cup for a second time in 2014, joining a small group of players to have won Australian golf’s two most prestigious events on multiple occasions.
Ian Baker-Finch
Career wins: 17
Major wins: 1 (1991 Open Championship)
PGA TOUR wins: 2
European Tour wins: 2
Australasian Tour wins: 10
Australian Open: 2nd (1983)
Australian PGA: Won (1993)
Greg Chalmers
Career wins: 11
PGA TOUR wins: 1
Australasian Tour wins: 5
Australian Open: Won (1998, 2011)
Australian PGA: Won (2011, 2014)
Analysis of the respective records of Peter Lonard and Jason Day shows that they shared a two-year period when they were closer to unbeatable. But as they face off in our continuing quest to identify Australia’s Greatest Golfer, there can only be one winner.
In the year that Day stamped himself as a major champion at the 2015 US PGA Championship he won a further four PGA TOUR titles and climbed to the No.1 ranking in world golf. He backed that up the following year with three further PGA TOUR wins, including a World Golf Championships victory and The Players Championship crown at TPC Sawgrass.
While those performances are relatively fresh in our mind, some forget just how dominant Lonard was within Australian golf shortly after the turn of the century.
Joining the professional ranks in 1989, Lonard enjoyed only moderate success before being struck down with Ross River Fever, an affliction that caused eye troubles and saw him take up a position in the pro shop at Oatlands Golf Club in Sydney.
Lonard spent three years working as a club pro before rejoining the PGA Tour of Australasia in spectacular fashion, winning the 1997 Ericsson Masters, finishing second at the Johnnie Walker Classic and tied for third at the Canon Challenge to clinch the 1996/97 Order of Merit.
His first victory of the new millennium came at the 2000 Ford South Australian Open and while he claimed the ANZ Tour Championship the following year, it was a two-year stretch beginning in December 2002 that established Lonard’s place within Australian golf folklore.
Possessing a short, powerful action that earned him a reputation as one of the best ball-strikers on tour, Lonard won the Australian PGA Championship (a title he shared with Jarrod Moseley) and MasterCard Masters in successive weeks and a year later won the first of consecutive Australian Open titles at Moonah Links.
In 2004 he won Australia’s two most prestigious tournaments in back-to-back weeks, successfully defending his Australian Open title at The Australian and claiming his second PGA Championship at Coolum.
Although best remembered for his victories on home soil, Lonard also enjoyed a fruitful eight-year stint on the PGA TOUR, winning more than $US9.5 million in prize money and rising to No.23 in the world on the back of his victory at the MCI Heritage at Harbor Town and a tie for third at the Bank of America Colonial five weeks later.
Peter Lonard
Career wins: 12
PGA TOUR wins: 1
Australasian Tour wins: 10
Australian Open: Won (2003, 2004)
Australian PGA: Won (2002, 2004, 2007)
Jason Day
Career wins: 17
Major wins: 1 (2015 US PGA Championship)
PGA TOUR wins: 12
Australian Open: T4 (2011)
Australian PGA: T9 (2011)
A couple of kids from regional New South Wales, Steve Elkington and Rachel Hetherington amassed wonderful careers despite spending much of their time playing second fiddle to fellow Australians dominating world golf in a manner matched by few in history.
With a place in the quarter-finals up for grabs, Elkington and Hetherington now face off as our search for Australia’s Greatest Golfer starts to heat up.
Greg Norman rose to No.1 in the world for the first time in September 1986 three months prior to Elkington earning a PGA TOUR card at Qualifying School, a position he also held when Elkington recorded his breakthrough victory at the 1990 Greater Greensboro Open.
It would be the first of 10 PGA TOUR titles for the Inverell-born, Wagga Wagga-raised Elkington. One of only six players – and the only Australian – to have claimed The Players Championship on multiple occasions (1991 and 1997), Elkington is best known for his 1995 US PGA Championship triumph at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles.
After Ernie Els had posted the lowest three-round total in major championship history to lead heading into the final round, Elkington began Sunday trailing by six strokes and in need of a combination of fabulous play and a dose of good fortune.
“You can’t just think a guy is going to walk way with it,” was Elkington’s approach and with an aggressive mindset played the round of his life, three straight birdies from the iconic 10th hole propelling him past Els and toward a record final round of 7-under 64.
Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie tied Elkington’s four-round total of 267 – at the time a PGA Championship low – but a birdie putt from 25 feet at the first playoff hole secured Elkington’s place in golf immortality.
As Elkington excelled in the shadow of Norman, Hetherington was establishing herself as one of the world’s best players yet often second-best to Karrie Webb.
The only two Australians with more LPGA Tour titles than Hetherington both have a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame yet the Port Macquarie-raised Hetherington never received the fanfare her results deserved.
Her first LPGA Tour win came in her second season in 1998 and a year later she won twice, a feat she would repeat in 2003.
Teaming up with Webb the pair claimed the 2000 Women’s World Cup of Golf in Malaysia and in 2001 Hetherington won the Evian Masters, 12 years before it was elevated to become the fifth major in women’s golf.
But if you need any further proof of just how Hetherington handled herself in elite company you need only look at her LPGA Tour playoff record where she was triumphant in four of five occasions, three times getting the better of Swedish superstar Annika Sorenstam.
Three times Hetherington was runner-up at the Women’s Australian Open (to Sorenstam, Webb and Laura Davies no less) and in 2001 she was runner-up at the ANZ Ladies Masters to – you guessed it – Karrie Webb.
They spent their careers largely out of the spotlight yet their accomplishments mark them as two of the greatest this country has ever produced.
Steve Elkington
Career wins: 17
Major wins: 1 (1995 US PGA Championship)
PGA TOUR wins: 10
Australasian Tour wins: 1
Australian Open: Won (1992)
Australian PGA: T44 (2003)
Rachel Hetherington
Career wins: 11
LPGA Tour wins: 8
Ladies European Tour wins: 3
ALPG Tour wins: 1
Women’s Australian Open: 2nd (1994, 2000, 2006)
ANZ Ladies Masters: 2nd (2001)
Born in Queensland in the 1950s. Junior members at Virginia Golf Club. Coached by PGA Immortal Charlie Earp. Breakthrough victories at the West Lakes Classic. Major champions.
The shared history of Greg Norman and Wayne Grady is extensive yet their personalities could hardly be more different and now they face off one more time in our ongoing quest to identify Australia’s Greatest Golfer.
As Norman ascended to the very top of world golf with a single-mindedness that drove his success during both his playing career and then into the Great White Shark business empire, Grady wasn’t afraid to sample the good life in his 30-year playing career.
While Norman mingled with presidents and kings of business, Grady always maintained a connection to the common man, best evidenced by the proclamation he made following his 1990 US PGA Championship victory at Shoal Creek: “You bloody beauty.”
Only one player in history has spent more time at No.1 than Norman’s 331-week reign yet he finished his career with only one more major championship than Grady.
“Maybe he wanted it too much. Maybe it was the pressure he placed on himself,” Grady reflected in a 2013 interview with the Courier-Mail.
While the numbers lean heavily in Norman’s favour, Grady’s personality meant that he was never intimidated by Norman on the golf course.
A two-time winner of the Australian PGA Championship, Grady and Norman were locked together at the top at the end of 72 holes of the 1988 Australian PGA at Riverside Oaks, Grady prevailing at the fourth playoff hole.
Eight months later they were pitted against each other and Mark Calcavecchia in a playoff to decide the winner of the 1989 Open Championship, the Queensland pair vanquished by the American in the four-hole decider.
Grady would have his major moment the following year while Norman’s extraordinary career was highlighted by his twin British Open victories in 1986 and 1993.
A force of nature who inspired countless Aussies to take up the game throughout the 1980s and ‘90s, Norman’s influence on Australian golf may never be truly measured to its fullest extent, his 89 career wins at the very highest level a tally few can comprehend.
Greg Norman
Career wins: 89
Major wins: 2 (British Open 1986, 1993)
PGA TOUR wins: 20
Australasian Tour wins: 32
Australian Open: Won (1980, 1985, 1987, 1995, 1996)
Australian PGA: Won (1984, 1985)
Wayne Grady
Career wins: 10
Major wins: 1 (US PGA Championship 1990)
PGA TOUR wins: 2
Australasian Tour wins: 3
Australian Open: 2nd (1996)
Australian PGA: Won (1988, 1991)
Two quiet-achieving Queenslanders, Karrie Webb and Peter Senior made their presence known by simply stacking up trophy after trophy both here and abroad.
A shy girl from Ayr in central Queensland, Webb burst into the consciousness of world golf when at just 20 years of age she claimed the Weetabix Women’s British Open. Five years later she had fulfilled the criteria to be elevated into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Senior too wasted little time asserting himself on the professional ranks – he won the 1979 South Australian Open a year after turning pro – yet for the majority of his career carried himself as the underdog who ground down the best players on the planet on a regular basis.
Aussie golf fans must now choose between two of our most revered figures to decide who will advance to the quarter-finals in our search for Australia’s Greatest Golfer.
Webb moved into the second round by winning the vote against PGA pioneer Eric Cremin while Senior advanced at the expense of Mike Clayton, two of Queensland’s finest products now pitted against each other for a place in the final 16.
When Webb turned 25 on December 21, 1999 she had already accumulated 16 wins on the LPGA Tour including her first major at the du Maurier Classic earlier that year yet over the following two years she would embark on a run of success that rivalled peak Tiger Woods.
As Woods completed the ‘Tiger Slam’ with victory at the 2001 US Masters, Webb herself was in the midst of a period in which she would claim four majors among 10 LPGA Tour victories, a run that prompted fellow Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez to declare that Webb had established herself “as the Tiger Woods of women’s golf”.
Except for the fanfare.
On home soil she was next to unbeatable, winning the Australian Ladies Masters four years in a row from 1998-2001 and winning the 2000 and 2002 Women’s Australian Open, virtually every round an exhibition of flawless execution.
Like Webb, Senior’s summers were spent out of the limelight right up until the point that he emerged from Greg Norman’s shadow to slip on yet another yellow jacket at Huntingdale or raise the Joe Kirkwood Cup into the air.
With the broomstick putter now protruding from the top of his golf bag, Senior went on a run in 1989 that stands as one of the most dominant performances ever seen in Australian golf.
A courageous approach at the 71st hole at Riverside Oaks saw Senior claim the Australian PGA by a stroke from American Jim Benepe. Three weeks later he destroyed a stellar Australian Open field by seven strokes at Kingston Heath and then seven days on finished five strokes clear of Norman to win the Johnnie Walker Classic at Royal Melbourne and complete the ‘Triple Crown’.
While that brilliant burst lives long in the memory Senior’s greatest accomplishment is to have won in every decade for the past 50 years and completing the post-50 ‘Triple Crown’ when he won the 2015 Australian Masters at 56 years of age.
Karrie Webb
Career wins: 57
Major wins: 7 (1999 du Maurier Classic, 2000 Nabisco Championship, US Women’s Open, 2001 McDonald’s LPGA Championship, US Women’s Open, 2002 Weetabix Women’s British Open, 2006 Kraft Nabisco Championship)
LPGA Tour wins: 41
Women’s Australian Open: Won (2000, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2014)
Australian Ladies Masters: Won (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2013)
Peter Senior
Career wins: 34
European Tour wins: 4
Australasian Tour wins: 21
Australian Open: Won (1989, 2012)
Australian PGA: Won (1989, 2003, 2010)
Perhaps if not for a slightly misdirected tee shot at the 12th hole of the final round of the 1999 Open Championship at Carnoustie Craig Parry would have joined Kel Nagle as a winner of The Open Championship.
A master of the Melbourne sandbelt who had success in both Europe and the US, Parry faces Nagle in the second round of our search for Australia’s Greatest Golfer having got the better of rising star Cameron Smith in round one.
Nagle got the better of Roger Mackay in the opening round but faces a tougher task against Parry who was a fixture on Australian leaderboards for more than 20 years and who was always a popular figure among golf fans across the country.
Born in Sunshine, Victoria, Parry joined the professional ranks in 1985 and in 1987 started to accumulate tournament victories, ‘Popeye’ recording his breakthrough win at the NSW Open followed by a second victory later that year at the Canadian TPC.
With laser-like tee shots and brilliant short game Parry came to the attention of American golf fans when he was tied for 11th at the 1991 US Open and followed that up by taking sole possession of the lead heading into the final round of the 1992 US Masters.
Although that day would end in disappointment it was a portent of things to come, Parry adding the Australian PGA Championship to the NSW Open and Australian Masters titles he had won earlier in the year.
Parry was victorious at Huntingdale three times in the space of five years and was a consistent winner on Aussie soil yet entered the 1999 Open without a top-15 finish in a major since he was tied for third at the 1993 US Open at Baltusrol.
Trailing Jean Van de Velde by five strokes entering the final round, Parry registered his third birdie of the day at the 10th hole and when Van de Velde dropped a shot at 11 he led by one with seven holes to play.
After his tee shot found the rough between two bunkers right of the fairway at 12 Parry’s pitching wedge intended for the fairway flew off the clubface into even deeper trouble left, his resulting triple bogey handing the advantage back to the Frenchman.
Parry’s most significant tournament wins would come after that Open heartbreak – a 2002 WGC-NEC Invitational victory and stunning playoff triumph at 2004 Ford Doral Championship – but a major would prove elusive.
Although he boasts 78 tournament wins across the globe and has six Australian PGA titles to his credit, it is Nagle’s 1960 Open victory at St Andrews that cemented his legacy.
Elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2007 – the year Parry won his lone Australian Open crown – Nagle won five times in 1959 but the 39-year-old’s arrival at the Old Course in 1960 marked just his third start in a major.
Close friend Peter Thomson liked his chances prior to the tournament but sentiment was running against Nagle as American legend Arnold Palmer sought a third major in succession in his first appearance at the game’s most historic championship.
Nagle possessed the lead outright through 54 holes but with Palmer on a customary charge the ‘Pymble Crusher’ displayed incredible resolve, making a 10-foot putt for par at the famed 17th hole and then closing out the championship with a par at the last.
Kel Nagle
Career wins: 78
Major wins: 1 (1960 Open Championship)
Australasian Tour wins: 61
Australian Open: Won (1959)
Australian PGA: Won (1949, 1954, 1958, 1959, 1965, 1968)
Craig Parry
Career wins: 23
PGA Tour wins: 2
European Tour wins: 6
Australasian Tour wins: 13
Australian Open: Won (2007)
Australian PGA: Won (1992)
They could be polarising figures throughout their respective careers but what is without question is David Graham’s and Robert Allenby’s place among the greatest players this country has ever produced.
Graham and Allenby face off in Round 2 of our search for Australia’s Greatest Golfer after the pair advanced with wins over Brad Kennedy and Brendan Jones respectively in the first round.
With an unrelenting work ethic and single-minded determination Graham ascended to a place few Australian golfers have ever achieved, his wins at the 1979 US PGA Championship and 1981 US Open securing his status as the only male Australian player to win two of golf’s US majors.
Graham also finished top-five at the Masters (1980) and The Open (1985) and enjoyed success on Australian soil as well, his 1977 Australian Open triumph at The Australian the high point of his six Australasian tour titles.
Elected into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2014, Graham was never one to back down from an issue and often butted heads with golf’s hierarchy, something Allenby also knows something about.
An dominant force on the Australasian Tour from the moment he won the 1991 Victorian Open and almost snatched the 1991 Australian Open as a 20-year-old amateur, Allenby has had his moments with officialdom, caddies and fans. Yet through his memorable Triple Crown run in 2005, outstanding PGA TOUR career and charitable work with Challenge in particular owns a special place in the annals of Aussie golf.
In the wake of his 1991 coming out party at Royal Melbourne, Allenby’s first Australasian Tour win came a year later in Malaysia at the Perak Masters. Victory later that year at the Johnnie Walker Australian Classic by five strokes not only secured Allenby Rookie of the Year honours but the PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit.
Four consecutive rounds of 70 secured Allenby the 1994 Australian Open at Royal Sydney Golf Club but it was at the turn of the century that his career went to a new level.
A four-time winner on the European Tour, Allenby’s first PGA TOUR title came at the 2000 Shell Houston Open and he followed that up with a second three months later at the Advil Western Open, both wins coming by way of playoff.
He won the first of his four Australian PGA titles in December that year and then in 2005 went on a record-breaking three-week run where he won the Australian Open, Australian PGA and beat Bubba Watson in a playoff to claim the MasterCard Masters and a unique slice of history.
Given the undeniable quality of his ball-striking and a mindset that helped build a 10-3 career playoff record, Allenby’s performances in the majors are somewhat surprising, recording top-10 finishes at the US Open, Open Championship and US PGA but with a best result of a tie for seventh at the 2004 US Open and 2008 Open Championship.
David Graham
Career wins: 38
Major wins: 2 (1979 US PGA Championship, 1981 US Open)
Australasian Tour wins: 6
Australian Open: Won (1977)
Robert Allenby
Career wins: 22
PGA TOUR wins: 4
European Tour wins: 4
Australasian Tour wins: 12
Australian Open: Won (1994, 2005)
Australian PGA: Won (2000, 2001, 2005, 2009)
By the time they were teenagers, both Jan Stephenson and Marc Leishman were attracting attention. Now the pair face off for a place in the quarter-finals in our continuing search for Australia’s Greatest Golfer.
Stephenson advanced to the second round with a convincing decision over Randall Vines while Leishman’s spot in Round 2 was secured when he accounted for Nick O’Hern in their first-round clash.
Born in Newcastle, Stephenson first displayed her prodigious ability with victory at the 1964 New South Wales Schoolgirl championships at just 12 years of age. She would successfully defend that title in each of the next four years.
The son of seven-time Warrnambool club champion Paul Leishman, Marc showed that he had been paying close attention to his old man and possessed natural ability all of his own when he too added his name to the honour board at just 13 years of age.
The game is littered with junior phenoms who found it difficult to transition to the professional ranks but both Stephenson and Leishman continued on their upward trajectories as they advanced beyond the amateur ranks.
Stephenson turned professional in 1973 and won the Wills Australian Open as a 21-year-old, joining the LPGA Tour a year later as her rapid ascension gained a global following.
Her breakthrough win in the US came in February 1976 at the Sarah Coventry Naples Classic yet her lasting legacy to Australian golf was becoming the first Aussie female to win a major at the Peter Jackson Classic in 1981.
It would be the first of three major triumphs for Stephenson among her total of 16 LPGA Tour wins to go with two Australian Open titles, a Ladies European Tour victory and two wins in Japan.
Elevated to the World Golf Hall of Fame last year, off the golf course Stephenson has been a long-time ambassador for blind and disabled golf through her association with ISPS HANDA and in 2018 was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for her service to golf and to not-for-profit organisations.
Leishman too has contributed significantly to charitable organisations through his Begin Again Foundation established in 2015 and is building a resume on the golf course that puts him among our very best.
Renowned for his ability to go super-low in his early days as a professional, Leishman won locally and in Korea before taking his game to the United States, advancing to the PGA TOUR in 2009 and promptly claiming the Rookie of the Year award.
The most recent of his five PGA TOUR wins came at the Farmers Insurance Open in January but despite a number of close calls the 36-year-old is yet to land that tournament win that cements his place in history.
Runner-up in a three-man playoff at The Open Championship in 2015, Leishman was tied for fourth when Adam Scott triumphed at the 2013 Masters and has two further top-six finishes at The Open.
Back home he finished runner-up behind good friend Cameron Smith at the 2018 Australian PGA Championship and is only top 10 finish at the Australian Open came last year at The Australian Golf Club.
Time is on his side and as that teenager showed at home in Warrnambool, he is not afraid of taking on the big boys.
Jan Stephenson
Career wins: 26
Major wins: 3 (1981 Peter Jackson Classic, 1982 LPGA Championship, 1983 US Women’s Open)
LPGA Tour wins: 16
Women’s Australian Open: Won (1973, 1977)
Legends Tour wins: 3
Marc Leishman
Career wins: 12
PGA TOUR wins: 5
Australasian Tour wins: 4 (Von Nida Tour)
Australian Open: T10 (2019)
Australian PGA: 2nd (2018)
Two tweets by Chris Lynn in the space of 24 hours – and the reaction the Brisbane Heat star received – does so much to encapsulate the relationship most golfers have with the game.
“I hate golf,” Lynn tweeted on Wednesday after losing a dozen pills around Peregian Springs whilst on the Sunshine Coast with work commitments, his three simple words accompanied by an emoji of a man’s head exploding.
That tweet was liked 1,600 times and retweeted 30 times, cricket buffs with a love of golf either sympathising with or relishing Lynn’s struggles.
I hate golf ?
— Chris Lynn (@lynny50) May 13, 2020
On Thursday morning, after amassing 36 points at Pacific Harbour Golf and Country Club and recouping the cash lost the day before, Lynn let the world know that his tumultuous love affair with golf was very much back on again.
“And I love golf again,” the tweet with smiling face with love hearts receiving 758 likes and 15 retweets.
And I love golf again ?
— Chris Lynn (@lynny50) May 14, 2020
“As everyone knows, when you’re having a bad day at golf you can get a bit emotional and get a bit short with people,” Lynn said of his Wednesday woes.
“Generally I’m normally pretty good off the tee. I can hit the ball a fair way and consistently pretty straight but on Wednesday I don’t know what the hell happened. The toys went out of the cot quite quickly and I couldn’t find a way to come back from that.
“I managed to bounce back the next day though and that at least gives me a little of confidence going into next week where we’ll probably play for a bit of cash.
“Golf’s such a funny game though. Hate golf, hate golf, hate golf, love golf, hate golf, love golf, love golf.
“When I tweeted that on Wednesday, a lot of people knew exactly what I was talking about.”
Like so many athletes stranded by the COVID-19 pandemic that has ground world sport to a half, Lynn is using games of golf to fuel his competitive outlet.
Mixed in with his own personal training regime and limited skills work to stay sharp for when cricket does start back up again, Lynn is regularly looking for games of golf throughout south-east Queensland, a game at Brookwater one of three rounds planned for next week.
The big-hitting batsman approaches his golf in much the same manner as he deals dismissively with T20 bowling attacks throughout the world, enjoying the competitive leg-up his power off the tee and current handicap of 16 affords him.
“I want to get better but I want my handicap to stay the same. That makes life easier to win,” admits Lynn, who is currently not a member of a golf club but has enjoyed recent visits to The Grand on the Gold Coast.
“Because I can drive it a long way I always feel like I’m in the game but obviously my short game isn’t there.
“I liken it to cricket in the way that the driver is hitting a six and putting is hitting a single. And hitting singles is not going to bring the crowds back.”
Invited to play in the Australian PGA Championship pro-am at RACV Royal Pines Resort last December, Lynn turned down the opportunity when the prospect of teeing off in front of a crowd hit home.
He regularly opens the batting in arenas full to overflowing yet admits the prospect of playing golf with people watching in a professional environment instils a new sense of fear, promising to conquer that fear in December this year.
“I haven’t played a pro-am yet. I got invited to play at Royal Pines last year but I chickened out because I was too scared,” says Lynn, whose last competitive game of cricket was for the Lahore Qalandars in Pakistan in early March.
“You can play in front of 60,000 at the MCG but if there’s 10 people watching you on the first tee… as soon as you go outside your lane the knees start to wobble.
“I like Royal Queensland because it’s nice and wide. The visual of seeing some nice wide fairways… hit over a couple of shrubs on another fairway and hit back.
“It would be pretty cool if I got an invite there. I’d definitely give it a go that’s for sure.”
