Newsmaker of the month: Andrew Getson
His name may be unfamiliar to most Aussie golf fans… which is exactly how Andrew Getson likes it.
But the former Victorian Institute of Sport attendee was thrust front and centre into the golf world’s consciousness immediately after Phil Mickelson’s historic PGA Championship victory at Kiawah Island Resort.
Mickelson became the first 50-year-old Major champion in the game’s history in typically thrilling fashion and was quick to pay tribute to the Aussie swing coach who helped him break the age barrier.
“His guidance has been invaluable to get me back to playing at the highest level because I was striking it very poorly when we started working together,” Mickelson said of a relationship that dates back to November 2015.
“He’s really helped me get my ball-striking back and as I’m starting to focus a little bit better, you’re starting to see the results.”
An aspiring player who made it to the Nationwide Tour under the tutelage of legendary Aussie coach Dale Lynch, Getson learned to coach high-profile people in time spent at Capital Golf Club in Melbourne where he worked under Steve Bann.
“That was a really good experience for him because he got to spend time and learn to communicate and deal with very successful people,” Bann recalled.
“To get your foot in the door at that level is not easy. If you can get the foot in the door and communicate confidence and belief in yourself and what you’re doing, you’re a much better chance of having someone take the time to listen to what you’ve got to say.”
And maybe be part of golf history along the way.
Headliners
Jason Day: Missed his first Major since the 2012 Open Championship when he failed to qualify for the US Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course.
Hayden Hopewell and Kirsten Rudgeley: The star amateurs from Western Australia tasted international success when they won the respective men’s and women’s titles at the North Shore Open in Auckland,
New Zealand.
Jason Scrivener: Broke into the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career on the back of a third-place finish at the Made in Himmerland tournament on the European Tour.
Jeffrey Guan and Charlotte Perkins: The outstanding Endeavour Sports High School products and members of The Australian Golf Club added to their blossoming résumés with victories in the boys and girls divisions, respectively, at the New South Wales Combined High Schools (CHS) Championship at Catalina Country Club.
Dunedoo Golf Club: The NSW Central West golf club destroyed by vandals has received word it will be given a grant of “several hundred thousand” dollars from the NSW Government to aid the repair of the golf course.
Sarah Kemp: The 36-hole leader, Kemp recorded her best finish on the LPGA Tour in the US with a fourth-place finish at the Pure Silk Championship in Virginia.
Launceston Golf Club: Seventy-two per cent of the Tasmanian club’s membership voted in favour of a plan to sell off two parcels of land to guarantee the club’s financial future and improve club facilities.
Mark Gibson: The long-time coaching director at RACV Royal Pines Resort was awarded Life Membership of the PGA of Australia, recognition of a career in golf that began with a traineeship under Reg Want at Coolangatta-Tweed Heads Golf Club in 1975.
Emily Mahar: Another outstanding product of Keperra Country Golf Club in Brisbane, the Virginia Tech senior took part in her first Major championship at the US Women’s Open at Olympic Club.
Marc Leishman: The Victorian was chosen alongside England’s Mel Reid to be the first sports brand ambassadors for software company Pega.
He did what?
Given he is a globe-trotting golfer, unfortunate travel experiences are bound to befall Aussie Scott Hend, but this one beats them all. With luggage and golf clubs going missing between Florida and Copenhagen via Paris, Hend was forced to race to a Uniqlo store to buy clothes, borrowed hats and shoes from Scotsman Scott Jamieson, golf bag and clubs from Stephen Gallacher, fairway woods and putter from the owner of the golf course where the Porsche European Open was being played and Alexander Levy’s driver, all so that he could shoot 79 in the first round. “The worst part about it is the underpants,” Hend lamented. “They’re shocking.”
Feature image by Getty images: Andrew Reddington
