A host of our most accomplished tour players turn 50 in 2021. Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby, Richard Green, Nick O’Hern and John Senden reflect on the pivotal moments in their careers and the role golf will play in their futures.
Richard Green
Born: February 19, 1971
Famous for: Three European Tour wins
My dad was a really committed Saturday afternoon golfer and liked to practise and tinker with his golf through the week. If I wanted to see him, I had to go with him. Whenever we went on family holidays or anything like that, golf was always involved.
I really started to get the bug when I was able to join Kooringal Golf Club in Altona. I was probably 13 or 14 years old. My mates all wanted to play golf too, so we just spent weekends down at the golf club, or days after school down at the golf club and just loved it.
There was a folder in front of the handicap board in the foyer in the clubhouse at Kooringal with entry forms for all the amateur tournaments in Victoria. My best mate Paul Brook and I would scan through them to see if there was something to play in. The more and more I looked through that entry book, I entered more and more and found along the way that I was doing pretty well. I won a couple but I never really thought it was that good because I always had higher aspirations to turn professional and win on the world stage.
‘ou could call it institutionalised on tour. But I didn’t like it because mobile phones came into play. Guys became less social.’
Of the guys coming through at that time, Robert [Allenby] had the greatest ability to be flamboyant, which is obviously from the type of person he is and the type of golfer he’s become. Stuart [Appleby] was a country boy, a fit, strong lad. Had a great technique, probably analysed his game a lot more and was a bit more technically minded with the coaching. But I always saw Robert as flamboyant with his golf and explosive. He could shoot some amazing scores and win golf tournaments by a mile, and seemed to do it so naturally, whereas Stuart was a bit more methodical. By having Robert in that circle of events, it dragged me up to a level where I ran second behind Ian Stanley as an amateur at the Vic Open at Woodlands in 1992.
My parents were always trying to push me into getting a job, and doing a trade, and having an education – making sure I had a job to fall back on. But I was always very, very focused and determined on just being a golfer. I didn’t have time to think about being anything else. To me, I just had to make it happen. I was not going to fail.
The first time I jumped on the plane home after a tournament and felt unbelievably good about the future of being a golfer was when I finished second at the Singapore Open in 1993. It was a lot of money and off we went. That was a really good boost of confidence and belief that I was going to make a golf career out of this.
I was playing pretty rubbish golf, to be honest, in the lead-up to the Dubai Desert Classic in ’97. I was not super-confident. Then all of a sudden I just came out and felt great. My wife at the time was caddieing for me. I was hitting it so good on the range and I said to her, “If I don’t win this week, there’s something wrong with me.” I just had a feeling it was going to happen. It’s weird. That week set me up for a career on the European Tour.
Because I’d won, I probably thought, Oh, I should be able to do this all the time. Then you don’t do it, you end up losing confidence and you start to question yourself. That’s when golfers have problems, because they’ve raised the bar to the point where it’s just too hard to achieve it. You just can’t do it. No one can do it. Not even the best in the world can do it. You end up smashing your confidence to the point where you’ve got to try to find a way back. That’s the cycle of golf, I guess, throughout the careers of most.
When I was a kid with my dad, going to golf on Saturdays with him, it was always about winning the Australian Masters. We just had this affinity with it, obviously, like the US Masters is to an American. The Australian Masters to me at that age, at a young age with my dad, was the place to get to. The gold jacket, Huntingdale, “The tradition continues”, and all that sort of stuff. That was the thing that I wanted to win. When I did finally do it in 2004 it was just awesome.
From the early 2000s through to probably 2010 was the time when I started to not feel this massive urge to do what I did. I was away from family, away from my really good friends and the people that were on tour were different. I felt like one of the guys that was left behind… You could call it institutionalised on tour. But I didn’t like it because mobile phones came into play. Guys became less social. You’d go to the players’ lounge and there’d be four or five golfers sitting around a table buried in their phones. The travelling wore me down. I just got tired of it. I started to see going to a golf tournament as a bit more of a hassle, as opposed to wanting to do it.
It’s been a really, really frustrating wait, I would have to say, waiting to join the seniors tour. I’ve questioned myself at times as to whether I really want to do it or not, but there’s something in me that just is ready and willing to do it at some point. It’s just a matter of when I’m ready to do it.
This forced break has certainly changed things for me. I’ve started to enjoy being a bit more settled at home. I’m closer to my parents and closer to a lot of my friends that I’ve spent a lot of time away from over the years. I’ve spent a lot more time with my daughter, so there’s been a lot of things going on that has settled me into life here in Australia. Things have changed to the point where I think if I did go and play on tour, I wouldn’t spend six to nine months away every year.
I want to enjoy my senior career. I don’t want it to be harder or more difficult. I’ve made a decision that I really don’t want to start until it is comfortable to do it again. I was hopeful it was going to be this year, but it might be next year, it might not. I really don’t know. Travelling is certainly going to be different for quite some time, but hopefully it’ll get to the point where you can move around quite freely again. Until such time, I don’t think it’s really reasonable to go anywhere.
This past year I’ve been working with a mate in his pool maintenance business. It’s a job that I’ve really enjoyed because I’ve been able to spend a good amount of time around my mates every day. I’ve been able to come home and sleep in my own bed. All my clothes are in my one wardrobe. I’m living in my own house. It certainly has its benefits, but it certainly doesn’t pay like golf does.
John Senden
Born: April 20, 1971
Famous for: Two PGA Tour wins, 2006 Australian Open champion
At about 8 or 9 years of age, I used to sometimes just walk around with Dad in the mornings at Victoria Park Golf Course in Brisbane. As soon as we’d get out past the clubhouse, where the pro shop or the general manager wouldn’t see us, he’d get this little 3-iron out and I’d start hitting shots off the tee.
Mum and Dad used to take us up to Caloundra for summer holidays and the very next apartment next to us joined up with the same sort of backyard area. That’s when we met “Triggsy” [Senden’s long-time coach, Ian Triggs] and his young fellows; they were in the apartment next to us one year. Dad got chatting with Triggsy and he told him that he was moving down from Townsville to become the resident professional at Keperra Golf Club. That was the course closest to our house so at the beginning of the next year, Dad and I waltzed on out to Keperra Golf Club, walked in and met Triggsy in the pro shop.
At the end of Year 12, Triggsy offered me a traineeship and as we were going through he asked, “What are your goals?” I wanted to follow Greg Norman, Craig Parry, Ian Baker-Finch and play on the major tours, and he really pushed me to do that. Triggsy said, “How about we set the goal to make it to the US PGA Tour by the year 2000?” I said, “The year 2000? That’s forever! I mean, that’s almost 10 years away.” Fast forward a few years, I had some success in Europe in 1999-2001 and at the end of that year I went through all three stages of Q School in Georgia, Texas and Florida and got my US Tour card. I only missed my goal by two years; Triggsy was right all along.
Winning the Indonesian PGA in 1995 was a big game-changer. I missed qualifying for the Australian Open but found out while I was in Melbourne that there was this event on the Asian Tour, the Indonesian PGA, playing in Jakarta. We had to leave the next day, the Tuesday, to go up there. I had to borrow $2,500 from Jackie, who was my girlfriend at the time, to get there and ended up winning the bloody golf tournament. Came home with $40,000. It was unbelievable. From nothing to that.
‘There’s been a lot of heartache, a lot of ups and downs, good times and tough times, but when you’re with your best friend, it makes it a lot easier.’
The other big one was playing the Interlaken Open on the Challenge Tour in 1998. Jackie was caddieing for me and we found out during the tournament that it was going to be our final event of the year because my ranking wasn’t good enough to play the whole season. I was five back, six back after 54 holes and Jackie said to me, “Well, we’re going to be packing our bags now ready to go home. The only way to stay out here is to win the golf tournament.” I went out on Sunday and shot the lowest score of my life, 10-under 62, and won the event. It’s quite incredible how when you’ve got your back to the wall, sometimes you just kick it in. I won again on the Challenge Tour a few months later and got my European Tour card. Big game-changer, those couple of events.
Jackie came to Brisbane from Wanaaring, west of Bourke, in about 1990. She put her name in the local church newspaper for share accommodation and moved in with this couple, Jason and Jenny. Jason was a member at Keperra and one night out at the pub I saw Jenny and went to say hello. Jackie was there with Jenny, we met and I called a couple of weeks later to catch up with her again. Then we started going out after that.
We didn’t get married until 1999, but we learned so much about each other travelling around the world to play golf tournaments. She really had no idea about golf initially, but she learned very quickly about the ins and outs of travelling and playing and seeing how it all worked out. She’s been really the rock of it all. She’s been the complete support system that’s kept me grounded. When we first met we both had nothing – we both had zero dollars in the bank – so you learn and you do it all together. It really made us stronger and stronger as we grew together. There’s been a lot of heartache, a lot of ups and downs, good times and tough times, but when you’re with your best friend all the time, it makes it a lot easier.
Winning the Australian Open in 2006 is the feather in the cap for my whole career. I finished runner-up to Robert [Allenby] at Moonah Links in 2005 and that gave me a really strong belief that I could really play well in the national tournaments in Australia. Winning the John Deere Classic earlier that year gave me all sorts of confidence and then coming back home to Australia and winning the Australian Open was definitely the highlight of my whole career.
When I was a trainee at Keperra, my sister went to Grundy’s down on the Gold Coast. You could buy a laminated front page of a newspaper and put anything you wanted on it as a headline. On the top of the page it had the Gold Coast Bulletin masthead and on the main page it says, “John Senden wins Aussie Open.” She handed it to me back in ’90 and I put it on my wall in my bedroom. Now you think, Wow, that was a bit of fate, I guess.
I feel really good about turning 50 because it’s going to give me another chance to play a consistent schedule and stay healthy. As long as COVID doesn’t interrupt the tournament schedules this year, I’ll be playing most weeks come April right through to November. I’m going to play the first two Champions Tour events when I turn 50 and I’ve got an invite to the Senior PGA, which is in Tulsa. The week after that I’ll do Byron Nelson back on the PGA Tour. Last year, with COVID, I only played about eight events. This year I’m going to play probably 20 or 25. It’s good to get the rhythm back again and play a bit more.
These past five years the priorities have been a little different. Our son Jacob was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2017 and it was pretty rough. He was on the edge then. All the medical staff at the Children’s Medical Centre close to the city in Dallas have been really good, they saved his life. He turns 17 this year and if you saw him now you wouldn’t know he was really, really sick at all. He’s got to keep checking in with the doctors but, without going into major detail, he’s looking a lot better and he’s busy – enjoying music and enjoying his golf.
Stuart Appleby
Born: May 1, 1971
Famous for: Nine PGA Tour wins, 2001 Australian Open champion
We still have a little palm tree out the back of the house Dad grew up in. As a kid I’d grab the palm fronds that fell to the ground and hit one of those little plastic golf balls with the holes in them. Then out of nowhere, Mum and Dad decided to go and get some lessons at Ballarat, which is a fair hike from Cohuna. Dad was a left-hander, so he wasn’t really much use to me, but Mum would remember the lessons and tell me when she got home. Mum was never a very good golfer but she knew how to regurgitate the info.
My first round of 18 holes I kept score was in the mid-120s, but something clicked. Within 12 months I was just addicted. Every day I had to grab a club, swing a club, chip a ball in the backyard. I’d been playing not even two years and I was fully addicted. I was playing under-16s footy and I’d ask the coach, “Hey coach, I’ve got the club championships. Can I take a game off?” That was fine. So I’d do that.
The next year I moved up into the seniors and played in the thirds. I don’t remember saying this at all, but at the presentation night at the end of the season the seniors coach turns to me and says, “Stewy, great year mate for the thirds, can’t wait to have you in the seniors next year. Going to be a hell of an asset.” And I turned to him and said something like, “Nah, I’m going to give this golf thing a go.” I don’t remember any of that, but there was just dismay from the coach to think that I was going to do that.
Moving to Melbourne was so intimidating to me. I knew the players were better, I knew the courses were better. It was the real deal. It felt like I went from my high school to university and I don’t know if I was ready for it. And I’d always come back to the country. I could last a couple of weeks in Melbourne and then I’d come back to the farm. But that’s when I met guys like Robert [Allenby] and my coach
Steve Bann and saw the competition. That was huge.
Rob was really the man. He was just the man for so long as an amateur, just a machine. Loved a party, the opposite to me. I was the guy driving him and his mates home after a Friday night. Both competitors, but Rob just had so much more golf-game maturity than I did. Obviously Rob didn’t win everything but, man, he was a brilliant competitor. He was just like no one else in the amateur sense. When he had it on, he just poured it on.
I still can’t understand how I ended up playing on the US PGA Tour, to be honest. I don’t look at myself anywhere near like my record might suggest. I probably see more faults than I see good things. The late, great Lyndsay Stephen said to me, “Stewy Apples, you’ve got to be like a horse, put your blinkers on. Put your blinkers on and just keep your eyes down.” And he was right. I was really, really good at that. I had no real accolades on me at all, I was just good at being me and obsessed with just now, just the shot.
After I won the Honda Classic in ’97, I was driving home that night and had a feeling of like, Holy shit, I did it. I won. I beat everybody this week. I am the winner. Hearing those words bounce around my head… I knew what winning was. I knew the desire to be the last guy to leave the winner. That gave me the feeling of the peakness of the experience of building up to that. I’d spent a long period of time, from 10 to 15 years trying to get there, and I’d done it.
‘My advice to anybody who goes through something like that is to get back into something you love… just get back into it and keep your mind busy.’
Man, I loved the game, loved it, loved it. After the accident that took Renay’s life, it was like someone pulled a chip out of my brain called ‘Love for the game’ and just put in ‘Don’t give a damn’. I felt nothing for golf. Nothing. No desire. And my brain goes, “What did you just say?” It felt like the sport and me and Renay, we were part of this trio of the package, and now that wasn’t there… It only took me a couple of weeks to feel like, No, no, no, no, no, no, no. It’s a game, but it’s a big game and you know you love it. Don’t throw this in the bin for nothing. My advice to anybody who goes through something like that is to get back into something you love. If you always loved it, just get back into it and keep your mind busy. Golf was it for me. I don’t think about it that much, that thought of I’ll never play the game again, but that’s really what I’d thought about.
I spent months crying myself to sleep every night. Just looking across, laying in my bed and the love of my life’s not there. That’s just like life getting in your face and going, “This is real.” So that was tough. And then a bit later I met Ashley and she was so patient with me going through this transition from my past to: is there a future? And then meeting her, a champion of all champions and having my family. But Ashley could have easily gone, “This guy’s a head case. I’m out of here.” But she hung in there and here’s my life.
We torture ourselves. You might have given me an extra pat on the back for winning the British Open [in 2002, when Appleby lost in a four-man playoff] but I wouldn’t have been a different person. The thing that’s scary about victory is it can change people for the worse or it can change you internally. As spectators, we’re always watching, looking for glimpses of courage, glimpses of humility, glimpses of humanity. It’s a dream to have won a Major – it’s something I obviously won’t ever get to do now – but it wouldn’t have changed me. If I won the British, I wonder if it’s like “The Butterfly Effect”, it changes something else.
What I remember about winning the Australian Open in 2001 was sharing a beer with my dad. My dad doesn’t drink beer at all. He’s a bit allergic to drinking beer. He can’t handle the yeast. And my dad’s pounding down Crownies and I’m like, Holy shit, my dad’s going to be off his tits! And it was just being very proud of their boy. That was the thing that I remember, just seeing in my parents’ eyes, that glow of a parent, more than me winning the Australian Open.
The Australian Open by far was my cream, the cherry on top, but the Australian Masters was the most bizarre tournament I could ever imagine. I was on the range hitting balls on Tuesday and it was terrible. I couldn’t take the club back. I had to start my backswing about a foot behind the ball and Banny goes, “What are you doing?” It was so bad, like really, really bad. I said to him under my breath, “Banny, I think I need to pull out of the tournament. I can’t go and play golf like this.” Banny gives me this one swing thought and I get out there and start hitting it good and start making some putts. I drive out of there Sunday night and I’m halfway down the driveway just going, What the f*** just happened this week? I’ve won the f****** Masters. You have got to be kidding me. This is like a Cinderella dream! Ten minutes of insane behaviour and I would have pulled out of the tournament.
That was the end of 2010 and by the middle of the next year I was in a lot of trouble with my back. And that’s when shit started hitting the fan physically and mentally for me. The days of the elation of the Masters were well and truly over.
Jesus Christ, 50 is old. I remember talking to my coach Steve Bann a long time ago. We were talking about the Champions Tour and I was like, “Hell no, I’m not playing that tour. Why would I bother?” It just seemed like a far-flung place that had no interest to me. I’m still very much up in the air about it. With my back, I haven’t played a comfortable 18 holes of golf in two years. I’ve got to rebuild the engine and try to find a way to get this thing to the track and to the start line. I’ve got a long way to go with the body to get out and play even one week, but I just I want to go practise. I want to go and play. I want to feel the game again. I want to taste the game again. Do I care if I ever win on the Champions Tour? Doesn’t interest me one bit. If I could get five years or more out on the Champions Tour, being relatively healthy and free to play golf, that could be one of my greatest victories ever.
Robert Allenby
Born: July 12, 1971
Famous for: 22 wins in the US, Europe and Australia
My dad and my brother and my cousin Peter Woodward, who now plays on the Legends Tour in Australia, they were all members at East Malvern Golf Club in Melbourne. I remember going around with them as a little kid, 3 to 4 years old. I would sit on my dad’s seat on the golf buggy and he just dragged me along. Every now and again I’d grab a 3-iron out and just whack them down the fairway when I could.
I was a good cricketer and a good golfer, but I made the junior state team at 16 and really enjoyed being on those teams and I really enjoyed the tournaments that we had in Melbourne and throughout Australia. When I was 17 I was playing for Australia and travelling overseas and so forth. I was on a mission then to become the best I could and turn pro. I knew at 17 years of age that I was going to be a professional golfer. I had a great coach, Steven Bann, and he really helped me get to the next level. We worked really hard for about a year before I turned pro in December ’91.
The tournament that changed my life was the ’91 Victorian Open where I won by seven shots. I beat Paul Moloney and Ian Stanley at Woodlands Golf Club, and then I went overseas to Manila and played for Australia. Our four-man team won by 30-something shots and then we came home for the Australian Open where I lost by a shot to Wayne Riley at Royal Melbourne. Those two professional tournaments gave me all the confidence in the world to turn pro and go do what I needed to do in
my career.
We all think that we can do it, but you have to put yourself out there and not be afraid to do it. Because if you’re afraid of anything, you will never achieve your full potential. I put a lot of work into my game, I felt confident, I won some great amateur events, and I just went into the Victorian Open thinking, I could win this. I mean, I held off Paul Moloney and Ian Stanley, and honestly, they tried to put me off from the first hole to about the 15th hole when they knew that they couldn’t beat me. They were rattling coins and coughing on my backswing – I remember it as if it was yesterday – and my dad just said, “Don’t worry about them. Just concentrate on your game. You’ll get the better of them when you finish.” So I did. They actually toughened me up. From that moment, after that day, I knew I was ready.
When I was 13, a really close friend of our family passed away from leukaemia. We were both 13. When I turned pro, I was talking to my buddy, Anthony Waterson, and said, “I want to start my own foundation for kids, and I want to help kids with cancer because of what happened in my life growing up.” He said, “Well, there’s a foundation called Challenge Cancer Support and they’re not making a lot of money, and they need help.” Challenge had been going for about four or five years, but they needed someone to come in and really help them. Thirty years later, I’ve been part of the mission to help raise as much money as we can for Challenge. I know it’s passed the $45 million mark and it’s been something I’ve been very, very passionate about throughout all the years. It’s really probably my legacy more than anything else.
I first met Jarrod [Lyle] at the Australian Masters at Huntingdale on the putting green. I signed an autograph for him and then a year later I met him in hospital. I trotted off to the hospital with Dave Rogers from Challenge and met him at the Royal Children’s Hospital. I walked in and I was like, “I know you. I’ve met you at a golf tournament.” From that moment on we became best friends.
I watched him go through it both times, the second and third time with the acute myeloid leukaemia. It was tough because he’d cry on my shoulder and I’d cry on his shoulder. I’ve never met someone that knew how to fight harder than Jarrod did. He was the true inspiration of how to fight for your life. I think we helped each other. He helped me become stronger and just more appreciative of life and more appreciative of what you have. When he got it the third time, knowing that he wasn’t going to last, and his doctors even knew that too… I think Jarrod knew a little bit too and it was a tough one.
I still want to put on a golf tournament in his name in Australia. That is my goal and I told him that I would never stop until I put that tournament on. I was getting halfway there and then COVID hit. I’m not going to let it stop me. It’s just going to postpone it, that’s all it’s going to do.
I’ve definitely had a bit of a love-hate relationship with golf the past three or four years. I’ve hated to love it and loved to hate it. What I’ve been doing over the course of the past year is just working on my health physically and then I know that helps me mentally. Whether I’m playing on the main tour or the Korn Ferry Tour, I’m just going to pace myself until I get to mid-July and hopefully be ready to go for the Champions Tour. It will be nice to go out and play with my buddies again and try to actually hit it past most of them.
I know I’ve got to step it up. I started a ploy to really up my fitness and up my game. I practise a lot more and I work on my short game more than I’ve ever worked on it. I know what I’ve got to do and how I’ve got to do it, it’s just a matter of training the brain to be positive and allowing it to happen. I’m going in there knowing that it’s going to be tough and I’m going to have to play amazing golf to try to keep up with them. I’m willing to put the work in now. I’ve had that little bit of a break and I feel so much better for it and I think it’s actually helped me mentally, and physically too.
The good thing is I don’t have to go out there and crush it straight away. I’d like to, but I’m going to do the best I can to get myself in top shape by July. If I can get enough tournament play under my belt, hopefully I’ll be ready to go out there and play aggressively.
Nick O’Hern
Born: October 18, 1971
Famous for: Twice beating Tiger Woods in matchplay competition
My dad was a baseballer and after they finished, I’d be out on the baseball field whacking balls around. We also had a park across the road from where I lived and I remember being over there constantly after school. From one end to the other was only 90 or 100 yards, and all I had was a wedge or a 9-iron. I’d just chip around and hit it at the basketball ring and hit it at the slides, hit it at the swings – when kids weren’t around, obviously. It’s the reason why I’ve got a good short game.
Early on, none of my clubs matched. I might have had six or seven clubs. They all had different heads, different shafts, different grips. Dad probably found my set out of the bargain barrel. I got my first full set when I was about 13: PGF Aristocrats. I’ve still got the 3-wood from that set.
The lowest handicap I got down to was 2 when I was 16 and ended up turning pro. When I was 19, I was off a 4 handicap, so I’d actually gotten worse. I figured I’d do a traineeship, learn how to teach and be involved in golf and I’m sure I’ll figure it out. That was my theory.
My wife Alana and I got married pretty young; I was 22 and she was 21. After I finished my traineeship, I told Alana that I wanted to play for a living. The key moment was playing the Spalding Park Open in Geraldton. I think I shot 86-88-82 to finish dead last. In the carpark afterwards, I just remember basically being in tears. Alana had caddied for me and said, “Right, if we’re going to give this a real go, we need to make a plan. I’m happy to support you and be along for the ride, but you’re just wandering along. You don’t have any plan or structure.” We came up with a three-year plan and if we didn’t have a tour card on the Australian circuit by then it was time to do something else.
The plan involved finding a coach I could understand, because I still really didn’t understand my golf swing. It also involved finding someone to help with the mental game because I really struggled in that area. And then fitness and getting stronger. That’s when I found Neil Simpson. He’d just taken over as the club professional at my old home club, Mount Lawley in Perth. Then Alana called the West Coast Eagles and said, “Who’s your sport psychologist?” They put me onto Neil McLean. I started working with a fitness trainer called Andrew Budge who was at Swan Districts Football Club. Through those people, especially Neil Simpson and Neil McLean, my golf started to make sense. Having that plan and setting that path, that direction, brought all the right people into my life at the right time, and it was basically all because of Alana. I still thank her to this day.
When I first met Alana, she was dating another guy who was a trainee pro as well. Six months later they’d broken up and we crossed paths again. It was Christmas Eve 1991 when we started dating. Guys ‘hit on’ girls but that was never my thing. She always said I was an absolute gentleman, which is really nice of her to say. I just took her hand across the road that evening, on Christmas Eve, and we didn’t let go for the rest of the walk. We’ve now been married 27 years.
I’d played the week before the ’97 Aussie Open at Metropolitan in Sydney at the Australian PGA and it was maybe the second cut I’d ever made. I made $400 or something; that was about it. I flew from Sydney to Melbourne Sunday night, got up Monday morning, pre-qualified on the number, carried my own bag the Thursday and shot 67. Alana flew over on the red-eye that night from Perth, I picked her up at 6 o’clock Friday morning from Melbourne Airport and then we went straight to the golf course. She caddied, I shot 66 and all of a sudden I’m leading the Australian Open and the spotlight is well and truly upon us.
I played in the second-last group on Sunday and finished fifth. It was too soon for me to win anything. I just wasn’t experienced enough. I didn’t have the tools to do it, as of yet, but I learnt so much that week and the cheque for $42,000 bankrolled us for the next year.
Tiger Woods changed the careers of everyone. The first time I was aware of Tiger was the ’97 Masters. I’d heard about this young guy and everyone was raving about him, but the ’97 Masters, he decimated the field and kicked everyone’s butt.
I beat Charlie Howell on the 19th hole in the first round of the WGC–Match Play in 2005. Charlie was a bit upset about the whole thing, which I can understand, but more than usual. I said, “Are you OK, mate?” And he said, “Well, I really wanted to play Tiger.” I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “You’re playing Tiger next.” I said, “Oh, OK. I didn’t know.” I never really looked that far ahead. That was my first realisation.
‘Everyone keeps asking whether I’m going to play the seniors tour and my answer is: not at this stage… I play more for the love of the game now.’
Standing on that first tee was very, very intimidating but Australians don’t tend to care about our opponent and matchplay is my favourite format of the game. I thought, This guy’s very beatable. It’s just a matter of how we do it. My caddie and I came up with a theory around him being the ultimate front-runner. At that point he’d only ever won a Major when he was tied for the lead or in the lead going into the last round. My theory was, This is the last round, I’m tied for the lead, I’ve got to get in front. If I get behind, I’m not going to be able to beat him. That was my theory going in, get the lead early and then see what happens.
Sure enough, the first hole I’ve got an eight-foot putt for a half. My caddie gets behind me as I’m lining up the putt and says, “Nick, this is for the match.” Big call, but he knew that would focus my mind. He knew that would lock me in, and sure enough it did. I knocked the putt in, birdied the next two and I was 2 up after three holes and never let the lead go. That intimidation factor Tiger has over a lot of people, it never really rubbed off on me.
I stopped playing full-time about five years ago. I lost my full status in the US and in my last year playing the Web.com I just found myself in hotel rooms thinking, I don’t want to be here. I’d rather be home. I knew I wasn’t putting in that 100 per cent that you need, and I was OK with that. I’d done more than I thought I ever would in the game, coming from a 4-handicapper to being No.16 in the world.
Everyone keeps asking whether I’m going to play the seniors tour and my answer is: not at this stage. When you travel for so long over 20 years you either love it or hate it and I got to the point where I just hated it. I know my best golf is probably behind me, but I can still compete. I go out and play socially and I help people in their playing lessons. I play more for the love of the game now, which is a great space to be in.
I played with guys the other day, and we were coming down to the last hole. They’re off 15 and 22, my partner’s off 7 and I’m off plus 4 and they beat us 1 up on the last. And then they go home and tell everyone that they beat the guy who beat Tiger Woods. That’s exactly what they all say. It’s funny.
