Matt Griffin wants to stay in contention at the Australian Open because doing so could solve a gruelling travel problem.
Griffin, a Japan Tour regular, finished 104th on its moneylist and lost his card this year due to being outside the top 65. For the first time in eight years, he has to go back to qualifying school which starts on Tuesday next week in Japan. But he’s hoping to avoid that after starting the Australian Open with a four-under-par 66 to sit in a share of second, three shots behind David Micheluzzi.
If 39-year-old Griffin can stay in contention and has a late tee-time in the final round, he could miss his Sunday night flight to Japan. He’d then have to scramble to leave on Monday but even that would get to Japan late on Monday afternoon. He’d have no practice round before the qualifying school starts Tuesday.
But that could all be redundant if he were to have a late tee-time on Sunday. Winning the Australian Open comes with an automatic DP World Tour card in Europe due to co-sanctioning, while even a strong finish could contribute plenty of points on the PGA Tour of Australasia order of merit, with the top three at the end of the Australian season also securing DP World Tour status.
“That would actually mean I missed the current flights I’ve got,” Griffin told Australian Golf Digest. “We’ll just see what happens.”
There’s 54 holes to go, but Griffin said contending on a Sunday at an Open on the Sandbelt would be a good headache for him to have.
“Exactly; that’s what you want,” he said. “I grew up watching golf on the Sandbelt as well. I love playing here and we haven’t had [an Open on the Melbourne Sandbelt in 20 years]. I’ve never played an open on the Sandbelt. It’s a bit sad that I’m getting sort of to the back end of my career and I’d missed out on playing Sandbelt [Open] so I really, we didn’t want to miss this one.
“I’ve played in Japan for the last eight years and playing this week makes next week harder. It’s been eight nine years has been to a Q-school. It’s not the place you want to be, but I have to do it.”
Depending on how Griffin plays in the second round at Kingston Heath on Friday morning, he will adjust travel plans.
“I’ll probably see how tomorrow goes,” he said. “Then I might my travel agent, who is a genius, probably get him to hold a flight. I’m sure there’ll be another way that I can get there in time. It just means I’ll be a bit there later.”
Griffin reiterated that “there’s a long way to go.” That’s true for both the Australian Open – and the flights to Japan.
