Lucas Herbert has had to fight for every step in his career, and it’s beginning to pay enormous dividends.
NOTHING in golf has ever come easy for Lucas Herbert.
From his Australian Open debut to his debut at the majors, the boy from Bendigo has had to scrap for every inch. Although he enjoyed a superb amateur career, there wasn’t a management company rolling out sponsors invitations and lucrative deals when he turned pro. He could barely get a start in his home country.
In 2014, while still an amateur, Herbert drove 11 hours overnight from Melbourne to Sydney to tee up at an Australian Open qualifier after finishing the Australian Masters the day before. He qualified and went on to share 23rd at that Open.
Two years later, Herbert, who had turned pro, was used in a broadcast promotion for the Australian summer of golf on the Seven Network without a start in any of those events. So he jumped on Twitter and sent off a series of tongue-in-cheek tweets at governing body Golf Australia. He received a sponsor’s invitation to the 2016 Australian Open and justified it by sharing 20th.
Interviewer: What did you know about Bermuda and this tournament coming into the week?
LUCAS HERBERT: There’s a sizeable triangle that seems to capture a lot of ships and planes, that’s kind of the extent of my knowledge on Bermuda, I think.
Another two years went by and Herbert was climbing the world rankings but he hadn’t played in a major championship. So, he rolled his sleeves up and had a crack at 36-hole US Open sectional qualifying in Portland, Oregon. Herbert was near the lead after the first 18 with a 65, then went out and shot 64 in the second round. Not only did it secure his major championship debut at the US Open at Shinnecock Hills, but his 12-under-par total was good enough to win that sectional by three shots. His 64 was also one shot shy of equalling the Portland Golf Club’s course record, which is jointly held by Ben Hogan.
One gift that did seem to come from the clouds was a dream practice round with Tiger Woods a month later at the 2018 Open Championship at Carnoustie. Herbert simply saw a spot vacant next to Woods’ name on the practice round tee times sheet. But it wasn’t a gift, Herbert had to play that practice round, and the first round of the 2018 Open Championship, with a borrowed set of clubs given British Airways had lost his sticks in transit.
Herbert had become a semi-regular contender on the European Tour by 2019, when he held a share of the 36-hole lead at the prestigious Dubai Desert Classic. A maiden win on the European Tour was in his sights. But on the third day, Herbert was deemed to have improved his lie in the sand/tested the surface when he had a “brain fade” and attempted to move loose impediments with his wedge instead of using his hands. He said he regretted his lapse in concentration and copped the two-shot penalty on the chin.
A year later, he won the Dubai Desert Classic.
This year, despite winning the Irish Open in wire-to-wire fashion in July and having a secure job in Europe, 25-year-old Herbert made deliberate plans to transition to the US PGA Tour.
He based himself in Orlando and had a go at graduating to the US PGA Tour through the finals of the secondary Korn Ferry Tour in August. Herbert got the job done in the first week of the finals, courtesy of a tie for fourth at the event in Boise, Idaho.
Even his maiden US PGA Tour victory, which Herbert earned on Monday at the Bermuda Championship, did not come without struggles. He cracked his driver at some point on day three, which had to be replaced, and in the final round he battled rain and wind so severe competitors had to seek shelter mid-round.
For all his grafting, though, Herbert now has a two-year exemption on the US PGA Tour. His $US1.1 million ($A1.5 million) winner’s prize from the Bermuda is the biggest of his career.
It also comes with something he hasn’t enjoyed too often – exemptions and invitations. To lucrative events like the PGA Tour’s no-cut Tournament of Champions on Maui. To the Players Championship. To invitationals like Arnold Palmer’s tournament at Bay Hill and Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament in Ohio.
Perhaps most importantly, he’ll be invited to the 2022 Masters at Augusta National, where Herbert will tee it up for the first time in the April major. He’ll get that invitation in the mail in January knowing nothing more has to be done to finally compete at the Masters.
Herbert’s fight isn’t over, obviously, but it’s beginning to pay off.
