WE PLAN TO KEEP YOU INFORMED ABOUT MY TIME ON THE VARIOUS GOLF
TOURS, AND SHARE NEWS ABOUT MY LOUIS57 BRAND, WITH COMPETITIONS
THROWN INTO THE MIX WHERE YOU CAN WIN SOME GREAT PRIZES
My year started off with a bang winning the ISPS HANDA Perth International in Australia
during February. Then, in March at the World Golf Championships – Dell Match Play –
I lost in the final to Jason Day. I made the cut in the Masters, US Open, and PGA,
but missed the cut in The Open. This year the dates of the four Majors and other events
changed quite a bit because of the Rio Olympics. The Open Championship and PGA
were a mere two weeks apart, so that made planning my schedule a challenge.
I think the four Majors followed by the World Golf Championships will always
be the highest priority on any professional golfer’s “want to win” list.
Sunday/Monday:
Travel to the event – sometimes my family travels with me, but my kids are now going to school,
so these occasions are limited.
Monday afternoon after arrival and checking in: Hour-long session with physio, 2 hours on practise tee,
then 9 or 18 holes of golf, another session on practise tee, then back home for another hour with physio.
Only after this is it time for supper and family.
Every day following that starts and ends with an hour of physio. Then it is driving range for 2 hours,
18 holes of golf, another practise session, and then physio.
Wednesday is the same, except that the 18 holes of golf is by way of a Pro-Am. I try to provide myamateur playing partners with a great day on the golf course, giving them tips, reading their lines,
all with some high fives
The draw usually entails that you tee off in the morning on one day followed by an afternoon tee time the following day or vice versa. This means that I need to leave the house at 05:45 so that I can
be at the clubhouse with the physio at 06:00, driving range at 07:00, and tee off at 08:20. Sometimes I
have a 07:00 tee time, which means leaving my house or hotel at 05:00. After golf, I have lunch, and then
it’s another 2 hours on the driving range.
Once you make the cut, the tee times are usually mid-morning, but the programme of physio, warm-up, play, and then practise followed by physio stays the same for the weekend.
In between rounds, I will have media and sponsor obligations, and at the Majors and World Golf
Championships the weeks get even busier, with far more media and sponsor obligations.
To stay successful on tour you have to be fit – not like Olympic athletes – but golf and
mentally fit. You have to be flexible and strong to put in 6 days of practise and golf for weeks at a time. My body allows me to play a maximum of 3 weeks in a row before having to take a break.
I have heard the stories that I just want to farm and not really play golf. Not true at all, but just because I bought a tractor after my Open win in 2010, this has became “fact” and the media has repeated this story many times. I stay on a farm from time to time (mostly only during December and January for a short
period), but I am not actively involved in farming. My dad and brother are actually the farmers; I just like to use the tractors and diggers to scratch around on the farm when I visit there – that is why I keep
winning them!
