By Anthony Woolford, Western Mail
TO see a professional golfer go through the mincer needed a trip to the Newport home of Phillip Price last weekend.
For beating world No.2 Phil Mickelson in that epic 2002 Ryder Cup clash at the Belfry was something of a Sunday morning Cock O’ The North thrash-about compared to seeing his 21-year professional career potentially collapse before his very eyes out in Hong Kong.
In reality TV speak, what Price went through last weekend was akin to doing an I’m a Celebrity Bushtucker Trial with Simon Cowell and Strictly Come Dancing’s Craig Revel Horwood judging his performance as Price was in the sweat box for fully 96 hours before finally doing a jig of delight securing his European Tour card for 2012.
But for four days he could do precious little about changing his fortunes as his work for the 2011 European Tour season ended with what turned out to be a priceless £6,307 cheque for tied 35th in the South Africa Open the previous weekend.
It seemed small beer compared to the £5,950,000 three-time European Tour winner Price has amassed in his years among the big-hitters of Europe.
That payday kept his card by the slenderest of margins – just £1,088 to be precise from Chile’s Mark Tullo – with £214,940 in earnings grabbing the last of the 118 cards on offer from the money list.
It was something of a mirror image of Price’s 2010 campaign on Tour when he had to rely on a bountiful autumn harvest of £104,000 in three events to keep his card. He carried that form of late last year into the start of this season but it all started unravelling for Price when his coach and John Daly’s mentor Michael Owen took up a job in China.
With his tutor the other side of the world, Price’s game also went south, before another resurgent autumn saw the Pontypridd-born pro line up for his 22nd successive season on Tour in 2012.
And now the Welshman is doubly determined not to put himself through the wringer again and is hell bent on banking enough cash in the summer months to keep the blood pressure and heart-rate to that of a normal 45-year-old in gainful employment.
“I spent the whole of last weekend watching the live-scoring from the Hong Kong Open and it’s something I would not want to go through again, being in a position where I could lose my card and have nothing to do about it,” said Price. “I knew exactly before Hong Kong what other players had to do to overtake me in the money list.
“It was tough to say the least knowing if two people leapfrogged me, I was safe but three and I would have lost my card.
“On Saturday Stephen Dodd made it very difficult for himself to do it.
“I knew Keith Horne only had to make the cut to beat me, which he did, while Gareth Maybin had to finish 46th or better to overtake me as well, which he achieved.
“Simon Khan only had to make the cut to knock me down a further place and he missed out by a shot, so it just goes to show the fine margins in keeping and losing your card.
“The competition on the European Tour these days is tougher than I’ve ever known it as the money needed to finish in the top 118 this season is a lot more than in 2010. In 2010 £173,000 would have kept your card, I just made it earning in excess of £210,000 this season.
“It was a lot more than I have anticipated and the standard on Tour is just getting better and better each year. I’ve got to continue working to make sure I don’t get left behind.
“I feel in as good a position right now than I’ve been in for a few years now.
“I started the season very promisingly. I thought I was really on the up and I slumped in the middle of the summer and really didn’t know where I went.
“I went off to another place. But I wanted to keep my card for next season. I wanted to continue playing golf on the European Tour.
“I felt I made great strides at the start of the year and now I feel I’m playing a lot better and I’ve come through it.
“The slump came just after the Wales Open and coincided with my coach going out to work in China.
“I didn’t want to change coach as I’d got my game just as I would have liked after working with him for two years.
“My game got messy and it took a few months to tidy things up again to an extent my game is now back in good order.
“If I lost my card and had to go to Tour school I would have done it.”
While Price can finally sit back and relax with his card secured for next season, it wasn’t such good news for fellow Welshman, Barry Islander Dodd, who loses his for the first time in a decade, finishing 123rd on the money list.
And the three-time Tour winner and former World Cup champion is in good company as 2008 Ryder Cup player Oliver Wilson plus 2009 Madrid Masters winner Ross McGowan also missed out.
And Price is determined not to add his name to the European Tour graveyard in 2012.
“My game is in good enough shape. This year I thought I was in a position to move on and I quite haven’t done that, but I’m still in a better place,” he added.
“Now I’ve got to find out what I’ve got to do next season to move on.
“I’m keeping looking at my game to try and move onto better things and knowing I’m playing another season on Tour I can dust myself off now and find out ways to make sure I’m not in the same position in 12 months time.
“I’ve still got the enthusiasm to continue trying to improve my game and finishing 118th and in the last spot for a Tour card can be the wake-up call for making the most of 2012 on Tour.
“I think I’ve got more in me than 118th on Tour even though time rolls and right now I’m fully prepared to put the effort in.
“I’ve paid the price down the years for perhaps not putting as much work in as should but right now I’m as keen as ever to improve and I think I can do a lot better next year and I’m interested to see what I can achieve in 2012.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen more really good professional players below me in the money list than this year like Oliver Wilson and Ross McGowan.
“If you saw how good these players were just a couple of years ago, you would never contemplate them losing their cards but the world moves on and the standard just gets better and better.
“It can be a tough challenge for the old guard as technology, teaching and the new generation of player gets stronger and stronger.
“Experience does count for something and I can find a way to improve my game and the way I play. That’s the challenge and what else is left for me in the game if I didn’t have that challenge.
“I still want to give it a go out there. I’ve got a month off but planning is already ahead for next season as there are a few things I want to change in my game.
“I want to play the European Tour at least until I’m 50 when the Senior Tour is one of my plans.
“As long as I have the motivation and enthusiasm, and I don’t think people will realise the sacrifice you have to make going away living in hotels when you would much rather be spending the time with your family.
“That’s the balancing act you have to make and I’ve seen guys on Tour who don’t want to do it anymore.
“This is what I’ve always done and I still want to do it.
“People say I’m comfortable and though keeping my card is monetary as well, the overriding fact is that I still wan to play the game professionally on the European Tour.”
And Price took time out from his own celebration to spare a thought for fellow 45-year-old pro Dodd, who missed out in Hong Kong after manoeuvring himself into a good position on the opening two days to make the top 12 in the former British colony and keep his card.
“Stephen will play some 10 to 15 events on Tour next season because of his finish and maybe he can find his way back on Tour through those competitions as he counts down to 50 himself,” added Price.
“He will play enough to keep him ticking over which is probably the plan.”
With his card guaranteed for 2012, Price did allow himself a celebration of sorts having friends around on Sunday when a few of the 168 bottles of champagne won in July for a hole-in-one at the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart were cracked open.
“I don’t like champagne that much I’d rather a gin and tonic,” he added.
But another toasting the performance of Price on Tour was fellow 2002 Ryder Cup hero Paul McGinley, who turns 45 next week, and could only muster 152nd spot in the money list.
“Phil’s finish on the money list, is a lot better than I’m doing and I’m very impressed with it,” said the three-time Ryder Cup winner from Dublin.
“In all my years on Tour I turned pro the same time as Phil and he’s one of the guys I admire most.
“He’s not one of those professionals blessed with natural ability and Phil has got to where has through extreme hard work, dedication of what he’s doing and a huge heart.
“To play Ryder Cup the way he did and beat Phil Mickelson, the world No.2 in that fashion and to continue keep his card for the number of years he has when guys are bombing the ball 50 yards past him, I’m just full of admiration for him.”
No comments:
Post a Comment