Once the forgotten continent, Australia is off the charts again.
In a good way. A big way. At least in the golf world.
With a pool of only 20 million residents, Australia has supplied the 2005 PGA Tour with 22 players. Ten of the top 61 players in the world ranking are Aussies, including reigning International champion Rod Pampling, who will return to Castle Pines this week to defend his title.
Even the Aussies seem impressed by their level of success.
“For our population, having that many guys (on tour) is just ridiculous, if you think about it,” said Adelaide native Geoff Ogilvy, winner of this year’s Chrysler Classic of Tucson.
There’s quality in addition to quantity. Aussies have claimed four titles this year and won six times a year ago on the PGA Tour. In addition to Ogilvy’s victory in the desert, Stuart Appleby won the season-opening Mercedes Championship in Hawaii, Adam Scott claimed the Nissan Open near Los Angeles and Peter Lonard won the MCI Heritage at Hilton Head, S.C.
About why Australia has become a golf pipeline, theories vary.
What isn’t up for debate is the impact Greg Norman’s enormous success in the past 20 years had on a new generation of countrymen.
“People forget, but he was like Tiger Woods 15 years ago, especially in Australia,” Ogilvy said. “He created pandemonium. He helped more kids pick up golf clubs.
“Before Greg Norman, there was a feeling among Australians that ‘Those guys on the PGA Tour are better than us; we might as well just go to Europe to play.’ Now everybody comes over here and expects to do well.”
Norman, who turned 50 this year and is returning to The International, has won 20 PGA Tour events and two British Opens and held the top spot in the world rankings for 331 weeks in the early 1990s – when many of the current Aussies on tour were youngsters tacking Shark posters to their bedroom walls.
Fourth-year pro John Senden partly attributes the Aussies’ success to their upbringing.
“I put it down to the type of people we have Down Under,” he said. “The guys coming out of Australia come from a lower economic class than American players, generally. American players come out of country clubs and they don’t have the drive to get to where they need to.”
American Brandt Jobe first realized the talent level and depth of Australian golf during his days on the Japan Tour.
“They’re used to playing tough golf courses in hard, fast and windy conditions,” Jobe said. “That’s what we get on the PGA Tour. They’re very comfortable with the way we set up our courses.”
Historically, Australia has produced its share of great golfers, just not the numbers of today’s field. Bruce Devlin, a plumber before becoming a golf professional in 1961, placed as high as 11th (1970) on the PGA Tour money list. David Graham won the 1979 PGA Championship and 1981 U.S. Open. Steve Elkington honed his skills on the University of Houston golf team and won the 1995 PGA Championship.
The numbers on the PGA Tour figure to keep growing. Of the 10 Aussies competing on the Nationwide Tour, half already have PGA Tour experience. One of the top amateurs in the United States is Michael Sim, 20, from Perth.
And the Aussie influence isn’t limited to men. The LPGA Tour counts 13 players from Australia, led by future Hall of Famer Karrie Webb.
There are some amazing success stories. Pampling grew up in the small northeastern Australia town of Caboolture on a dairy farm and took up golfing as a teen with little other sporting options.
Mark Hensby, the 2004 John Deere Classic champion, left his homeland 12 years ago for the States at age 22 and slept in a clunker of a car for a few weeks in the parking lot at Cog Hill Golf Club near Chicago until he earned a few tournament checks on mini-tours to get a place to live.
Most Aussies, however, come to the U.S. as seasoned professionals. Youngsters in Australia who show potential in golf are directed to junior programs with quality instruction. Greens fees for youths can be as low as $5.
“Every young Australian plays golf,” Robert Allenby said. “They go fishing and they play golf.”
Staff writer Tom Kensler can be reached at 303-820-5456 or tkensler@denverpost.com.
