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The Asian Golf Tour is currently teeing it up at the Lee Westwood Colt Course outside of Newcastle in the United Kingdom and next week the tour heads to St. Andrews, its first event ever in Scotland. An assistant pro at a nearby course wants some of that money.
This is part the Asian Tour’s international series and the St. Andrews Bay Championship held at the Fairmont St Andrews (Torrance Course) will have a healthy purse of $1.5 million USD. For a local pro, that can be life-altering money for 1st place and Rob Paterson wants some of it.
The popular Monday Q Info Twitter account (recently rebranded as X) shared Rob Paterson’s qualifying story and he overcame multiple obstacles en route to earning a spot in the event.
It started when Paterson’s driver exploded earlier that week during a practice round:
How about this story.
Yesterday there was an @asiantourgolf qualifier for next weeks event at Fairmont St Andrews. Rob Paterson an assistant pro from a club nearby planned to play in despite breaking the face of his driver while playing a practice round a few days earlier 1/3 pic.twitter.com/hmAty43ywl
— Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) August 16, 2023
Any equipment change can throw a golfer off. We are a deeply superstitious lot. But he persevered and still planned to play.
All geared up for his tee time, Rob Paterson hopped in the car but was served up another obstacle:
On Monday (the Q was held Tues) Rob worked all day in the pro shop, his plan was to make the 45-min drive in the morning to the Q. On his way a huge accident happened in front of him. The nearly 2-hour traffic jam that followed was going to make him miss his tee time. He called
— Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) August 16, 2023
But you already know this story has a happy ending, so:
The tour and asked if he could move his tee time. They declined but said he could have a spot if someone no-showed. And…someone didn’t show, so he got a spot And of course he shot 67 and of course he made it thru. And of course it’s his first start on a major tour. Awesome stuff
— Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) August 16, 2023
The local assistant pro when from breaking his driver, to stuck in traffic and missing his tee time, to someone else not showing up and him getting the chance to go out and score low. He did, firing off a 67 and he’ll now get to make his professional golf debut.
Awesome stuff.
The Asian Tour can be streamed on YouTube TV for any subscribers out there, should you want to watch next weekend when they compete in the St. Andrews Bay Championship held at the Fairmont St Andrews (Torrance Course).