The decision of Peter Uihlein, last year’s top U.S. amateur, to try to earn his way as a professional on the European Tour is a wise move, according to one New England golf watcher who has followed the Massachusetts native’s progress through the years.
Uihlein, whose father is chief executive of Massachusetts-based Acushnet, the maker of Titleist and FootJoy golf gear, announced Monday that he would skip his last semester at Oklahoma State and turn pro January 1 as a client of Chubby Chandler’s U.K.-based International Sports Management. His first official event as a pro will be as one of the lesser-known competitors among a stacked field at the Abu Dhabi Championship later next month.
“Peter’s decision to sign with Chubby Chandler to begin his career in golf makes perfect sense,” Tim Branco, publisher of New England Golf Monthly Magazine said in an e-mail Monday. “Peter is well-traveled and [as] Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer [learned], the Euro Tour offers a much more controllable environment with far less media pressure and distractions then in the U.S.”
Uihlein planned to play mostly in Europe on the main tour or the Challenge Tour, Europe’s mini-tour, with his sights set on attaining full-time playing status in the big leagues. He’ll have a good start, with Chandler promising the 22-year-old will play at least seven Euro Tour contests next year, according to Golfweek.
“He’s guaranteed to play seven European tournaments by April,” Chandler told the publication’s Alistair Tait. “I’m confident of that.”
Uihlein may accept seven sponsor exemptions on the main tour, Tait noted. Should he pocket at least as much money in those events as the 115th (and last) player to earn his tour card, Uihlein would be eligible to play more events. He may play seven times on the Challenge Tour as well, where he would only have to make as much as the golfer in 80th place to play indefinitely in Europe’s minor leagues.
“He’s got to pick it up and hit the ground running,” Chandler told Tait. “You have to when you’ve only got seven starts. He’s a good enough player but he’s happy to play the Challenge Tour if he doesn’t get his card through the seven. It should be easier for him on the Challenge Tour.”
Uihlein said he welcomed the chance to play globally.
“The PGA European Tour plays all over the world from the United Kingdom to China, from Korea to South Africa and from the Middle East to Southeast Asia,” Uihlein said in a statement on ISM’s website. “And those players who have played on the tour, and who are still members, make for a pretty impressive list.”
Even so, Uihlein, who won the 2010 USGA Men’s Amateur Championship and is currently seventh in the World Golf Amateur Rankings, will face a stacked field in his first professional event. Among those in Abu Dhabi he’ll go up against will be world No. 1 Luke Donald, a resurgent Tiger Woods, Chandler’s former client McIlroy, and the world’s newly crowned No. 2 Lee Westwood.
Uihlein, by the way, had already captured the attention of McIlroy, who tweeted about the then-amateur during last year’s Masters.
“Watching the end of the masters coverage on ESPN,” McIlroy typed a few hours after his opening round at Augusta National Golf Course. “I love Peter Uihlein’s golf swing!”
Uihlein also got an up close and personal experience with the hubbub surrounding the best on the PGA Tour. In the same group with Phil Mickelson on Thursday and Friday, Uihlein had an army of fans and reporters following his every move. It’s a Masters tradition for the current Masters and U.S. Amateur champs to play together during the first two days of the major.
The pressure did not seem to faze Uihlein, who finished his opening round just two shots back of Mickelson.
Uihlein leaves behind an accomplished amateur career, in which he was a two-time American Junior Golf Player of the Year and amassed a 6-2 record playing on two U.S. Walker Cup teams. As for starting his new life across the pond, Branco believed it would be the right step for Uihlein.
“I think both Peter and his family are wise enough to know that same pressure which ended so many bright young players careers in the United States is better managed by a little growing on the European Tour,” Branco said. “The PGA Tour will always be there!”
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Golf Monthly. View all her articles here. You may also follow Kay on Twitter @golfexaminer.)
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