Hensby's decision to skip Open a wise one
BY Bruce Young | European PGA Tour | 2004 British Open | General | 13 Jul 2004
It may appear to be a strange decision for someone who has just won his first PGA Tour event not to take advantage of the chance to play in his first major at Royal Troon the following week, but Mark Hensby’s decision to turn down the exemption he now has to the British Open, may well be one of the wisest decisions he has made all year.
Three months ago we saw the impact that leading the Players Championship for so long, then winning, had on Adam Scott when he missed the cut at the Bell South the following week, then missed the cut at the Masters a week later. For Hensby to have made the adjustment to what would have been a completely foreign environment for him and play his first major this week at Royal Troon may well have done him more harm than good. It is hard to imagine that he could have done well in Scotland given the let down factor from such a significant milestone in his career and his measured approach to this decision can only be congratulated and admired. The temptation would no doubt have been significant.
Hensby said after the win if the exemption had come a week earlier he would have had time to adjust to the possibility of travelling to Scotland and also time to adjust to the fact that he is now a PGA Tour winner, no doubt something he has been targeting since heading to the United Sates ten years ago.
His playoff win over John E Morgan at the John Deere Classic has been boiling for some time. Since regaining his card via last year’s Nationwide Tour, Hensby has shown a continuation of his fine form in 2003 on the Nationwide Tour where he finished seventh which was the catalyst for his graduation to the higher level of the PGA Tour.
His form this year has been quite outstanding. This win was his fifth top ten and third top three. In Hensby’s previous best season in professional golf he earned US$290,000 so the US$1,992,000 he has earned to date this season must not only seem like a fortune, it is a fortune.
Hensby was born in Melbourne but moved to Tamworth in New South Wales at the age of eight. It was there that he developed an interest in the game and used a job as a postman to save money to travel to the United States in the early 1990’s. He had friends in Chicago and stayed with them as he built an impressive amateur record in Illinois winning state titles there.
After wining several mini tour events, Hensby first joined the Nike Tour in 1997 and in 1998 he won the Fort Smith Classic before finishing 33rd on the money list that year but still not good enough to get to the PGA Tour.
Then in 2000 the hard work started to yield some serious results when he finished second on the Buy.Com Tour money list with again just the one win, but with a lot more consistency than had been the case in 1998. He was on the PGA Tour and in his first event as a card holder, at the 2001 Tucson Open, he finished 9th, an almost dream start for him. “It was a bit of a shock as much as anything else to have made such a good start,” he said in an interview I did with him earlier this year.
That great start did not continue however eventually finishing 186th on the money list and it was back to the Buy.Com Tour in 2002. “I actually missed three months that year with an arm injury so although I only finished 33rd, it was not such a bad year,” he said. “I then missed my Tour Card at the Tour School by an agonising one shot.”
In 2003 Hensby managed seven top tens including his win at the Henrico County Open on the Nationwide Tour and he was back to the PGA Tour and perhaps this time for good. “I try to keep it simple,” he said unfazed by his success. “It is just golf and I was playing very well last year and saw no reason why it wouldn’t carry over until this year.”
Hensby enjoys living in Arizona. “I just feel comfortable here,” he said. “The weather is perfect. Florida (where Hensby moved to from Chicago) was warm and the taxation was good but it was so windy. Now I have great practice facilities and living on a TPC golf course I can practice and play whenever I want so it really has worked out well.”
Hensby has been somewhat of a mystery man to Australian golf fans. They have seen Australia next to his name over recent years but he has not been seen a lot down here. “I’ve always wanted to come back and play in Australia,” he said, “but it just hasn’t worked out. Usually the Q-School has been on. Last year I got an invitation to the Australian Masters but when I got to L.A I was advised that my passport has expired so that was frustrating. Now that things are as secure as they are in terms of my status on the PGA Tour, then it would be nice to come down to play the Australian Open and other events. Because of my low profile up until recently, it hasn’t always been easy to get invitations but maybe now there will be that chance.”
One thing is for certain Mark Hensby has lost the cloak of mystery that he has worn for so long and his determination to succeed when many felt he wouldn’t, is a source of inspiration to not only him, but the many golfers out there to whom the word no is not part of their language.
