Michael Sim: True Grit and Determination

BY Anthony Powter | Nationwide Tour | 2009 Christmas In October | Round Four | 24 Aug 2009

There are dominating years and dominating players in golf and 24-year-old Michael Sim is one of them. This season on the Nationwide Tour the Australian has held the tour firmly in his hold. In only 12 starts Sim has earned US$527,079 and his win today at the Christmas in October Classic in Kansas makes him the first player to top the half-million dollar mark.

Sim has also posted four other top-10 finishes on the Nationwide Tour, made the cut in the US Open (T18) and last week’s PGA Championship (T51), but more importantly he cracked the world top 100 and in the process is the only Nationwide Tour player to do so.

Today’s win for Sim sees an instant “Battlefield Promotion” back to the PGA Tour after securing his third Nationwide Tour victory for the season. Over the weekend the Western Australian posted rounds of 65-67-65- 67 for a total of 20-under-par 264, to claim the inaugural event by two shots.

The win added to his two earlier Nationwide Tour victories at the Stonebrae Classic and the BMW Charity Pro-Am.

Today’s result and the automatic return to the PGA Tour for Sim is a product of pure grit and determination by one of Australia’s most promising emerging talents, who at the beginning of the season headed to the US with only conditional playing status on the Nationwide Tour.

“It’s been a great year and a memorable one,” remarked an elated Sim regarding his achievements.

“So far I have won on the Nationwide, played two majors and made the cut in each, achieved the goals that I set for the year and it is only August. The list just goes on.”

“At the start of the year all I had was only a conditional Nationwide Tour card and to get the results that I have, it is simply awesome.”

Sim’s immediate promotion to the PGA Tour is timely and well deserved. It enables him to end the US season on a high before returning to play the three main tour events on the Australasian Tour – the Australian Masters, Australian Open and the Australian PGA Championship.

“I’ll take a couple of weeks off at the end of October and head back in Phoenix where I live, pack a few things and probably head back to Perth to catch up with some friends before playing the three main Australian events,” says Sim.

“I am looking forward to playing back in Australia and with the year I’ve had already here in the US, it should be a great three weeks down there.”

Born in Aberdeen, Scotland before moving to Australia at the age of five, Sim’s golfing journey began when he took up a junior membership at Lakelands Country Club in Perth. He stayed there for four years before moving to the Joondalup Country Club where he is officially still a member. Sim then moved to Melbourne in 2002 and became a member at Yarra Yarra Golf Club whilst attending the Australian Institute of Sport.

Sim travelled to the US for the first time in 2004 and played in several amateur events culminating in his win at the 2004 Southern Amateur. That win gained him a start at the 2005 Bay Hill Invitational on the PGA Tour where he missed the cut by a shot.

Later in the American summer of 2005, Sim won the Sunnehanna and Monroe Invitational events and qualified for the US Amateur before losing in the second round of the match play.

By that stage Sim had reached the number one ranking in the game according to Golf Week’s amateur system and it was clear by then that the timing was right to take the next step and turn professional.

“I turned pro at the peak of my amateur career,” says Sim.

Sim’s first pro event was at the Von Nida Tour’s 2005 New South Wales Open at Liverpool Golf Club in Sydney’s west, where he missed the cut and followed it up with four consecutive missed cuts at the Australasian Tour events.

“I missed my first five cuts as a professional and I was saying to myself at the time, ’how hard is this!’. I then played a few Von Nida events early in 2006  back and did well.”

Sim’s big break would come through the insight of tournament promoter Bob Tuohy at the 2006 Jacob’s Creek Open.

Playing on a sponsor’s invite, Sim finished second after losing to Paul Sheehan on the second playoff hole. A week later and a T29th placing in the New Zealand PGA Championship, had the 21-year-old at the time elevated onto the Nationwide Tour following the re-ranking process later in April.

It was the break Sim was after and he joined another young Australian professional looking to make his mark on the Nationwide Tour in their rookie year, Nick Flanagan. Both would later progress to the main PGA Tour, but not without experiencing sacrifices.

Sim in 2006 claimed his first event as a professional winning the PalmettoPride Classic on the Nationwide Tour in a playoff over Ken Dukes to set up his PGA Tour status for 2007. The next twelve months presented numerous challenges for Sim, as he cut his teeth playing professional golf and dealing with the pressures of the main tour.

“I felt in 2007-08 that I went backwards,” he says.

“I then started to work more on my mental game with Angela Pampling, which is something that I should have done earlier and the results have been forthcoming. I had some good results earlier this season both back in Australia at the Moonah Classic and in the US with the Stonebrae Classic. That set things up well for me and it just continued to get better.”

Earlier this year, Sim had fell back on the Nationwide Tour with conditional status finding himself in the same familiar territory similar as in 2006. He was successful back then making the sought after top 125 money earners to graduate to the main tour, and this year he has succeed again with today’s win and automatic promotion to the main tour.

“It’s been a great 3 1/2 years and everything has fallen into place nicely. Overall my game has improved in all aspects and I feel that I’m at the stage where I belong and can seriously compete out on the main tour.”

Discuss this article in our forums