Chook qualifies for his 11th British Open
BY Pat McCarville | Australasian PGA Tour | 2007 British Open International Final Qualifying | General | 08 Feb 2007
This week Peter “Chook” Fowler qualified for the 2007 British Open by shooting a nine under par course record 64 at the Lakes Golf Club in Sydney.
This will be the 46-year-old veteran’s 11th Open Championship. Fowler joined the European Tour in 1982 and won the 1983 Australian Open at Kingston Heath. In 1993 he won the prestigious BMW Classic in Germany.
He lost his European Card in 1996 and spent the next three years teaching in New Zealand.
“In 1998 I was playing a tournament with Bob Charles and Walter Godfrey, both guys in their sixties. I was surprised at how well they were hitting the ball, they were a lot fitter than me and I was playing rubbish. I realised it wasn’t age. If you’re playing bad – you’re playing bad so I decided to do something about it and started exercising and getting fitter and my game improved. Then out of the blue an invitation came to play the BMW in Germany.”
“As a past winner they paid all my expenses including my airfare. I made the cut and collected ten thousand dollars. Sam Torrence got me an invitation to Gleneagles to the Scottish Open; I made the cut and another ten grand, then the following week the same result at the Swiss Open. I qualified at Q School that year and went alright until 2006”.
Fowler kept his card until last year. He has fifteen guaranteed starts in Europe this year and expects to get at least ten invitations.
Talking about how the game has changed over the; last twenty years, Fowler says, “The fundamentals don’t change. People’s perception of the game has little to do with reality, hard work, make sure the fundamentals are good. I now have a personal trainer and I am a lot stronger than I was twenty years ago.”
“I have to be, we are now expected to play a round of golf in three and a half hours on courses that are up to a kilometre longer than they used to be. But I’m really looking forward to 2007. If you can’t get excited a bout playing in the British Open you’re a lost cause”
Photo – Anthony Powter
