Nick Flanagan: Returns the Favour
BY Anthony Powter | 07 Nov 2007
Battlefield promotions from the Nationwide to the PGA Tour don’t come easily. They’re a rare occurrence. Only eight players in tour history have earned the three-win promotion, a reflection of the class and style of player that Nick Flanagan, 23, has become.
Flanagan is reserved in his comments about where he currently stands with his career. He is set to embark upon the biggest and richest professional tour in the world, the PGA Tour, yet it’s hard to get much emotion from him as to his achievements. Then again Flanagan has always been that way, a player of few words, yet quietly confident and determined to succeed.
He’s returned to Australia earlier than planned, yet is looking forward to being back on home soil.
“I needed to get back home and re-charge the batteries as it’s going to be a big season in America next year,” he remarked earlier in the week at Concord Golf Club in Sydney.
“Yep, you certainly can say that a lot has happened over the last few months. It’s all been a bit fast, but I’m looking forward towards playing well in Australia and it’s great to be back home.”
Performing well in Australia is important to Flanagan. He’s proud of his heritage and the way he’s evolved to become one of our brightest prospects embarking on the PGA Tour.
Along the way there’s been the set-backs, no more so than in 2005 where Flanagan was amidst change and challenge after his decision in July 2004 to turn professional. He had no main tour to play and was gaining experiences on the secondary tours in America and Australia.
Invites to the main Australian events for some reason evaded him, despite his notoriety of being only one of seven foreigners and the only Australian ever to win the US Amateur. Some even doubted that he would make it.
The Von Nida events were his saviour and Flanagan’s form in the Toyota Southern Classic in March 2005, where he fired a third round 63 to be in the hunt on the final day, reinforced to him, that he had the ability to make it.
“Without doubt, the Von Nida Tour played a major role in my road to the PGA Tour and it gave me the confidence to keep going,” remarked Flanagan.
How things have changed.
The sceptics and Australian tournament officials who so easily discarded Flanagan back in 2005, will be keeping tight lipped about that period during the Australian Summer. This season they now cannot get the red carpet rolled out quick enough this season for Flanagan, as he tees up in the big three events on the Australasian Tour – the MasterCard Masters, Australian PGA Championship and the Australian Open.
Before those big three, Flanagan wants to re-visit his origins.
“Playing in this week’s NSW Open up at The Vintage in Cessnock is a perfect warm-up tournament for me, and it also gives me the opportunity to repay those who assisted me earlier in my career by supporting the Von Nida Tour,” remarked Flanagan, who won his first professional tournament on the Von Nida Tour, with the 2005 Queensland Masters.
“I was initially approached by the late Alex Johnston from the NSWGA – who passed away suddenly in September – and my decision to play is also a way to honour Alex’s memory. If it had not been for Alex contacting me and our relationship, the event may not have been on my radar.”
This year’s venue for the NSW Open is in the heartland of the Hunter and with Nick’s hometown, Newcastle, only a forty-five minute drive away, Flanagan is looking forward to playing in front of his home crowd.
“To be able to play in front of my local community is very special and hopefully I will perform well and repay all the support given to me from those in the Hunter Valley.”
Flanagan is a person who will never forget those formative years on the Von Nida Tour as he strove to forge his presence onto the world golfing stage. For Flanagan they certainly were hard times, but at the same time, extremely rewarding. A player also never forgets their first professional victory and how it came about.
“Von Nida events provide the ideal pathway for Aussies to test themselves. I’ve seen some of the scores lately on that tour and I’ll have to be playing well this week to compete this week. I want to play well back home so as to go back to America feeling my game’s strong and ready to tackle the main Tour.”
Having a full 2008 PGA Tour Card enables Nick to selectively pick his events and format his 2008 schedule with precision. Whilst to the uninitiated outsider that may not seem important, it’s a luxury most professional golfers deeply seek to secure, but very few other than the elite can experience.
“I’ve got what is in effect a perfect Tour Card for a Rookie,” said Flanagan.
“I’ll get starts in all the Tour events, except the Majors and the bigger invitational tournaments. I’ll be working on those but it’s dependent upon how good of a start I get back in America. It’s a relief to be able to plan this way.”
That’s the spoils of gaining the “Battlefield Promotion” and it’s one Flanagan well deserves, yet he’ll never forget the pathway where he came along or those who never doubted what he could achieve. This week at the NSW Open, Nick Flanagan returns the favour to the tour where it all began, and to his confidant and true believer, the late Alex Johnston.
