Michael Sim: On the Professional Road
IN: News | by Bruce Young | 07 Jan 2006
As 21-year-old Michael Sim heads for the final stage of the Asian Tour School in Malaysia this coming week he reflects back on an amateur career that saw him reach the giddy heights of world number one prior to turning professional in November of last year.
While his introduction to professional golf has been not quite what he and others had hoped for, he missed his first four cuts, it is clear that he has the background and credentials to succeed at the next level. His first task however, just as it is for all aspiring young professionals, is to secure starts in events throughout the year and although his success in the amateur game will assist in that regard, there are no guarantees beyond that.
As a result of making the Australian Eisenhower and Asia Pacific Teams, Sim avoided stage one of the Asian Tour School and will, along with more than 200 other hopefuls, seek to secure one of the forty Asian Tour cards available at the final stage at the Palm Resort in Johor Bahru in southern Malaysia. It is a numbers game in that regard, but should he not succeed in gaining one of those cards he will play Von Nida Tour events along with three or four Nationwide Tour starts he is already assured of gaining.
Although only 21, Sim seems to have been around the top of amateur golf in Australia for a long time. Perhaps that's because he has. Such a precocious talent was Sim, that at the age of just seventeen he finished runner up at the 2002 Australian Amateur Championship when beaten 2 & 1 in the final by Kurt Barnes at Indooroopilly in Brisbane. He became the Western Australian Amateur Champion that year and won several significant junior events in what was a breakthrough season for him.
Born in Aberdeen in Scotland before moving to Australia at the age of five, Sim's golfing journey began when taking up a junior membership at Lakelands Golf Club in Perth. He stayed there for four years before moving to the Joondalup Golf Club where he is officially still a member. He first made the Western Australia State junior side at the age of fourteen before gaining selection for the Senior Team in 2001 at the age of sixteen.
Sim moved to Melbourne in 2002 and became a member at Yarra Yarra Golf Club while attending the Australian Institute of Sport. After two years at the Institute he was awarded the Ross Herbert Memorial Scholarship in 2003. Herbert had played a key role in the establishment of the AIS before his death in 2001 at the age of just 41.
"That scholarship assisted in funding golf club memberships, gym memberships, overseas trips and so I was then in a position to stay at home in Perth and travel from there," said Sim.
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 although there were several other good performances also. That win at the Southern Amateur gained him a start at the 2005 Bay Hill Invitational where he missed the cut by just one shot.
"I played really well. I had to play thirty holes on the Friday because of weather disruptions and had a bad patch late that day then came out on the Saturday morning to finish my second round and finished strongly to miss by just one. I played with Brian Davis and Greg Owen and it was just a great experience to play in an event that included the likes of Woods and Singh."
Later in the American summer of 2005, Sim won the Sunnehanna and Monroe Invitational events and had one or two other good finishes including qualifying for then losing in the second round of the 2005 US Amateur at the 19th.
"I think winning those two events back to back was the highlight of my amateur career," he said reflecting the importance of his success in those events against some of the world's best amateurs.
By that stage Sim had reached the number one ranking in the game according to Golf Week's amateur ranking system and it was clear by then that the timing was right to take the next step and turn professional.
"I had it (turning professional) on my mind while in the US. I had been approached by a number of companies about managing me on turning professional and eventually settled on SFX more especially because of the rapport I had with Ian Davis, their Australian representative, and because I felt comfortable with their team including their head Bud Martin who I met in the US. They put a good contract on the table and so the deal was done."
Sim's first pro event was at the Von Nida Tour's 2005 New South Wales Open where he missed the cut and followed it up with three consecutive missed cuts at the Australasian Tour events.
"The toughest thing for me in those first few events was that it was like starting a new school. I wasn't playing all that well going into those events and establishing a comfort zone is going to be the biggest thing in going to that next level. All of a sudden here I was playing in events where I hardly knew anyone and nobody knew me as opposed to amateur events where we all knew each other. I was up against the likes of Allenby, Lonard, Appleby and others so there was, and is, an adjustment required for sure but that will come."
As a result of that perhaps disappointing start he needed to secure a Tour Card at the Australasian Tour School which he did when finishing sixth. Although he is unlikely to get a start at the Johnnie Walker Classic in his hometown of Perth, he will be able to play the Von Nida Tour events and is assured of starts at the Jacob's Creek Open and the ING New Zealand PGA Championship in Christchurch where he has an invitation already.
He is the current New Zealand Stroke Play Champion having won that title at the Manawatu Golf Club in April by an amazing eleven shots. Those events will offer him some exposure to the Nationwide Tour and he has been told by his management company that he is also likely to gain a start at at least one other Nationwide event that being the La Salle Bank Open near Chicago later in the year.
"I am hoping to get a few other invites based on my amateur performances and ranking."
If things go according to plan and he secures one of the increasingly sought after Asian Tour cards, Sim will still slip across to the US in the middle of the year to play events in which he secures an invite and perhaps those he may be required to Monday qualify for.
Sim is aware of the areas of his game he needs to work on in order to move to the level required to make a success of his professional career.
"Long iron play is an area I have to work on at present. more especially the need to build myself up a little more to enable me hold a position at the top of the swing. I need to build my core strength. I have programmes now that I am going to continue to work on to achieve that goal. My coach David Milne and I are working hard on those issues and I have sought the assistance of Scott Williams who works with Ramsey McMaster in putting together fitness programmes."
Michael Sim has turned professional at the right time. To have left it any longer, he would perhaps have missed the opportunities that his status in world amateur golf have created for him. While he may appear still relatively young at the age of twenty one, Michael Sim has a lot of experience worldwide behind him already and despite a sluggish start to his professional career, he appears capable of repeating his significant amateur success in the paid ranks.
Photo - Anthony Powter
