This month Compleat Golfer’s playing editor, Louis Oosthuizen, discusses rejoining the European Tour after a year off.
I’m very happy to be back on the European Tour as a full-time member after missing out last year, when I was unable to match my schedule with the rules criteria.
Here’s the story behind the story. Early in 2017, I think it was in Phoenix, a European Tour representative approached me to check on what my plans were for the 2017 campaign.
At that stage you needed to play in five events, one of which had to be a South African event, outside the Majors and the WGCs. While doing my planning, I was under the impression the Nedbank Golf Challenge (NGC) would be the SA event required and therefore it would be one of the five.
But I found out it wouldn’t be an SA event, according to the rules, because it’s now part of the Race to Dubai final series.
So, I needed to play at the Joburg Open, SA Open or Alfred Dunhill at Leopard Creek. With the way things worked and the timing for 2017, I didn’t have many options because those events had already passed.
To keep my membership, I would have needed to play seven events but that wasn’t part of my commitments.I had to decide whether or not I was going to remain a member of the European Tour for 2017. If I stayed a member and didn’t meet the criteria I would be ‘banned’ for 2018, which meant that any time I played on invitation it wouldn’t count towards the Race to Dubai. I decided to forego my membership and start again in 2018 to make sure I put myself in the best position to get as far as I could on both moneylists.
Then came the change, as it was decided the NGC would count and the number of events that needed to be played was cut from five to four.
That was easy for me, because I ticked one off in Mauritius. Unfortunately, I had that accident on my return to SA in which I injured my finger on an airport trolley, which cost me playing at the Joburg Open, but then I played in Dubai and at Sun City later in the year. Nothing is 100% confirmed, but I’m likely to play at the Scottish Open and I’m keen to get to the Dunhill Links, so there won’t be any mad rush or late commitments in making sure I have the numbers I need.
Playing on the European Tour is important to me and the standard is high. The FedExCup is done ‘early’ in the calendar year and then, as I work my way back to a holiday in December, I can play at a few events, which helps keep me sharp. You can’t go four months without playing any competitive golf!
There’s a lot of planning that goes into one’s playing schedule; more than an outsider might realise. Last year, I missed the CIMB Classic in Malaysia and the CJ Cup in Korea because of visa issues in the US. I really wanted to get out there, so that was a little frustrating. It’s nice to have these off-the-course issues sorted out now and it’s time to focus on my game and control what I can.
The European Tour is where I started. I love playing on that circuit and it remains a big goal to win the Order of Merit. I take a lot of pride in being a global player, so I don’t see myself changing things anytime soon.
– Louis Oosthuizen is Compleat Golfer’s playing editor and writes exclusively every month
