Cockerill agonizingly close to first pro victory

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This article was published 23/04/2023 (868 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s top professional golfer, Aaron Cockerill, came within an agonizing inch of capturing his first DP World Tour event on Sunday.

But a playoff runner-up, second-place finish and career-best CDN$300,000 paycheque at the ISPS Handa Championship in Omitama, Japan is one heck of a silver lining for the 31-year-old Stony Mountain product who continues to make waves overseas.

“I thought today was going to be the day for that first W, but my time will come,” said Cockerill, who had a second- and a third-place finish in Europe last season.

Cockerill finished the 72-hole event at 15-under, thanks to a terrific sand save on the final hole. He nearly sunk his bunker shot and then tapped in for par, which left him tied with Australia’s Lucas Herbert.

The pair went back to the par-4 18th hole for a playoff. Herbert parred and Cockerill had a golden chance to win — but his birdie putt lipped out in agonizing fashion.

The hole would be repeated. Herbert rolled in a 12-foot birdie putt to win after Cockerill’s longer try missed the mark. It’s the third-career victory for Herbert.

“Thank you to everyone for all of the messages and support,” Cockerill posted on his social media channels. “Japan was amazing, and the fans made that playoff atmosphere so much fun to be a part of.”

Cockerill fired rounds of 64-69-64-68 and began the final round with a one-shot lead.

“Dream start,” he told reporters in Japan on Saturday. “An awesome start and played steady the rest of the way, but overall a very good day. I feel really good. This is the best I’ve hit the ball in a long time and it’s required out here, with the rough being up and it’s firm.

“Just putting it in the fairway, and everything else has been really solid.”

It’s already been a memorable 2023 for Cockerill. On a professional level, he had a fourth-place finish at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in December, then followed that up with a 13th place finish in South Africa last month.

On a personal level, he and his wife, Chelsea, became first-time parents as daughter Addison Kate was born Feb. 1.

With his runner-up performance, Cockerill moved to 25th on the DP World Tour season rankings. The top 120 at the end of the year retain their cards.

After playing last season on conditional status, Cockerill earned his full-time card by finishing 107th. That allows him to map out his playing schedule well in advance, knowing he can get in tournaments of his choosing, rather than essentially being on standby.

Cockerill is a two-time Manitoba golfer of the year who earned just CDN$37,000 total in 37 MacKenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada tournaments while grinding it out between 2015 and 2018.

The Free Press spent two weeks following him on and off the course last year for a feature story, first at a DP event in Germany, and then in Toronto when he received a sponsor’s exemption into the Canadian Open in June and made the cut in his PGA Tour debut.

He followed that up by cashing cheques in two subsequent appearances on the biggest stage in golf (The Barbasol Championship and Barracuda Championship). Cockerill will likely get more PGA Tour opportunities this summer.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg