Cockerill continues climb

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This article was published 25/04/2022 (1574 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Aaron Cockerill’s breakthrough season continues. And Manitoba’s top golfer came close to his first professional victory on Sunday, ultimately finishing in a third-place tie at the DP World Tour’s latest stop in Spain.

The 30-year-old from Stony Mountain, playing in the final pairing at the ISPS Handa Championship, made the turn with a one-stroke lead. But a double-bogey on the 10th proved costly. He shot a final round three-under 67 for a four-day total of 13-under (69-69-62-67). That left him two strokes behind winner Pablo Larrazábal, a Barcelona product who fired a sizzling eight-under 62 for his second win of the year and seventh in his career.

Cockerill showed plenty of fight with birdies on 11, 12 and 13 and needed an eagle on the par-five 18th hole — something he did in his stellar round on Saturday — to force a playoff. But a wayward drive into the rough made it impossible to reach the green in two, and he settled for par. Playing partner Adrián Otaegui, also of Spain, birdied the final hole to finish alone in second at 14-under.

This represented a pleasant trip down memory lane for Cockerill. He had successful qualifying school showing on the very same Lakes Course back in 2019, which led to him obtaining his card on what was then known as the European Tour.

Cockerill earns approximately CDN $142,000 for his efforts. It’s the second biggest payday of his career, trailing only the CDN $180,000 he pocketed in early March after a tie for second at an event in Kenya. To put that in perspective, the two-time provincial golfer of the year made CDN $37,000 total in 37 MacKenzie Tour- PGA Tour Canada tournaments between 2015 and 2018.

Add it all up and this has already been a profitable and extremely productive year, with the bulk of it still to in front of him. Cockerill now sits 25th on the European Tour points rankings (Norway’s Viktor Hovland is first, while Northern Ireland superstar Rory McIlroy is second), which brings plenty of breathing room and job security. Each season, the top 100 earn full-time status for the following campaign, which includes playing in the biggest-money events where many of the top pros in the world tee it up.

Cockerill finished outside the top 100 last year and only had part-time status as a result, but his strong start to the current campaign is now opening doors to a full-time schedule in Europe. After missing the cut in two of the first three tournaments this year and falling to 541st in the world, Cockerill had now played the weekend in five straight events. His second-place tie was preceded by a 62nd-place finish, and followed by a tie for 28th, a tie for 21st and now a tie for third.

Cockerill began the week ranked 346th in the world, which is the highest he’s ever been and the best from a Manitoban since Glen Hnatiuk was a PGA Tour regular a couple decades ago. That’s going to jump significantly after this latest performance. It’s also opening some significant doors outside of Europe, too.

One of those will come close to home. Cockerill will get his first taste of the top tour in the world when he tees it up at the PGA’s Canadian Open at St. George’s Golf and Country Club in Toronto June 9-12, courtesy of a sponsor’s exemption. Among the players also confirmed for the prestigious event are world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, fresh off his triumph at The Masters.

Cockerill will look to keep the momentum going this coming week as he remains in Spain to play the Catalunya Championship beginning Thursday.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg