Overseas golf agrees with Winnipeg’s Cockerill

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This article was published 04/12/2018 (2780 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Aaron Cockerill earned the biggest payday of his pro career Sunday — a cheque for $15,110.54 — but to hear the 26-year-old golfer from Stony Mountain tell it, his 19th-place finish at the Australian PGA Championship should have been better.

A 1-over 73 during the final round at the RACV Royal Pines Resort in Queensland proved costly. Cockerill, who opened with rounds of 72, 69 and 71, finished the four-round event with a 3-under 285 total.

The event marked his debut on the European PGA Tour after earning conditional tour status in November. A tie for 72nd place while qualifying last month also gave him full status for the secondary European Challenge Tour.

Cockerill toiled for three seasons on Canada’s Mackenzie Tour, never rising above a 37th-place ranking in 2017, before losing tour status with a 97th-place ranking in 2018. The competitive grind, he said, prepared him for his next step.

“The quality of players on the Canadian tour is so good that when you go to another tour, it’s honestly, whether it’s the Web.com tour, European Tour or Challenge Tour, it’s really not going to be that much of a difference,” Cockerill said via telephone from Phoenix, Ariz., on Tuesday morning.

“It’s such a good place to get ready for another tour, so, yeah, I had a pretty good week. But I didn’t have the best Sunday. I still think I could’ve finished better. But, looking at it overall, I think it was a solid week and a good start to my 2019 season for sure.”

On Sunday, Cockerill was paired with fellow Canadian Nick Taylor, who carded a closing round 71 for a share of fifth place, finishing two shots ahead of Cockerill and earning $25,700.28.

“This year was actually my worst year (on the Mackenzie Tour),” Cockerill said. “I lost my status, and it’s just funny how golf works. I lost a bunch of confidence for sure, but at the end of the day, I was looking back and I was shooting 4- or 5-under and missing the cut. It’s not like I was really playing badly. The scores were silly out there. We were playing kind of easy golf courses and there were a lot of good players.”

Cockerill will return home to Winnipeg for the Christmas break before he considers his next move. His conditional status on the European PGA Tour has made for a logistical nightmare.

On Tuesday, he awoke after a long flight to learn he had missed 20 messages indicating he had gained entry into this week’s South African Open in Johannesburg. Days ago, he was eight spots down on the substitute list.

The event begins Thursday and factoring in the time change, it was impossible for Cockerill to be there in time.

“Classic thing today,” he said. “If I was (based) over in Europe, I probably could’ve made it there. So something to consider for next year, for sure.”

Cockerill appreciated the keen interest in golf Down Under.

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“There’s two cameras on every hole, there’s a lot of people out there,” said Cockerill, who turned pro in 2015. “It was a little bit bigger-scale event than I had ever played in before. But, overall, I actually felt fairly comfortable, which was good. The only thing was Sunday, I felt a little uncomfortable for the first nine holes. Not quite comfortable on the greens and not going through the same process I had been going through the whole week.”

Cockerill expects to be eligible for six to eight events on the European PGA Tour, while full status on the European Challenge Tour could mean a choice of 25 to 30 events between March and October next year. Both tours have events scheduled around the globe, and Cockerill expects to see his next action in February when he plays in the Victoria Open, another tournament in Australia.

“It’s nice when you’re playing for a purse of 1.5 million Aussie dollars ($1.4 million),” Cockerill said. “It’s a little bit nicer than the $200,000 purses, where on the Canadian tour you’ve gotta come in really high just to have a good week, whereas on the this tour you can have a solid week, come in 19th and still have a pretty nice payday for four rounds of golf.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @sawa14