Persistence pays off

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This article was published 31/10/2022 (1164 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Oh, baby! What a difference a year can make.

Manitoba’s top professional golfer, Aaron Cockerill, began 2022 filled with uncertainty. His standing on the DP World Tour was tenuous at best, with no guarantee of getting in tournaments of his choice. With only conditional status after a sub-par 2021, the 30-year-old Stony Mountain product was routinely on standby, hoping enough spots opened up at the last minute to allow him entry. It’s a tough way to earn a living, especially with his loved ones half a world away.

There were times, he admits, where the thought of giving up the game and finding something with slightly more solid footing entered his mind.

Fast forward to the present, and Cockerill is a case study in how persistence can pay off. The lone Canadian playing in Europe is coming off a breakthrough season, one that officially ended this past weekend in Portugal with a prized possession in his back pocket — full-time employment for the 2023 campaign.

The top 117 on the DP rankings following Sunday’s final event earned their tour card. Cockerill finished 107th.

“When I started the year I didn’t even know how many events I was even going to get into. To have full status for next year is more than I could have hoped for,” Cockerill told the Free Press on Monday evening in a telephone chat during a brief layover in Calgary on his way back to Winnipeg.

Cockerill put himself in a great position with a tie for second at the Magical Kenya Open in March, followed by a tie for third at the ISPS Handa Championship in April. That seemingly bought him enough breathing room regardless of how the rest of the year played out. But a tough stretch in recent months in which he missed the cut in nine of 11 DP events had him tumbling down the list. In the two tournaments where he did stick around to play the weekend, he only finished T-51st and T-70th.

“It was actually looking kinda dicey,” Cockerill admitted. “You always want to keep riding the high and keep going up and up and up, but golf is a pretty humbling game. I had to take my lumps there for a couple months. It seemed like I couldn’t hit the ball where I wanted.”

With pressure mounting — he had slipped to 110th with two tournaments left on the schedule — Cockerill came up big in the clutch. He made the cut at the Mallorca Golf Open in Spain two weeks ago, ultimately finishing tied for 58th. Then, this past week, he began the Portugal Masters with rounds of 68-65, then followed that up with weekend scores of 70-68 to finish in a tie for 27th.

“It’s not the same as a win. But honestly, the pressure of that doesn’t feel all that different,” said Cockerill. “Pulling it off was nice. Especially because I hadn’t been playing that well.”

In addition to the obvious job security, Cockerill now has some financial flexibility as well after making approximately $450,000 in 2022. That’s quite something for the two-time Manitoba golfer of the year, who earned just $37,000 total in 37 MacKenzie Tour- PGA Tour Canada tournaments while grinding it out in the Great White North between 2015 and 2018.

Cockerill qualified for his DP World Tour card in 2020, finishing 118th in the rankings that year and earning approximately $185,000. He was 152nd in 2021, making approximately $165,000.

Cockerill’s strength is the short game, as he finished second-overall on the DP World Tour in putts per green-in-regulation. (1.57, tour average is 1.72). A year ago, he was ranked just 149th in that category, averaging 1.79. He also changed up his fitness routine this past year, adding more lower-body strength building which added another six yards off the tee on average (297 yards this season, compared to 291 last year).

“It was a big, big improvement, and obviously helped a lot,” said Cockerill, who credits his Winnipeg coach, Derek Ingram, for helping the cause. “At the start the year my goal was to focus on improving both ends of the game. Driving and putting are probably two of the most important things. Now if I could just get the ball on the green in less shots, I’d be real good next year.”

Cockerill’s big year included earning a sponsor’s exemption into the Canadian Open in June and making the cut in his PGA Tour debut, then following that up by cashing cheques in two subsequent appearances on the biggest stage in golf (The Barbasol Championship and Barracuda Championship). He ultimately made just over $60,000 in those three events, while also proving to himself he could compete at the highest level.

Back in Europe, Cockerill also recorded a hole-in-one in back-to-back events — although the second one ended up not officially counting when he forgot to sign his scorecard at the end of his round and was disqualified.

While Canadian stars such as Corey Conners, Adam Hadwin, MacKenzie Hughes, Nick Taylor and Taylor Pendrith are now PGA Tour regulars. Cockerill is taking the road less travelled. He’s the highest-ranked and most successful Manitoba pro golfer since Glen Hnatiuk more than two decades ago.

Cockerill’s breakthrough performance has also opened up additional doors when it comes to sponsorships and endorsements. The world’s 399th-ranked golfer (as of Monday) is now under the guidance of an Ontario-based agent, Jeff Dykeman, who is handling the business side of things on his behalf.

“It’s just way easier. I can look ahead now and say I want to play that tourney, I don’t want to play that tourney. I can book flights months in advance,” Cockerill said of the future. “(With the way it was this year), you probably aren’t as prepared as you’d like to be

The freedom to be able to plan out his 2023 schedule now and not have to worry about his week-to-week status is even more important for one very big reason: Cockerill is set to become a first-time father early in the new year. His wife, Chelsea, is due in February.

“I’m terrified, I’m excited. She’s starting to get a pretty good bump now so it’s starting to seem very real,” said Cockerill.

She has played no small role in his success, including riding to the rescue prior to the event in Spain by flying from Winnipeg to Madrid, where his clubs had been left behind by Air Canada, and delivering them to him in Palma de Mallorca just hours before he was set to tee off.

The couple will spend the next few weeks in Winnipeg getting things ready, including painting the baby room. Then it’s back on the road, as the 2023 season actually begins later this month. He plans to play three events in South Africa, then a handful in the Middle East in January before taking an extended break with his expanded family.

“The work never stops, but we’re really looking forward,” said Cockerill. “Next year is going to be a lot of fun, and a lot of work. We’re very excited.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg