Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times / Sport

Chooky back ruling the roost

Bay of Plenty Times
24 Feb, 2012 08:21 PM6 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Auckland-based Aussie Peter Fowler defied a crippling back injury to win $482,000 and the John Jacobs Trophy on the European seniors tour last year. Sports editor Kelly Exelby caught up with the laconic professional before yesterday's A1 Homes/IBM Omanu legends tournament

Gripped by despair and frustrated beyond reason, I came desperately close to giving Peter Fowler a consoling bear-hug after he loped off the 18th green a beaten man at Tauranga 21 months ago, unsure how much longer he could continue playing through chronic back pain.

Fowler had just tied for 14th at the Carrus Tauranga Open, but just when he should be moving into the best years of his career, the genial Auckland-based Aussie was on the verge of chucking it in and finding a real job for the first time in his life.

"I'm uncertain what my future holds, long or short term," a glum-looking Fowler said as we sat under a tree beside the 18th. "Playing a round of golf pain-free is all I want ... I haven't been paid for eight months so I either play or I give up. I'd almost be better off loading garbage cans."

What a difference a year-and-a-bit makes.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Yesterday, 52-year-old Fowler greeted me in the carpark at Omanu with a wry grin and firm handshake, his injury woes a distant memory after an unbelievable 2011 highlighted by winning the European Senior Tour order of merit with earnings of €302,323 ($482,000), making him New Zealand's second-highest paid golfer (or golfer with Kiwi connections, anyway) behind Danny Lee.

Fowler did it tough, holding off former Ryder Cup player Barry Lane to win the coveted John Jacobs Trophy by €32,154. He battled for two years with a disc problem in his back (which ironically happened in practice before his senior tour debut) but won twice in 2011, grabbing his maiden title in the ISPS Handa Seniors World Championship last June before coming from seven shots back on the final day to win the Bad Ragaz PGA Seniors Open in Switzerland a month later.

He was runner-up in the ISPS Handa Senior World Championship at Mission Hills in China, the Casa Serena Open and Van Lanschot Senior Open, with a remarkable top-10 in 13 of his 18 appearances, nine inside the top five.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Now working his way back to fill fitness after tidy-up surgery on both knees, Fowler used yesterday's $10,000 A1 Homes/IBM Omanu Legends Pro-Am to help boost his fitness ahead of a May return to Europe.

Fowler finished in a tie for 10th after an even-par 72, with Aussies Mike Harwood and Mike Ferguson finishing joint winners after five-under 67s. Harwood set himself up with a hot first nine, making five birdies to turn in 31, but coming home was harder with the wind blustering, and he offset a bogey on the par-five sixth hole with a final birdie on the ninth, his last hole.

Ferguson was over the card early but a seven-under stretch in 10 holes brought him back, although a bogey on the last cost him the outright win.

A man of few words, Fowler feels he's got more game in him as he hunts down an even better 2012. "I've played pretty solid and consistent golf and was in there [contending] most weeks. I played good the year before without scoring as well, but my fitness and body held together and as long as that continues there's room for improvement.

"There's a lot of good players out here I'm still learning from - Sam Torrance, Carl Mason, Ian Woosnam ... they play so well and I have to pick the bits of their game and add them to mine."

Fowler played 519 European Tour events in a career spanning 25 years, winning once in the 1993 BMW International Open when he held off major champions Woosnam and Bernhard Langer. His best finish on the Order of Merit was 22nd in 1989, the year he also won the World Cup for Australia when he partnered Wayne Grady. "After the struggles that I've had over the years [2011] meant a lot to me," he said. "I honestly didn't know how long I could keep going, with my back surgery the big unknown, but I plugged away in the gym and you always keep hope that once the body's in some sort of shape then results hopefully take care of themselves."

Fowler's achievement was acclaimed by Harwood, one of his closest mates on tour and a British Open runner-up, who said topping the order of merit was testament to his long-time friend's toil, with Fowler long regarded as one of the hardest working players on the circuit.

Fowler and Harwood first met as 14-year-old juniors in Sydney, starting their golf apprenticeships together three years later, and travel, practice and often share houses together in Europe.

Harwood, a former PGA and Volvo Masters champion, said Fowler was a fantastic role model for any golfer aspiring to do anything in the game.

"That's Pete, a dedicated guy whose life is golf, and I don't think it would matter what you threw in front of him he'd make an effort to come back," he said before teeing off yesterday.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Harwood doesn't think he's seen Fowler hit the ball better, even at his peak in the 1980s and 90s. "I think about where he's been the last 30 years and the fact he couldn't practise as hard last year, spending more time on his short game because of his back.

"Chooky's probably never swung the club better in his life, so maybe not working as hard tee-to-green has actually made him a better golfer. Also, when you're on your arse and maybe the pressure isn't there each week to perform it is a good thing, and what's incredible is that despite his consistency Chook was chasing everyone down going into the last round each week. We'd all go out and have even par last rounds and he's be putting up ridiculous numbers, shooting 66 and running us down with room to spare."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Bay of Plenty Times

New home for Tauranga netball: $14m Baypark plan progresses

Bay of Plenty Times

Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought

Bay of Plenty Times

Netball: Magic narrowly lose to Pulse after scores still tied in final minutes


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

New home for Tauranga netball: $14m Baypark plan progresses
Bay of Plenty Times

New home for Tauranga netball: $14m Baypark plan progresses

The new facility will include a new building plus 14 asphalt and nine cushioned courts.

14 Jul 07:00 PM
Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought
Bay of Plenty Times

Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought

14 Jul 05:17 AM
Netball: Magic narrowly lose to Pulse after scores still tied in final minutes
Bay of Plenty Times

Netball: Magic narrowly lose to Pulse after scores still tied in final minutes

14 Jul 04:28 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP