Golf: He's in it for the Long haul

By DAVID LEGGAT

Michael Long clearly remembers his emotions this time three years ago.

He had just secured his card for world golf's toughest examination, the US PGA Tour, the pinnacle for players with ambition and talent.

But ...

"In 2002 I was half looking forward to it and half anxious. I didn't know what to expect," he said.

"Mentally I feel a lot more satisfied now. My game is more complete and I feel better prepared.

"This time I know what to expect, know how the circus operates and it's going to feel a bit more comfortable, which is half the battle."

Long confirmed his card by finishing in a tie for 37th at the secondary Nationwide Tour's season-ending championship in Alabama this week. That left him 19th for the year and the top 20 automatically get their cards for the Big Show next year.

So as Craig Perks - courtesy of his 2002 Players Championship win which exempts him from the danger of missing his tour card for another three years - looks to lift himself out of a lengthy rut, Phil Tataurangi seeks to reassert himself after a long injury layoff and Michael Campbell searches for answers to a year in a deep bunker, New Zealand has another name to follow next year.

Those with a passing interest in golf might best recall the Cromwell-born 36-year-old by a remarkable piece of honesty when he alone noticed his ball move fractionally as he was duelling with the formidable Ernie Els in the closing holes of the Johnnie Walker Classic on the Gold Coast in 1997.

Giving up a shot may have cost him the title, but it won him a host of new admirers, not to mention the New Zealand Fair Play award at that year's Halberg Awards.

Long, who won the New Zealand Open at Paraparaumu Beach in 1996 to add to his national under-18, under-21 and amateur titles, finished 183rd in 2002.

He made the cut just nine times out of 27 starts, had a couple of top 25 finishes, and headed back to the Nationwide Tour to rediscover his game.

There he found, after a winning start to his year, he could not finish off tournaments and missed out on a quick return to the top league. This year when he made the cut - and that was 16 times in 28 events - he finished outside the top 30 only four times, and two of them were in the final three weeks.

The final weekend was still tight. Going into the last round he figured he was a couple of places outside the top 20. "But there was a lot of golf to be played on the final day. Nerves played a big part, not only for myself but for others trying to break into that 20.

"With a couple of hours to go I didn't have a clue who was going to get in and who wasn't, so it was just a matter of wait and see."

The odds favoured Long. He reckoned "five or six guys" needed to play well on that last nerve-jangling day for him to be squeezed out.

"But you don't have a crystal ball, you just have to play your golf."

Long, who divides his time between Perth and Ponte Vedra, Florida, will be more assertive mentally when he steps on to the first tee at his opening event next year.

"At the end of 2002, even though I lost my card, I felt, okay, that wasn't so bad. The hard part was getting back on.

"Now I've proven I can win tournaments. I feel pretty confident when I go into final rounds in contention."

Long has used his time on the Nationwide Tour to sort out a driving weakness. He is happier now off the tee and that goes with consistently good iron play and a short game he is proud of.

He is uncertain which tournament will start his campaign next year. The Tour is not simply a case of putting your hand up for whichever tournament you fancy. A priority system is used to determine the fields and another element dictates how many events you can play, and therefore how many chances a player has to accumulate earnings to retain a card for the following year.

In Long's category as a qualifier from the Nationwide Tour, players are "reranked" after about seven tournaments. The better you start, the more tournaments a player is likely to get into.

"If I start poorly I'll probably get in about 20 or 21 events. If I start well I could get about 30. If you make between US$50,000 ($72,000) and US$100,000 early, that's a good start."

It's tough, but Long has no gripes. All players have been through it. His view is you must "pay your dues. It's hard to break into, but everyone's done it. That's the system".

Long is buoyed by the knowledge that of the players who graduated from the 2003 Nationwide Tour, several recorded wins. That's a good pointer to the quality of players breaking into the big time.

Even if Long does make a spectacular start, don't look for his name to pop up in every tournament for which he is eligible.

He likes to play no more than four or five tournaments on the trot before taking a week off. He won't have the luxury of dictating those sort of terms next year.

"But the difference between 2002 and 2004 is that I'm slowly learning to let things happen; not to put so much pressure or stress on myself.

"One of the mistakes I made in 2002 was if I had a week off I'd be out there practising every day and really didn't get away to recharge the batteries."

Long has about three weeks off in Perth before playing the Australian PGA and the Australian Masters. That's followed by another three weeks off, then back to Florida.

As for the New Zealand Open at Gulf Harbour in mid-February, Long would like to enter but it depends on whether he is in the field at the Tour events which top and tail the open.

Plus there is an understandable element of pragmatism which permeates his thinking.

"I just need to sit down and try do what's best for me. I have a great opportunity and should really try very hard to establish myself over here."


Michael Long

Born: August 27, 1968, Cromwell

Height: 1.88m

Weight: 82kg

Turned pro: 1990

Titles: New Zealand Open 1996, Greg Norman Classic 1999, Boise Open (Nationwide Tour) 2001, VB Open (Nationwide Tour) 2003

PGA Tour: 2002, finished 183rd

Nationwide Tour: Finished 19th this year to regain PGA Tour card