Golf: Gillespie fired up for Buick Open

Wanganui's Nick Gillespie is still enjoying the pro ride. PHOTO/FILE

A storming final round in his first PGA TOUR China tournament was just the fillip Wanganui's Nick Gillespie needed to fuel his challenge for pro golf glory.

Gillespie finished 10th in the Mission Hills Haikou Open and this week flew out to Guangzhou to compete in the second event on the China tour, the Buick Open.

He's among a field of 144 tackling the par-72, 7134 yard Dragon Lakes Asian Games course, recognised as hilly and picturesque, dominated by the historic Dragon Lake.

And in the field is JH Wang who was a runaway winner of the Mission Hills event, finishing 23 under the card.

But Gillespie said he was happy with his 10th place.

"I never really felt like I had my game under control," he said.

"The first round I got off to a horrible start and sort of always felt like I was fighting to make up ground.

"But it was a nice way to finish with a 6 under."

He started with a 72 and followed that with a 69 before things got a little wobbly with a third-round 74. But that final round 66 put him back on track.

"I wish I could say that the cheque was enough to bank a good chunk of it but unfortunately it covered the costs for that week as well as the flights and accommodation for Buick," he said.

"There's potential to make money if you finish in the top three but other than that it's a good week to cover the cost of your airfare, hotel, food and caddie for the week."

He said the weather in China was a "bit warmer than Wellington" and was about 30C last week.

"But the humidity's about 90 per cent and my fingers are crossed for a little less humidity this week," he said.

Gillespie told the Chronicle he was still enjoying the pro ride even if it took a toll on his energy levels.

"I'm going up and back almost every second week at the moment and it's quite expensive, and you can't beat your own bed and being back home.

"It's nice to come back and get a couple days' rest then four or five days of really good practise for the next event as opposed to staying up there.

"It's very difficult to practise or stay anywhere for a week in China that isn't expensive and to be perfectly honest it's a lot nicer back home," he said.

Gillespie has earned a full card to play the 12-tournament China tour ,giving himself a springboard to the Web.com tour which is essentially the second tier of the US PGA tour.

Even if he doesn't reach those giddy heights - and if his form is good enough - finishing anywhere from second to fifth in the China tour would earn the former Wanganui High School student conditional access to Web.com.

Finishing from sixth to 10th will give him entry to play the Web.com qualifying tournaments.

The bonus there is that all players who compete in those qualifying tournaments will get access to the Web.com tour of some type.

Even finishing in the top 25 in the China tour money list would earn Gillespie a ticket to play the Canadian PGA Tour.

All 12 of the PGA China Tour tournaments carry minimum prize money of US$200,000 ($233,000) and are played between April and November this year.