When the NSW Virtual Open created an unusual pathway to the NSW Open, one Scottish pro was rubbing his hands together…
It’s one of the most esteemed tournaments in professional golf. Just a brief glance down its honors board will tell you that.
The list of previous winners of the New South Wales Open is a who’s who of Australian golf, including Jim Ferrier, Norman Von Nida, Kel Nagle, Peter Thomson, Jack Newton and, of course, Greg Norman.
Indeed, the only non-Australian winners of the tournament, which dates back to the 1930s, are Americans Ed Sneed and Bill Rogers, and Welsh Ryder Cup legend Dai Rees.
Gavin Macpherson was hoping to add his name to that short list, but it was the way in which the Scot qualified that has grabbed the attention of golf fans on both sides of the equator.
Born in Glasgow, 35-year-old Macpherson originally emigrated to Sydney to pursue a soccer career. Having played semi-professionally for Stirling Albion in Scotland, he suited up for Hakoah FC in the Australian capital.
But he soon swapped his cleats for clubs after getting a job at Royal Sydney, where he spends most of his time practicing in a simulator.
So you can imagine his excitement when, as part of a new initiative by Golf NSW to embrace the newfound popularity of the virtual game – which has been highlighted by the success of Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods’ TGL venture – the governing body revealed it would be holding a sim-based tournament that not only came with a $10,000 first prize, but a spot in the prestigious PGA Tour of Australasia event.
Macpherson, who is in the third and final year of the PGA’s Membership Pathway Program, prevailed in a number of preliminary rounds and the final to earn his payday and a chance to take on the likes of defending champion and LIV Golf star Lucas Herbert at The Vintage Golf Club.
“I play a fair bit of indoor golf,” Macpherson told the Sydney Morning Herald. “The course in the final was Bonnie Doon, and I have played there a few times, so I know where I was going. I played quite a lot of sim golf when I’ve been practicing, so I knew what spots to avoid and whatnot.”
Explaining the differences between playing on a golf course and in a simulator, Macpherson continued: “You strike it exactly the same. You just try and account for the different way that the software is going to pick up, whether it’s in the rough or in the bunker, on the fairway, in the deep rough, all that sort of thing.
“There’s a different kind of thought process to it, because you’re always hitting off flat lie, and always with a good lie, but the TrackMan software will add different elements.
“So when you’re in the rough, instead of having 100 percent power, it’ll give you like 70 percent to 85 percent power. And then you get different spin rates as well, so you need to kind of calculate and get a feel for it. It’ll account for whether the ball is above your feet and how the ball would fly, so you have to account for things like that.
“And it does the wind and the Stimpmeter on the greens. I wouldn’t say it’s far off. It’s as good as you can get without actually doing the real thing. There’s a lot of technical specifications you’ve got to be across.”
Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for Macpherson, who said his goal was to make the cut in what was his first tournament alongside full-time touring pros. Rounds of 78 and 81 saw him finish second-last at 17-over-par and miss the weekend by 13 shots.
But he remains upbeat about the experience and about simulator golf.
“It’s only going to get bigger,” Macpherson says. “This sort of thing gives people like myself that opportunity to play on the big stage, because I wouldn’t have got the opportunity otherwise.”
