Golf battler chuffed to make Open cut

December 02, 2022 01:35 PM AEDT | By AAPNEWS
Image source: AAPNEWS

Robbed of three years of his career by COVID-19 lockdowns and resorting to working as a greenkeeper to stay afloat, Haydn Barron's lofty perch on the Australian Open leaderboard means more than most.

The 26-year-old backed up an impressive opening round with a two-under-par 68 at Victoria Golf Club on Friday to sit three shots behind co-leaders Adam Scott and David Micheluzzi.

If he holds that position come Sunday afternoon, the young West Australian will collect a cheque for more than $80,000 - a massive boost to his coffers after being forced to delay his 2019 plans to turn professional.

While golfers at the top collect millions, rising stars like Barron and the sport's battlers faced lean times with many tournaments around the nation - including the 2020 and 2021 Australian Opens - cancelled during the pandemic and golf banned altogether in Victoria.

"I planned to turn pro at the end of 2019, just before everything went crazy and then I was stuck at home for that period of time and I took up green-keeping," Barron told reporters.

Barron turned professional in January and after missing two cuts from his previous four events this summer, he only scraped into the Open field courtesy of a tie for 12th at last month's Queensland PGA Championship.

He didn't make the weekend action at last week's Australian PGA so was thrilled to be teeing up this Saturday.

"It feels awesome - obviously a little bit of a different feeling after last week when I missed the cut by a couple," Barron said.

"But I love these events, love the crowds and the hype, having the ropes out there and a few fans. 

"I'm really excited for tomorrow and can't wait."

Barron said he was trying to return to his amateur mentality of playing "hole by hole" rather than focusing on the cut and picking up a pay cheque.

"I've been working with a breath-work guy who's really helped find my mental side and being able to switch out of the nervous feeling and trying to control the nervous system a bit more," said the world No.1214.

"That's been probably the thing that's helped me the most the last month - it's pretty new with him, but it's going good, so I'm enjoying it."


Disclaimer

The content, including but not limited to any articles, news, quotes, information, data, text, reports, ratings, opinions, images, photos, graphics, graphs, charts, animations and video (Content) is a service of Kalkine Media Pty Ltd (“Kalkine Media, we or us”), ACN 629 651 672 and is available for personal and non-commercial use only. The principal purpose of the Content is to educate and inform. The Content does not contain or imply any recommendation or opinion intended to influence your financial decisions and must not be relied upon by you as such. Some of the Content on this website may be sponsored/non-sponsored, as applicable, but is NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold the stocks of the company(s) or engage in any investment activity under discussion. Kalkine Media is neither licensed nor qualified to provide investment advice through this platform. Users should make their own enquiries about any investments and Kalkine Media strongly suggests the users to seek advice from a financial adviser, stockbroker or other professional (including taxation and legal advice), as necessary.
The content published on Kalkine Media also includes feeds sourced from third-party providers. Kalkine does not assert any ownership rights over the content provided by these third-party sources. The inclusion of such feeds on the Website is for informational purposes only. Kalkine does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the content obtained from third-party feeds. Furthermore, Kalkine Media shall not be held liable for any errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in the content obtained from third-party feeds, nor for any damages or losses arising from the use of such content.
Kalkine Media hereby disclaims any and all the liabilities to any user for any direct, indirect, implied, punitive, special, incidental or other consequential damages arising from any use of the Content on this website, which is provided without warranties. The views expressed in the Content by the guests, if any, are their own and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Kalkine Media. Some of the images/music that may be used on this website are copyrighted to their respective owner(s). Kalkine Media does not claim ownership of any of the pictures displayed/music used on this website unless stated otherwise. The images/music that may be used on this website are taken from various sources on the internet, including paid subscriptions or are believed to be in public domain. We have made reasonable efforts to accredit the source wherever it was indicated as or found to be necessary.
This disclaimer is subject to change without notice. Users are advised to review this disclaimer periodically for any updates or modifications.


AU_advertise

Advertise your brand on Kalkine Media

Sponsored Articles


Investing Ideas

Previous Next
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.