Al Zorah Golf Club might be a world away from Augusta National but Jamie Elson is grateful for the chance to reboot his career on the MENA Tour.
By Kent Gray
Taken in isolation, Jamie Elson’s career highlights hint at good golfing times rolling almost continuously.
There was the stellar amateur career that led to a scholarship at Augusta State University, Eisenhower Trophy honours for England and an unbeaten Walker Cup debut for Great Britain & Ireland on U.S. soil.
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How about a European Challenge Tour title after just three starts as a professional, or holing a 40-footer on the final green of final qualifying to secure a card on the main tour? That would seem hard to top until you learn Elson, playing lousy golf by his own admission at the time after a year out with a wrist injury, had seven putts in his first nine holes and a hole-in-one at Hillside G.C. en-route to qualifying for the 137th Open Championship at nearby Royal Birkdale in 2008.
Jamie Elson tees off on the first hole during the second round of local final qualifying for the 2008 Open Championships at Hillside Golf Club on July 8, 2008 in Southport, England. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)
Most famous of all, perhaps, was the 63 the now 36-year-old carded on the final day of the 2012 Joburg Open, capped with an eagle on the 72nd hole, to finish a shot shy of Branden Grace as the South African captured his first European Tour title.
But hold up. Can we rewind briefly to you studying psychology at college in the US? If you went to Augusta State, does that mean what we think it means?
“Yes, the team were invited to play Augusta National once a year which was a real highlight,” Elson says of a dream that remains exactly that for 99.9 percent of the golfing population.
But wait, there’s more. “I also used to work at The Masters for the local newspaper, The Augusta Chronicle. I worked as a runner for their photographers, a good gig as I got to watch plenty of golf. And we lived at the back of the 13th hole during my time at university. “
You couldn’t see the most famous course in golf from Elson’s off-campus apartment complex apparently but he does point to Tiger Woods’ instructional tome How I Play Golf for geographical reference.
“There’s an overhead shot of the 13th in Tiger’s book and you can see the apartment in the pic. Rae’s Creek ran down the hill right next to us. It was such an inspiring place to be.”
No kidding. Indeed the whole collegiate experience between 1988 and 2002, where Elson counted Oliver Wilson and Scott Jamieson among his Jaguars’ teammates, was a “fantastic time of my life” and formative in terms of his career.
“The competition in collegiate golf is so much like professional golf, it can’t help but prepare you for what lies ahead,’ said Elson, who calls Kenilworth G.C. in Warwickshire his home club and Pip Elson, the European Tour’s Rookie-of-the-Year in 1973, his dad.
“I was fortunate to have a wonderful coach and personal mentor in Jay Seawell, who has gone on to coach the likes of [newly crowned PGA champion] Justin Thomas at The University of Alabama and win multiple national championships.”
Walker Cup history
Seawell certainly got Elson ready for the 38th Walker Cup at Ocean Forest G.C. on Sea Island in Georgia in August, 2001. The then 20-year-old partnered English-comptariot Richard McEvoy to 1½ foursomes points before earning a half in his singles match with Erik Compton who is remembered as much for his two heart transplants as he is for a gallant joint second placing (with Rickie Fowler) to Martin Kaymer at the 2014 U.S. Open.
Jamie Elso with the Walker Cup
But from the high of GB&I’s 15-9 win (and first successful defence), and as battled hardened as he thought he was leaving Augusta State, nothing could prepare Elson for life on tour.
It all seemed so easy after he carded rounds of 67-65-66-66 win the 2003 Volvo Finnish Open with a -24 score. But reality – and the start of the bounce between the European, Challenge and EuroPro Tours – soon set in.
“I was young and fearless and had a strong opening year as a pro and I have my college preparation to thank for that. But life as a pro is very different. Although I did well to begin with, I found myself well out of my depth on the European Tour the following season.
“There is a huge leap in standard and honestly, it wasn’t until 2009 when I started being coached by Scott Hamilton in the States that I really felt I was good enough to compete at that level.”
Even now as he approaches 15 years in the paid ranks, Elson is still searching for consistency. Asked to identify the strengths and weaknesses of his game, his answer spoke volumes for its avoidance of any particular area of the game.
“I think I have always had a good understanding of how to score well. But it’s a very complex game and there are plenty of great players on the range. Taking it to the course in tournament conditions, that’s a different beast.”
The €149,500 Elson banked at the Joburg Open remains his biggest payday and contributed to his career best finish on the European Tour. But with his wife expecting their first child, Elson missed the last couple of events of the 2012 season, finished 128th on the moneylist and had once more lost his card.
MENA Tour
Fast-forward to today and Elson still hankers for a return to the European Tour and is already eyeing Q-school later in the year. For now though, he’s content building his golf events and management company Jenahura (named after Maldives’ Island) with former Walker Cup pal McEvoy and James Heath and to kicking on from a pleasingly consistent first half of the MENA Tour season.
Elson tops the order of merit after recording six top 10s in nine events, a worst finish of T19 in his last start at ‘The Roar’ in Pretoria during the tour’s South African swing in June and a healthy stroke average of 70.03.
Indeed, with just six events remaining, the developmental tour could yet provide a backdoor return to the big time as the MENA Tour champion earns starts in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, Maybank Championship in Malaysia, Morocco’s Hassan II Trophee and even an invite to the PGA Tour’s DEAN & DELUCA Invitational. A full Sunshine Tour card for 2018 and exemption to the final stage of qualifying for the Asian Tour also await.
The MENA Tour has everything that you could ask for — top class venues, good organisation, great incentives.
“That certainly is the goal but it is also the goal of every other person playing on the MENA Tour. So I will just be concentrating on doing the best I can each week and see where I end up,” said Elson who is a mere 451 points ahead of Abu Dhabi-based compatriot Luke Joy as the tour eyes four of its six remaining events in UAE, culminating in the 72-hole Tour Championship at Al Zorah from Oct. 23-26.
Elson is certainly grateful for the career lifeline afforded by the MENA Tour which, when it was conceived, probably didn’t have players of his ilk at the summit of its priorities. Indeed, the ultimate goal remains getting an Arab player to the Olympics and to unearth more teen talent like poster boy Rayhan Thomas who is set to defend his Dubai Creek Open title this month before jetting off for Jnr Presidents Cup duty in New Jersey. With that said, the tour is richer for having players of Elson’s experience raising the bar and he’s more than happy to play the mutual appreciation game.
Jamie Elson in action during the first round of the Joburg Open at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club on January 12, 2012 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)
“I played the first three MENA Tour events last season and was instantly taken by the tour. I made it a priority this season and so far so good. It has everything that you could ask for — top class venues, good organisation, great incentives, and it encourages the participation of regional players, amateur and professional, to help their development which is of huge importance to the future of the game.
“The standard is getting stronger and stronger which means the tour is making a name for itself. The addition of world ranking points is a massive boost and it will only get stronger from here. “
The elephant in Elson’s trophy cabinet is, well, a lack of trophies. After his Finnish breakthrough in 2003, the Englishman had to wait 12 years for his second pro win at the 2015 King Hamad Trophy in Bahrain, a one off event not aligned to any tour. His T2 finishes at the 2016 Royal Golf Mohammedia Open and April’s RAK Classic at Tower Links remain his best results on the MENA Tour, not that he needs that spotlighted.
“I’m well aware I haven’t won yet, but my finishes have been extremely consistent and I’m sure if I keep playing solid golf it will happen at some point.”
Elson need only recall the 2001 Walker Cup in his then adopted home state of Georgia for inspiration. On the American side, Lucas Glover would go on to capture the 2009 U.S. Open, a year before GB&I team-mate Graeme McDowell’s sealed his major breakthrough in the same big at Pebble Beach. The visitor’s No.1, Luke Donald, then 23, would go on to be world No.1. Elson certainly isn’t backward in coming forward with a reminder for Donald that their only match ended in a 1up victory for Elson at an English Amateur.
“Those guys were always a bit special but on my day I could mix it with them, the difference is their consistency. It has been great to watch their success and it does give you hope for the future.
“The 63 I shot in the final round [of the 2012 Joburg Open] was the best score of the day by four shots, no doubt the round of my life to date. That was Branden’s first win and he has gone on to great things [including the lowest round in major history at July’s Open Championship]. So again, my best golf is plenty good enough, it’s just the consistency that I am still striving for.”
Elson can’t and isn’t grumbling about his consistency through the first nine events of the MENA Tour season. Maybe the good times, more consistent ones, are about to roll once more.
