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THE TOURS

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A journeyman professional gives
a first-person account of life on
Europe’s Challenge Tour.

Grant Dodd at Guigal in Ampuis, Rhone.

The
ROAD LESS
TRAVELLED BY G R A N T D O D D

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Helsinki Harbour. In summer, it’s light well after midnight here. A statue of Lenin. I like the juxtaposition of the sign – communism vs capitalism.

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Moscow Symphony Orchestra busking in the subway. They were unbelievable! The town hall in Graz, Austria.

Editor’s note: Grant Dodd turned pro in 1992 and has career earnings of $400,000 on the Australasian PGA Tour. His lone tournament victory
came on the Challenge Tour in 1999 at the Slovenian Open, so clearly Dodd has an affinity with Europe. Indeed, he’s expressed a desire to compete
in the Tour de France. Here, Dodd tells the tale of his 10-week pilgrimage on the 2002 Challenge Tour.

T
HE EDITOR APPROACHES ME AND SAYS,
“I’d like you to write a piece about the life of a
journeyman on tour.” Immediately I look around for
the person he is talking to, only to find that the room
is empty, save for us.
Me, a journeyman? Surely you can only be called that when you
are old? Oops, I’m 36 now. Gee that happened quickly. Doesn’t the
term imply that you’re not very good, kind of like damning with faint
praise? I retire to the players lounge to contemplate this new
categorisation and fully absorb its implications. Perched in front of
the TV, the commentator comes over the air with, “Here’s
journeyman Englishman Barry Lane about to play his approach.”
Barry Lane is in the top 10 all-time money-winners on the European
Tour. Suddenly it’s all right to be a journeyman!
The past few years I have been campaigning on the European
PGA Tour and its secondary tour, the Challenge Tour. Last year I
had status only on the Challenge Tour, courtesy of a medical
exemption for a couple of operations on my right knee. This
exemption would enable me to play a fairly full season, barring a few
of the bigger tournaments.
The Challenge Tour is played mainly in continental Europe and is
signified by two incompatible co-efficients: high expenses and small
purses. Most weeks the prizemoney is in the region of 130,000 euros
(about $A200,000 during my 2002 campaign) but the weekly costs
are usually between $A2,500 and $A3,000, with some weeks even
higher. A quick calculation shows that you have to finish in the top 20
most weeks just to cover costs and, given the ultra-competitive nature
of the tour, you have to play some solid golf to do that. However, if
you want to be a tournament pro, you have to have somewhere to
play, and if the Challenge Tour is your only option, well, c’est la vie.

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THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED
WEEK 1 Austrian Open
I fly from Australia to London, catch a
connecting flight to Vienna and then hitch
a lift with Lee James (one of the English
players) down to Graz, where the
tournament is. The season is already half
over and Lee, who has been on the
– overlooking the centre of Gr
The Schlossburg
WEEK 2 Danish Open
It is a widely held perception that
professional sport is a glamorous and
exciting way to live your life, and in the
vast majority of cases it truly can be.
However, if I had to pick one day of my
career that epitomised the antithesis of this
mantra it would be the Monday travelling
to the Danish Open.
The journey begins in Graz with a taxi to
the train station, followed by a three-hour
train ride to Vienna, then a one-kilometre
walk to a hotel for an overnight stay. I’m up
early for a bus to the airport, followed by a
two-hour flight to Helsinki, a two-hour
wait in the airport, a 90-minute flight to
Copenhagen and then a three-hour train
ride to Horsens, where the tournament
is held.
The travelling is laborious, but add to
the time factor the small matter of 55
kilograms of luggage and the fact that I am
now coughing up the most vile green gunk
I have ever seen and you have an
altogether unattractive situation. It gets
better, though. There were two official
hotels for the week, one was $300 a night
and the other $120. Fellow Aussie pro Ed
Stedman and I booked into the cheaper
one, sharing a room, and I arranged to
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Challenge Tour for as long as I can
remember, is having a great year. He
looks like getting his card for next year
(the top 15 at the end of each season
gain automatic promotion to the
European Tour).
I know Lee has been doing
it a bit tough over the past few
years and congratulate him on
his success and on the joy of
having a little extra cash in his
pocket, only to find out that
he signed over 80 per cent of
his earnings for the year to a
backer, just in order to get
the money to have the
opportunity to play. It’s a
classic Catch 22 situation
that a lot of guys find
themselves in when they
are trying to get started,
but what is the alternative?
az.
Anyway, he is just happy to
meet Ed there on the Monday.
I get a taxi from the train station and
arrive at the hotel to find that it is in fact a
backpackers hostel and, furthermore, there
appears to be nobody around. No one is
answering the doorbell and there’s no sign
of Ed. Meanwhile, the taxi is waiting with
the meter running, so I decide to take it
back into town to have some dinner and
try again later. After dinner, I return to the
hostel at 9pm to find that it is still
uninhabited. I wait for 10 minutes and
decide my only option is to try the $300
a night place, which is on
the other side of town.
About $145 in taxi fares
later, I finally find
somewhere to sleep. Ed Stedman
I eventually run into Ed was the only
on the practice green at the Australian
win on the
to
course the next day. I’m not Challenge
too happy at being stiffed Tour in 2002.
by him, however, my initial
displeasure quickly changes
to howls of laughter after
hearing his story. His plane
got delayed and, after a
couple of hours in a train
and some time on a bus,
he ended up at the hostel
be playing, as the alternatives are not really
that attractive for a tour pro.
I sleep pretty well, despite my jetlag, and
head to the course on Wednesday to find
that I am just flushing the ball in practice.
Awesome. I decide I can’t improve on what
I’m doing and head back to the hotel to
rest up before the first round.
The next morning, I wake up not
feeling so good and I get progressively
worse as the day unfolds and shoot 75.
The following morning, my legs are like
jelly and I can’t get out of bed, so I have
to withdraw from the tournament. It goes
without saying that this is a long way to
travel to play just one round.
I spend the next three days in bed,
getting familiar with Austrian TV. I can
AUSTRIAN NATIONAL TOURIST OFFICE
say without fear of contradiction that
skiing and motor racing are the staple
diets of the Austrian sports fan. Not a
memorable week, but onwards and
upwards, as they say.
about midnight. Someone let him in and
he found his way to a room with a bunk
about three feet wide. Exhausted, he got a
few hours sleep in, only to be woken early
by a cacophony of noise. Deciding to have
an early breakfast, he goes outside to find
that a busload of autistic children has
checked in during the night and the place
is going ballistic. Ed feels like an extra in
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and,
thinking that his accommodation may not
fully meet his requirements for the week,
he checks out and ends up at my hotel, in
my room!
As for the golf, I spent
most of the week in bed
again, played two rounds,
shot a million and missed
the cut. Obviously inspired
by my company, Ed wins by
a shot – a really great effort
considering he was playing
on an invite and had to win
to get an exemption for the
year. As a result, Ed gets
into the big event (for
340,000 euros) in France
the next week and I have
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to go to the smaller event
in Germany.
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WEEK 3 WEEK 4 Luxembourg Open

I catch the train from Dusseldorf to Luxembourg, which takes about four
Galeria Kaufhof Pokal hours. Ed drives across from France and meets me at the station and we
Challenge, Germany luck out in finding a great place to stay, right on the Mosel River. It’s
This was a smaller event in Dusseldorf worth really peaceful, comfortable and, strangely for Europe, quite cheap.
90,000 euros and, in keeping with most of my The course is in great
experiences in Germany, very uneventful. shape and sets up for low
The hotel is on the outskirts of town, there are scores. I shoot 66 in the
no places to eat nearby so you tend to eat room first round, but can’t keep
service or at the golf course. The course is decent up the pace for four
with thick rough, and there is some interest rounds and end up at
because Germany’s player of the moment, Alex 12-under, after 66-73-70-
Cejka, is playing to fulfil sponsor commitments. 67, for 15th place. I’m
Golf is growing in popularity in Germany but it is starting to play really
still essentially the nicely, the only negative
domain of the rich, this week being that I
this fact made even was witness to, well,
more obvious by something I wish I
the steady stream didn’t see.
of BMWs, Mercs The greatest
and Audis coming difficulty about Place d’Armes
in the city of Lu
xembourg at du
through the gate. finding yourself in sk.
I shoot 70-71- this situation is that the consequences of inferring
70-71 for a 6-under impropriety in golf are so great that quite often it’s the messenger who gets
total and 23rd shot. I speak to Ed about it, we both agree that nothing can be gained out
place. I make 912 of taking it further, so I let it rest. I make 1,700 euros for the week, a small
euros, minus 26 per profit on my outlay.
cent tax. Needless
to say, the ledger is
in the red this
week. ‘THE CHALLENGE TOUR IS SIGNIFIED BY TWO
INCOMPATIBLE CO-EFFICIENTS: HIGH
Dusseldorf City Hall in Germany.
EXPENSES AND SMALL PURSES.’

WEEK 5 Open des Volcans, France
My girlfriend Nikki came over to join me for a couple of weeks
and arrived in Luxembourg on the Saturday. We had arranged
to call each other on our mobiles, but unfortunately her carrier
didn’t have roaming in Europe. Nor did she know where we were
staying. All we knew was that she was catching the train from
Paris and getting in about midday.
A little concerned as to her whereabouts, we decide to
drive the city streets and see if we can find her. This is an
excellent idea as the city of Luxembourg has only 500,000
people and she should be easy to find! Believe it or not,
we do find her, pulling her bags along the street, looking
decidedly jetlagged and tired. I figure winning Lotto
must be just around the corner given the odds I beat
at this one.
Anyway, we have to get down to Clermont Ferrand,
which is about nine hours drive away, or, as it turns out,
seven hours if you hitch a lift with Sebastian Branger.
Sebastian is a young French guy on tour, about 6-foot-8 tall
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longest hitters in world golf, a very talented player who just
never seems to be able to put it all together in one package. He is
also one of the maddest drivers I have ever seen, regularly hitting
180km/h in his Seat hatchback, a lot of the time driving with his
knees! If I had any hair I would call it a hair-raising experience,
other than that it was just plain scary. I manage to wrest the
wheel from him for the last two hours of the trip and we make
it there alive. The only other thing of note was the cost; the
French motorway system is excellent but you pay for it. The
trip cost us $160 in tolls, outrageous really but, again,
what choice do you have?
Down to business. I lead after the first round,
shooting 65. I’m really excited about how I am playing.
I continue to lead through most of the second day until
I triple-bogey the 15th. I did get a little unlucky but
there’s no room for drawing pictures on the card so,
bang, I’m back in the pack again. I played nicely the
last two rounds without holing much and end up 13th,
6-under par with rounds of 65-73-70-70. I make about

and weighing 115 kilograms. He would have to be one of the 1,800 euros, another small profit for the week.

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THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED

WEEK 6
Week off
I try to not play more than
four weeks in a row and this
made it five, so Nikki and I
took a week to go travelling
through the wine regions of
the Rhone and Burgundy.
It was great fun. I’m very
passionate about wine so it
was great to see and taste
first-hand some of the great
wines of the world. (There
was more seeing than
tasting, given the cost
of good burgundy!)
In a cosy little restaurant
in Beaune we get engaged.
Ohhhh. Just like the fairytale!
St Tropez on th
e Cote d’Azur, Fr
ance.
WEEK 8
Challenge Tour Championship, England
I arrive at the event to find that I am in fact the first reserve.
And guess what? I wait around all week, including hanging
around the putting green for eight hours on the Thursday, and
don’t get a start. This is a long way to come to NOT play.
Chevaliers Montrachet, Cote I’m at a bit of a loose end until I get an e-mail from an
de Beaune, Burgundy. American friend who lives in Moscow, saying, “I’ve bought a
Relaxing on the banks of the
boat, come down and visit me in St Tropez.” Faster than you
Rhone at a B&B in Condrieu. can say, “British Airways reservations, please,” I’m on the Cote
d’Azur doing the best impersonation of an idle playboy that I
can muster up. I’ve got the idle bit down pat; the playboy part
may require a little more work, specifically a dramatic increase
in the ratio of birdies to bogeys for the next 10 years or so.
It’s a bit surreal actually, I can’t imagine anywhere on earth
where you would find such ostentatious exhibitions of wealth
as de rigueur. Anyway, it’s a lot of fun, there’s plenty of celebrity
spotting to be done (Puff Daddy, Ivana Trump, Anna
Kournikova etc.) and it’s a chance to see how the other half live,
in person. What’s more, given the fact that I’m off to Helsinki
next week, one of the most expensive stops on tour, this little
sojourn has helped to desensitise me to the cost factor. I went to
a nightclub in St Tropez where a beer cost $US25, which, even

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by European standards, is exorbitant.

WEEK 7 British Open qualifying

Ed Stedman and I spent some
We drive back to Paris, Nikki leaves to go home and I fly back to time taking in the rare
England. Ed has been home for a couple of weeks to recharge the atmosphere of the British Open.
batteries and he meets me at Heathrow. We hire a car and head
up the west coast of England, on our way to Muirfield for the
qualifying.
On the way we play Hoylake and Royal Lytham & St Annes,
two courses on the Open rota. It’s a good way to prepare, given
that you don’t get to play many links courses in general, and these
two are superb.
Accommodation at Muirfield is at a premium and it takes us
half a day to find anywhere to stay. My course for the qualifying is
Luffness New, a very tight par 69 with only one par 5. I like it, but in spots. I shoot 1-over in the first round, meaning I have to go
the bad news is that the R&A has dropped the number of spots low in the second but I never really get it going and end up
this year to six at each course, down from 12 three years ago. The missing comfortably. Ed misses at his course too, so we spend a
extra spots have now gone to players on the US PGA Tour. couple of days soaking up the awesome atmosphere of the Open
I made it into the Open in 1997 and ’98, but there is no and then head down to the south of England for the next
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underestimating the difficulty of the task now, given the reduction tournament, the Challenge Tour Championship.

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WEEK 9 ‘IT’S A BIT SOBERING TO REALISE THAT I’M 31-UNDER

Finnish Challenge PAR FOR THE PAST FOUR WEEKS AND I’VE MADE
This is one of the best weeks on tour.
Helsinki in summer is a really happening THE GRAND TOTAL OF 5,800 EUROS.’
place – it’s light until one o’clock in the
morning and the city is really jumping.
The nightclubs are overflowing with
people out to have a good time and it’s
often quite hard to keep your mind on
the job here. There seems to be a gross
over-supply of good-looking women, yet
Finland has one of the highest rates of
male suicide in the world. I figure they
just get confused over which girl they
want to go out with, and can’t deal with
the pressure of the choice. Actually, I’m
told it has a lot to do with the long, harsh
winter and high levels of alcoholism, but
enough of the sociology.
The golf course is about 45 minutes
Moscow.
out of town, in very nice condition, but The Kremlin in
cursed by three holes designed by the
lovechild of Stevie Wonder and Helen
Keller. This is the only way to account WEEK 10 Russian Open
for the first, 11th and 16th holes, I’ve come here for the past four years. It sounds almost incongruous to say that you
Nonetheless, I play quite well, shooting are playing a pro golf tournament in Russia, but this is the best event and best course
69-70-74-68 for a total of 7-under par and of the year. The only 18-hole golf course in Russia to date is a Robert Trent Jones Jnr
a cheque for 1,400 euros. It’s a bit sobering design carved out of a pine forest with water on about 12 holes. It is very good by
to realise that I’m 31-under par for the anyone’s standards. It’s also one of the better prizemoney events, worth 186,000
past four weeks and I’ve made the grand euros, and the sponsors really look after the players as well.
total of 5,800 euros. One ordinary round My friend Preston is out of town, but gives me his palatial apartment to stay in for
each week, shooting just 1-over, is enough the week, as well as his S500 Mercedes and driver to take me around! If St Tropez
to blow you out of the water and I’ve done was surreal, I need to find a new word to do justice to this experience. I’m developing
that three times. You can’t make a living telephone number tastes on a postcode income and, I have to say, there is no pain in
on this tour doing that. this at all! When the tournament begins, I manage to overcome the distraction of
Preston’s friends wanting to take me out every night to shoot 71-71-71 in the first
lsinki. three rounds, only to back that up with a 75 in the last round to finish 45th. I make
cathedral in He
Tuomio Kirkko just over 1,000 euros in prizemoney.

I
t’s now time for me to go home. I’ve been in Europe for the best part of three
months and I’ve had enough. I’ve actually played pretty well without having
much to show for it financially, but that’s the fine line between success and
failure in this game. In a world where one week makes a great year, you are better
off firing up and winning once than churning out respectable, moderate sub-par
totals each week.
I made enough to keep a category for 2003, but whether it’s worth coming back
in the future is the $64 question. It’s a good time, but at this stage of my career I
need to be a bit more mercenary and look at the bottom line, and the Challenge
Tour is not what one would describe as a “bottom line” place. n

Footnote: Ultimately, Grant Dodd decided not to embark upon another Challenge Tour
campaign in 2003, choosing instead to concentrate his efforts on the Australasian PGA Tour.

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