Time away from tour helped vet top up his tank
Formerly retired Marshall in hunt at Syncrude Oil Country Championship
After giving up on trying to be a professional tour player, Matt Marshall is back.
And he’s in the hunt.
The 33-year-old shrugged off the brutal British Open-like weather to shoot the second-best round of the day Friday, posting a 6-under 65 for second spot through 36 holes of the Syncrude Oil Country Championship.
“I’m extremely excited with that, the conditions were really tough,” said Marshall, who had seven birdies and a bogey. “The rain was pretty good this morning and then the wind kind of picked up in the afternoon.
“Fortunately for me I really had control of my golf ball today. I was never really in any trouble. I’m super pleased with my round. I really worked hard in the off week and it’s paid off.”
His two-round total of 133 (68-65) has him at 9 under, two shots off the lead.
Rain and Edmonton seem to agree with him. His best finish on the Canadian tour came at the 2012 ATB Financial Classic at Windermere.
“I was also fourth in Lethbridge this year, so there must be something about Alberta that I enjoy,” he said with a laugh.
Marshall has been on the Mackenzie Tour since 2009, making the cut in 43 of 70 career events, but after a few lean years he called it quits in 2016 and settled down to become a club pro in Oregon. It’s a decision most players make at some point in their lives when the PGA or Web.com Tour’s brass ring remains just out of reach.
But the game kept calling him until he finally decided to answer it one last time.
“I decided to give it another go this year,” he said. “There were quite a few reasons, but deep down I just love playing the game and I knew I could still play at a high level.
“And as everybody knows, working every day at a normal job is OK, it’s nice and consistent, but I just wanted to give it another go. I didn’t want any regrets when I got older.”
So far so good. That fourth in Lethbridge coupled with the last 36 holes at the Petroleum Club are some of his best work in years.
“I’ve always been a fairly consistent ball striker, which helps in conditions like this,” he said. “But hopefully I’m a little wiser. At least I like to think I am. I have a little scar tissue on me from some other rounds a few years back, so I play a little smarter. I don’t attack everything. I kind of play within myself and it seems to help.”
No need to ask how much fun this is.
“Life throws you a lot of curveballs,” he said. “I never thought I would be right here right now.”
STING AND A MISS
Alistair Docherty rebounded well Friday. Not well enough to make the cut, but it was a nice display of grit nonetheless.
He had more stings than birdies Thursday after stepping on a wasp nest and spent the second half of his round covered in welts and calamine lotion with a side of Benadryl. The result was a 6-over par 77.
He had plenty of reasons to bail out of his round Thursday or not show up Friday, but returned to the scene of the hive and shot 70 in the cold and wind.
He said he never thought of quitting, not even when the stings were still burning and he knew he had no shot at making the cut.
“There were a lot of words going on under my breath, but that’s not who I am and it’s never who I wanted to be,” said the 24-year-old from New Brunswick. “I played hockey growing up and you get a couple dings here and there and you battle through it. I fought pretty hard, just had some tough breaks. But I’m happy I battled it out.”