B.C. club pro eyes return to PGA Tour
50-year-old has chance to qualify for the Pacific Links Championship
The inaugural Greater Vancouver Open was 21 years ago, but Doug Morgan will never forget teeing up alongside some of the world’s best golfers at the former PGA Tour stop in Surrey.
A member of the PGA of Canada since 1991, Morgan specializes in coaching while still competing at the club pro level in local and provincial events. He speaks fondly of his time as an instructor and coach, helping local players like Langley’s Devin Carrey rise to the professional circuits such as the Web.comTour and Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada.
But there is no denying the thrill of playing in a PGA Tour event, like he did in 1996 on home soil at the Northview Golf and Country Club, thanks to an exemption earned with his victory the previous year in the provincial assistants’ championship.
“That was one of the funnest weeks of my career,” Morgan said.
Morgan made the decision following that tournament to become a club professional. He has since spent 16 years at Redwoods Golf Course in Langley, a year at GolfTec in Surrey and the past two years as a professional at Richmond Country Club. But that itch to play competitively never went away, as he set a personal goal of playing a PGA Tour Champions event.
That could become a reality in a few months.
Now 50 years old, Morgan claimed the PGA of B.C. Senior’s Championship in Salmon Arm this week. He has now won every active men’s individual PGA of B.C. tournament, earning another exemption, this time into the Tuesday qualifier for the Pacific Links Championship at Bear Mountain Golf Resort and Spa in September.
There probably won’t be a goosebumps-inducing musical montage like in the Rocky franchise, but Morgan admits he’ll have a busy few months ahead as he prepares for the qualifier.
He’ll enlist the advice of the staff with Saunders-Rodgers Performance Golf Academy at Morgan Creek to work on his putting, and Mike Vanderolf of the McCleery Golf Academy to work on more technical elements of his swing.
“From there, it’s just a matter of getting into the gym on a more regular basis and keeping the core strong to make sure the back stays healthy,” he said.
“The other thing is just to put myself in that situation of that high level of competition — to be able to get rid of some of the nerves that come along with having that goal in sight, and trying to keep that goal away from the golf course and just stick to the process of what it is you need to do on the course to achieve the goal.”
On the topic of nerves, one memory from his GVO experience rises above the rest. In a position to perhaps make the cut on Friday, Morgan recalls beginning his round in less-than-ideal fashion.
“The tee shot I hit Friday at the GVO, the second day ... standing up and skying it into the lake off the 10th tee at Northview and thinking, ‘Oh shoot, here we go,’ ” he said. “Through the years of playing PGA of B.C. championships and going to the national championship, having those nerves and understanding that’s part of what happens when you play at that level and know that it’s coming but not really be afraid of it, because if you’re nervous you know that it means something to you.”
Coaching and caddying for a professional like Carrey has also helped him appreciate what players endure mentally in these events.
“Hopefully it better prepares me for what I do,” he said.
Morgan will try to get to Victoria at least twice this summer to play Bear Mountain in advance of the qualifier. It should give him additional opportunities to get reacquainted with the scenic course before the real test in September.
Getting comfortable and blocking out every little worry that pops into one’s head can be half the battle in this finicky game. Consider another lesson Morgan learned at the GVO, this time hitting balls on the driving range next to two-time U.S. Open winner Curtis Strange. Those first two swings Morgan took? Well, it doesn’t sound like they went as planned.
“I’m like, ‘He doesn’t care who you are,’ ” said Morgan. “Just … make a swing and hit the shot. Stop worrying about what everyone else thinks. I think that’s the big thing I have to get to. I just have to do my thing, get comfortable in my skin, go have some fun and see what happens.”