Talking golf
THE most exciting newcomer in world golf, Sam Horsfield, spent his early years near Manchester but, as Sky Sports presenter Nick Dougherty put it at the weekend, ‘he certainly seems to have lost his accent’!
No surprise there. Sam, 21, moved from the Cheshire village of Styal to Orlando with his parents, Tony and Sue Horsfield, and the family glass business when he was four.
Now, just over 17 years later, here was Sam as a man back in England – three shots off the lead and going out last alongside Rory McIlroy on the Saturday of the BMW PGA Championship, the European Tour’s flagship event.
He is starting to justify the words Ian Poulter used when he first saw him play as a teenager. Ian said: “He is unquestionably the best young golfer I have seen in my life.”
Eventually at Wentworth Sam had to settle for a top 20 finish and an eight-under total, one shot ahead of Ian. That ranks as a highly impressive tournament debut for a player in his rookie season.
After a stellar spell on the US college golf circuit with the University of Florida, Sam qualified for the European Tour late last year by finishing a staggering eight shots clear of the field in the Final Stage of Q School.
As well as Europe, he’s already played pro-tour golf in America – at the Arnold Palmer Invitational – Australia, the Middle East and South Africa, where he was runner-up in the Tshwane Open in Pretoria.
The immediate question is not whether Sam will keep his tour card because he has almost earned enough prize money already. It’s more logical to ask if he will win a tournament before his 22nd birthday in October.
Sam’s success story began a few years after the Horsfields emigrated. Also living in Florida was Ian Poulter’s caddy, Terry Mundy.
Sam’s dad, Tony, contacted Terry through a mutual friend. Terry took the trouble to watch Sam play a full round, liked what he saw and an enduring link was created with Sam getting all the advice he has needed since.
Terry, now living in Buckinghamshire, has formed a limited company with Ian Poulter’s manager, Paul Dunkley, CM Management, and together they handle the affairs of Ian and Sam.
In association with Mottram Hall and timmyteepr