Affable American Shaun Micheel has followed fellow Major winners and compatriots Ben Curtis, Todd Hamilton and John Daly in taking out 2012 European Tour membership.
All four will contest this week’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
However Micheel, who turned 43 on January 5th, is no stranger to playing full time in Europe as he also was a full member in 2010 even though circumstances led to him not playing a complete schedule.
And after finishing 179th on the PGA Tour money list in 2011 and then failing to regain his card at the Tour’s Q-School, the Tennessee-born Micheel took up the option of joining the European Tour given he has two years remaining on a 10-year exemption earned in capturing the 2003 PGA Championship at Oak Hill.
Shaun Micheel joins Ben Curtis, Todd Hamilton and John Daly in joining 2012 Race to Dubai.(Photo - PGA Tour).
“Because of my status on the PGA Tour and the fact I have to ask for an invitation to compete in the States, I joined the European Tour as I have this year and next year remaining on my exemption,” he said.
“I didn’t want to play the Nationwide Tour and having played in many European Tour events before, including here in Doha, and the bottom line is you are a professional golfer and you just want to play golf.
“I guess it’s the same with Ben (Curtis), Todd (Hamilton) and JD (John Daly).
“I don’t know how many Americans have joined the European Tour in recent years but I guess that they look at it as though they have to play the minimum of 13.
“The good thing with me is that I am no stranger playing on the European Tour and besides I have played overseas most of my life.”
After capturing the 2003 PGA Championship at Oak Hill, Micheel next came to prominence when he finished runner-up to Tiger Woods at the 2006 PGA Championship.
The effort qualified Micheel for the HSBC World Match-Play Championship later that same year at Wentworth.
And Micheel shocked the golfing world defeating Woods in his opening round match. (See Footnote at bottom)
Micheel then defeated Luke Donald and Robert Karlsson before losing 10 & 8 in the final to England’s Paul Casey.
The American revealed he will also contest next week’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic and head to Europe for a number of events including the March 15th commencing Andalucian Open.
Shaun Micheel practicing on the Doha Golf Club range. (Photo - www.golfbytourmiss.com)
“It’s nice to see a lot of the guys here in Doha like Todd Hamilton and Alex Cejka who I played a practice round, and besides even if I didn’t know a lot of the European players they always make you feel very welcome,” he said.
“And the reason I am here is because I still feel as though I am competitive and I said to my wife that if I am going to make the commitment of going to come all the way here to Qatar I am going to make sure I can play as well as I possibly can.
“I am not going to play well every week but I am going to at least have the attitude of trying to play as many tournaments as I can and qualify among the top-60 for the Race to Dubai final event.
“So instead of also looking at this year as having to play 13 events to retain membership, I will be looking to be as competitive as I can be.”
Micheel will tee-up for the first two days of the $US 2.5m event in the company of Italy’s exciting Matteo Manassero and talented South African George Coetzee.
The American has also slipped to 546th in the world compared to ‘Manny’s’ ranking of 57th and Coetzee’s 74th standing.
“I did take up European Tour membership in 2010 but I only played in a handful of events because my mom wasn’t that well,” he said.
“She was diagnosed with cancer and it was difficult as back home in Tennessee it was just my dad and myself as my sister lives in Eugene, Oregon.
“Every time I did leave home to go and play my mind wasn’t with it and I just couldn’t do it and I wanted to stay close to home, so in the end I didn’t play the mandatory number of events.”
Sadly, Micheel’s passed away last October.
Micheel also disclosed that he has only written off to a mere handful of PGA Tour sponsors seeking invitations to compete on the 2012 PGA Tour.
He sent off ‘a bunch of invites’ a few years back but only received an invitation from three and in the end, only ended up playing the one event on invitation.
“I am into a couple of PGA Tour events in coming months, Cancun and Puerto Rico so I will play those while I also wrote off the Tournament Director in the Transitions event he said I give your chances in the thirties,” said Micheel.
“So from Puerto Rico I will fly from Madrid and play the Andalucian Open.
“I’m into the Heritage in April at Hilton Head through the PGA win but I am going to play the Volvo China Open and the Ballantine’s in Korea.
“I’m also playing the Volvo World Match-Play, the BMW PGA at Wentworth, and because they count towards tournaments, I will play the U.S. Open and British Open qualifiers.
“But what’s going to hurt me a little bit is having three weeks off late next month and March with the two WGCs either side of the Honda as they are three weeks with no competition for the regular tour members who are not into the WGCs.
“However I have been looking at the PGA and European Tour schedules on a split screen on my computer and trying to work out a schedule for the year.
“But I am just excited to be playing and the European Tour has grown so much in recent years. I’ve been watching the Golf Channel for a long time so I know most of the guys names out here.
“My wife just loves Robert Rock, and the fact he doesn’t wear a hat is great.
“But then anyone who knows me knows that I have always played international golf ever since playing the Asian Tour in 1988.
“So I have always been a global player and I enjoy that and I feel as though people appreciate those Americans who travel around the world to compete.
“But the bottom line is that we all tee up wanting to win and that’s my goal and it hasn’t changed all these years.”
FOOTNOTE –
Strangely, Micheel’s name came up in conversation last Sunday in Abu Dhabi when Giles Morgan, Head of Sponsorship for HSBC spoke of his involvement in golf.
Morgan indicated his first event was the 2006 HSBC World Match-Play Championship at Wentworth.
He had arranged for a lot of HSBC clients to attend the event as guests to see then World No. 1 Tiger Woods competing around the course affectionately known as ‘The Burma Road’.
However Woods had been knocked out a day earlier by Micheel.
“I guess I owed Tiger one as I finished runner-up to him at the PGA Championship in August,” said Micheel.
“But the funny thing is that we were in the courtesy car and the driver asked us if we were planning to go into London during our stay.
“My wife, Stephanie said we would probably go in on Friday as I was playing Tiger.
“So I don’t know whether she was joking or not but it’s funny Giles should bring that up.”
