Graham Skellern reports on a golfer joining a growing number of Kiwi women playing professionally
Rotorua's Renee Fowler is not at all fazed about life as a professional golfer. She is already used to the hard grind.
The talented 23-year-old has worked part-time as a wine packer, landscape designer, farm worker, market gardener and in a biscuit factory while she has churned out a successful, and virtually full-time, amateur golfing career.
Now she can simply play, rather than work, for money to keep her new professional career alive. Sounds easy enough.
Fowler, for the past four years a New Zealand representative who has had plenty of experience playing overseas in Europe, Asia and Australia, begins chasing the dollars on the secondary United States Players West Tour next week.
Her first pro tournament - she announced the switch in playing status after helping her country to win the Queen Sirikit Cup in March - is the Green Valley Open, near Phoenix.
"I'm going over there on a shoestring budget. But I will survive, I know that," said Fowler, who leaves for Los Angeles on Monday. "It's a real struggle to obtain sponsorship, but I've done the graft before and I'm used to it.
"I'm quietly confident of plodding along and doing well," said Fowler, as she heads for the land of golfing dreams, the United States, for the first time.
She knows she has the backing of family, friends and her home golf club, Springfield. The club members last Sunday held a benefit tournament for Fowler, arranged for every hole to be sponsored, re-raffled their prizes and raised nearly $5000 for her.
Titleist provide her golfing equipment and Soeur Design of Christchurch her clothing.
Fowler, who won the New Zealand amateur championship and was third in the European strokeplay last year, joins an ever-increasing list of New Zealand touring professionals.
Marnie McGuire, the most successful, is sharing her time between the main Japanese and United States Tours, Shelley Duncan and Gina Scott are playing the Futures Tour around Florida, and Lynnette Brooky is heading back to Europe.
Kylie Wilson, Pam Sowden, Tina Howard, Olivia Hartley and sisters Julia and Miriam Kraschinski are at American colleges and destined to turn professional.
And Fowler will be joining Susan Farron on the Players West Tour, which comprises 22 tournaments up to November, held mainly in California. The tournament prize money ranges from $40,000 to $90,000, with the winner collecting between $9000 and $20,000.
"The prize money's not great, but it's a start," said Fowler, who is setting her sights on the end-of-year qualifying school for the main American tour.
Fowler's first big test will be to pass the first qualifying stage in Florida in August. Her next assignment would then be the final qualifying in November - and she would like nothing else but to join McGuire on the USLPGA Tour.
"The best in the world are playing there. To get through the qualifying - that would be a huge achievement as only one other New Zealand golfer has done it," said Fowler, who cannot wait to tackle the new challenges ahead.
Golf: Fowler off to seek her place in the sun
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