17-hour travel day to get there: Why The Match at Ganton showcases the strength of Yorkshire golf
If you ever wondered how big the pull of golf in their home county was, the evidence was on hand at a sunny, windswept Ganton Golf Club on Friday, where the great, good and very good of the Yorkshire game gathered for a rare occasion.
Whether professionals stationed across the pond or eager young pros from just across the North Yorkshire Wolds, the third staging of The Match was a magnet that brought Yorkshire’s best back home.
Northallerton’s Dan Brown, for instance, a recent graduate to the very top rung of the ladder on the PGA Tour, only got in from the States last night and headed straight for the famous golf club along the A64.
“Literally just got back last night, it was a 17/18-hour travel day and I’ve jumped forward about eight hours,” laughed Brown, looking bronzed from a life spent walking golf courses in far warmer climes than his native county.
“Hopefully I can stay fresh on the back nine and don’t get hit by too much jet lag.”
His fellow PGA Tour rookie and Yorkshireman, John Parry, had spent two days longer at the latest stop on the elite circuit, eking out a 14th-place finish at the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio last Sunday.
“It’s a bit nippy, but it’s nice to be home,” offered the 39-year-old, having taken the decision to base himself in Florida while he bids to maximise his one-year window of opportunity on the PGA Tour.
“It’s something I never thought would happen, especially when you get to my age you think it’s been and gone, so I’m just trying to enjoy every minute of it.”
Both were back at Ganton because they know their roots.
Barely half a decade ago, they were playing one-day events on the 2020protour in the North of England, trying to build their careers back up.
They were happy to give clinics – Parry from the bunker, Brown from the tee box – for the spectators who had made the most of the free admittance, before heading to the first tee and off across 18 holes of hallowed golfing turf in representation of the 2020protour against Yorkshire’s leading amateurs.
“It’s nice to play with some of the young up and coming guys that play for Yorkshire and England,” continued Parry.
“I never had much chance to do it when I was an amateur, but it’s a good experience for them just to see where they need to improve, or if they’re ready to turn pro.”
Wakefield’s Dan Bradbury was also playing, the third DP World Tour win of his career in South Africa last month setting him up nicely to try and grab one of the 10 tickets to America that Parry and Brown snagged last season.
Bradbury’s win at the Joburg Open last month sparked a run of Yorkshire winners around the world.
Two weeks later, Matt Fitzpatrick won at the Valspar Open in Florida and went into this week’s Masters at Augusta as one of the favourites.
His younger brother Alex then broke his own duck by winning the Hero Indian Open on the DP World Tour the following week.
“I saw Alex out in Madrid last October when he was worrying about trying to keep his card,” said Sam Bairstow, another Yorkshire professional who had travelled up from the south to honour his golfing education.
“He said then it was one of the most nervous he had been on a course, but look at him now. He’s been playing fantastic golf for a while now.”
Bairstow, himself, is wondering when it might come for him.
A stalwart of the Yorkshire amateur scene and a former winner of the Brabazon Trophy, the Sheffield left-hander graduated to the DP World Tour in late 2023 and had a prosperous first 18 months in the paid ranks, but has slowed down the last 12 and is working hard to catch a break. Looking up and down the driving range at Ganton, from Brown to Parry to Bradbury, he sees inspiration to keep plugging away.
The fact that England’s Marco Penge, who was one of the 2020protour players giving a short-game clinic and participating in The Match last year, is making his debut in the Masters this week, is a further sign of how quickly things can change.
“It shows that it’s achievable, you just need to find a couple of results and a bit of confidence and you’re away,” said Bairstow, 26.
“Marco was here last year then a month later got that first win in China, won twice more and now look at him.
“Everyone who is a pro here can win on Tour or has won on Tour.”
And it wasn’t just professionals seeking and providing inspiration at Ganton, Yorkshire’s amateur team to take on the paid men, women and disabled players, is stocked to the gills.
Tom Osborne of Sheffield, who plays out of Lindrick, won the Spanish Amateur last month.
For the second year running a rising star ranked the 130th amateur in the world was up against Parry.
“It’s nice, it’s a bit of fun but it’s great to see everyone,” said Osborne, who is targeting a place on the Walker Cup team at the end of the year.
“It’s great that the pros turn up for it and we always get a good crowd as well.
“Playing against John, you get to learn a little bit, there’s plenty of things to take on board just from watching him.”
Huddersfield’s Lily Hirst is an England international who graduated college in America last summer.
She is eyeing the Curtis Cup this year.
Hirst was playing alongside Amy Boulden, a Ganton member from Hunmanby who spent 18 years at university in South Carolina after deciding it wasn’t for her. She is now working in the pro shop at her home club, making the most of the opportunity to represent the amateurs of Yorkshire against its burgeoning professional body of golfers.