The Open gives Rotherham golfer Jonathan Thomson fresh ambition

Life has thrown enough at Jonathan Thomson to ensure the big man from Rotherham never takes too much for granted.
OPEN SNAPSHOTS: Jonathan Thomson of Rotherham takes the acclaim of the galleries after holing his tee shot on the par-three 16th. Picture: Getty Images.OPEN SNAPSHOTS: Jonathan Thomson of Rotherham takes the acclaim of the galleries after holing his tee shot on the par-three 16th. Picture: Getty Images.
OPEN SNAPSHOTS: Jonathan Thomson of Rotherham takes the acclaim of the galleries after holing his tee shot on the par-three 16th. Picture: Getty Images.

Like the diagnosis of leukemia when he was just seven years old that would shape his adolescent life.

Like the hole-in-one he struck on the par-three 16th at Royal St George’s last month, a timely bolt of lightning that got him into the weekend for the first time at a major championship.

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“A rollercoaster,” is how Thomson describes the pattern of his life, the rises and falls always coming to test him.

OPEN SNAPSHOTS: Thomson playing a shot off the fairway during the 149th Open at Royal St George’s. Picture: Getty Images.OPEN SNAPSHOTS: Thomson playing a shot off the fairway during the 149th Open at Royal St George’s. Picture: Getty Images.
OPEN SNAPSHOTS: Thomson playing a shot off the fairway during the 149th Open at Royal St George’s. Picture: Getty Images.

Through it all this most endearing of professional golfers has learned that patience is a virtue, that good things will eventually come his way on the golf course.

That hole-in-one may have been a stroke of luck but it gave him something to build on in the short- and long-term.

“I’ve hit this wedge shot which is blind to us but we sensed it was going to be close,” reflects Thomson, who plies his trade on the Challenge Tour but had qualified for the Open earlier that month.

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“We went on the reaction of the crowd which is a noise I’ll never forget, it was louder than a football match.

OPEN SNAPSHOTS: Thomson tees off on the 16th 24 hours earlier, not knowing how important that hole would be the following day. Picture: Getty Images.OPEN SNAPSHOTS: Thomson tees off on the 16th 24 hours earlier, not knowing how important that hole would be the following day. Picture: Getty Images.
OPEN SNAPSHOTS: Thomson tees off on the 16th 24 hours earlier, not knowing how important that hole would be the following day. Picture: Getty Images.

“It was a special moment and also great that all my family were there to witness it, that meant a lot to me.”

Even that adrenalin surge came with a warning. How do you regain your composure and make sure you avoid any mistakes over the closing holes?

“My caddie did an awesome job,” continues Thomson, who was hovering on the cut line. “We both really soaked it up walking down 16 and off 16 onto 17, but then he said to me: ‘right come on, let’s concentrate here and get the job done’. I hit a great tee shot on 17, great second shot and holed the putt, and it felt like a weight had lifted off my shoulders playing 18.

“It was a special, special week.

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“Prior to and after the Open, it was like a whirlwind, but while we were there we did a great job of managing expectations and dealing with what was in front of us.”

But even that wasn’t easy. Thomson found Open week to be more intense than anything he had experienced before at a golf tournament.

Practice rounds lasted twice as long because players were preparing meticulously. Then there was the extra media duties.

Thomson even gained a superstar fan, former world No 1 Fred Couples tweeting at the start of the week: “What an inspiring and incredible story! If you can beat leukemia you can win the Open!”

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Thomson ‘beat’ leukemia in his early teens although he acknowledges it will always stay with him in some form.

No matter what he goes on to achieve in golf – and he wants to make four rounds of major championship golf a regular occurance – he will always be the guy who beat leukemia.

“It was offensive how intense it all was,” he remembers.

“I was in remission at 13 and growing into a teenager with a kid’s body, I had to have all my baby jabs again and had to rebuild my immune system, which was just as hard.

“I’m getting older, wiser and moving into my teenage years but I’m actually miles behind the pace. That’s something I found quite difficult. Obviously it was all difficult, but it took another four years to get anywhere near feeling normal again.

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“That’s what I would always say to young kids in my situation; there’s always light at the end of the tunnel but it’s a long journey. You’ve got to brace yourself and get that into your head.

“It’s achievable, it’s beatable, but you’ve just got to be level-headed about the situation and get stuck into it.”

There was a positive, though.

“The beauty of it was I spent so much time at the golf club between treatments, because I wasn’t in school. I was too tired to play golf, but I could practice,” says Thomson, who spent most of those days at Rotherham Golf Club. “So who knows, without that time in my life I might not have been where I am now.”

It also gave him perspective.

“The great thing for me is it’ll be the hardest battle I’ll ever face in my life and the harsh reality is every week I play golf, whether it’s a good round or bad round, it is what it is, it’s just one of those things,” observes Thomson.

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“That’s a great attitude to have. There’s always somebody worse off than what you are, and you have to remind yourself of that.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty sh*t at times and you moan and groan, but it’s a great outlook to have that there’s always something better around the corner.”

Thomson hopes that ultimately for him it is a regular place on the European Tour. He has been there once before in 2018, lost in a play-off in Denmark and then ran out of tournaments in the race to retain his card when his game felt good.

He takes up a spot on the main tour at the Cazoo Open at Royal London Golf Club this week, emboldened by his weekend at Royal St George’s.

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“I played golf with two of the best players in the world over the weekend in Harris English, who was ranked 10th, and Lee Westwood,” said Thomson, who spoke to The Yorkshire Post in association with coffee retailerCoffee Friend.

“I held my own more and felt comfortable, which going forward is huge for me.

“These guys are the best players in the world, and you have got to have some sort of comparison because otherwise what are you striving towards and how are you going to get better?

“The reality is with the level of game I’ve got compared to what they had got, there wasn’t that much difference at all, which I think for me is massive.

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“I know the things I’m doing are right, so if I keep doing them, the breaks are going to come.

“I’ve been playing good golf now for probably a couple of months, even if my results haven’t shown it, I do feel that if I keep chiselling away something special is coming.

“People who know me really well know how desperate I am and how hard I’ve been working for the last 18 months and I will continue to do so because that’s the person I am.

“I’ve just got to be patient.”

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