Twelve months ago, PGA Professional Graeme Robertson made his unlikely debut on the PGA Tour after playing his way into a field that included Ben Griffin, Maverick McNealy and Andrew Novak.
The Scot was paired with Norman Xiong, who was a big part of the all-conquering 2017 Walker Cup side that also included Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa.
Robertson was a late bloomer in the game, turning pro four years ago at the age of 33. In that time, he has won back-to-back Scottish PGA Championships and played in The Open at Royal Liverpool in 2023.
But for a wrist fracture, he would have played in this year’s British Masters at The Belfry and the Nexo Championship at Trump International via the PGA Play-Offs in Cyprus.
Before the hand injury, Robertson played on the HotelPlanner Tour after winning Paul Lawrie's Tartan Pro Tour order of merit.
Here, Robertson explains how these incredible opportunities all arose from his performances in PGA tournaments.
How much golf were you playing in your 20s?
I was working in sales in a builder's merchant, just selling building material. It was through a member of the golf club, and he knew I was looking for a job. It was meant to be short term but I just ended up staying in it. I did that for 10 years. I still played the first couple of years for the Scottish team and then it was just too much to try and balance working and playing. I hardly played for the next seven years. Just some medals at my golf club, Glenbervie, where I’ve been a member all my life. I was playing less and less golf and I was missing it.
What made you do your PGA training?
Like a lot of people after Covid, I maybe just rethought what I wanted to do. I was missing the golf and I couldn't see myself doing the job I was doing for the next 30 years. An opportunity came up when an indoor golf centre opened literally 10 minutes from my house and I knew the guy who was building it.
I told him that I had been looking at potentially doing my PGA and, if he was looking for somebody to work there, then I’d be really keen, which he thought was great.
I had just got to a stage where I thought, if I don't do it now, I'll never do it. The PGA was a fantastic opportunity for me to get back into golf and make a career out of it and I feel like I've made the right choice. So I went for it and it’s given me some unbelievable experiences and, if it wasn't for the PGA course, then I wouldn't have turned pro.
I’ve now played in The Open, a PGA Tour event and I’ve had a HotelPlanner Tour card so, whatever the future holds, I can look back and say I've done that, which is pretty special.
Pictured: Graeme Robertson with his parents
How did the PGA Tour start come about?
The PGA ran a pro-am at Skibo Castle. I played well and the guy who I was playing with said that, if I was interested, his friend ran a tournament in Bermuda. If you win it – and the money was decent – you get a PGA Tour start.
I woke up the next morning and had an email from the tournament director saying we'd love to have you over, so I just thought, yeah, I'll go for it, I'll give it a try and I managed to win it and that's how I got into the Bermuda Championship.
How comfortable was the win?
The Goslings Invitational was a three-round tournament and it was meant to be on three different courses but then there was some bad weather came in so we ended up playing two rounds on the last day just to try and fit it in.
I won it by two. The guy I was playing with was quite close to me and there weren't any leaderboards. It was weird because I was so used to playing in PGA events where you can check leaderboards and I birdied the par-5 17th and I really wanted to check the scores to see where I was sitting. I thought I was winning by a couple of shots but I just wasn't sure.
The PGA Tour event was two weeks later so I came home and went straight to Second Stage of the Qualifying School in Spain and then went back to Bermuda the next day. So it was chaos but good though.
You shot 76-67 in the PGA Tour event to miss the cut by three, what did you learn from playing in it?
I think with these guys, their bad golf is always pretty good. I definitely learned that my good golf is good enough but, when I'm getting those days where it's not so good, the drop-off is too big. Whereas you play with these guys and you kind of think they're having a maybe not so good day and then you see their score at the end of the round and it's like level par. Whereas I'll maybe let that slip to a three over. It's tough to come back from that.
When it's good and I'm holing putts and swinging good and I'm just having a good day, my golf is more than good enough. It's just not letting the days where it's not so good penalise you so much.
One of your playing partners, Norman Xiong, was a former winner of the Haskins Award as the most outstanding collegiate golfer and partnered Collin Morikawa in the Walker Cup. How impressive was he?
He hit the ball really straight. There wasn't much curve on it and he hit the ball an absolute mile when he wanted to. Our tee shots were running about the same and then there was a par 5 and he just flew this bunker at what must have been about 320. You could just see the difference. He's obviously got an extra 30 or 40 yards in the tank when he needs it.
What was the tournament like behind the scenes?
It's maybe not what I was totally expecting because of where it is in the middle of the Atlantic. You had the sponsors’ tents up on certain holes and stuff like that but it was a very different tournament to other weeks.
The 2023 Open was a totally mind-blowing experience. At that time, I was playing in PGA Scotland events and then I qualified for the Open. Going into something like that was incredible – the medical facilities, the gym on site, the players' lounges. If they didn't have it one day, they would have it the next day for you. That experience was unbelievable. I kind of expected that at the PGA Tour event but that didn’t happen just simply because of where it was.
How would you describe your game in terms of fitting tour-level golf?
The strength of my game has always been my wedges, short game and putting. In the UK the courses are a bit shorter than on the HotelPlanner so when I play on there I wasn't hitting as many wedges for approach shots. It was more like 7- and 8-irons which doesn't sound a lot but takes away some of my strength.
I'm stronger when I've got a wedge in the hand most of the time. So when I'm suddenly hitting more mid-irons it's quite a big jump stats-wise. You get guys who just hit it absolute miles and there are par 5s that I'm not reaching where they're reaching it quite comfortably. You do that over four rounds and it quickly adds up.
“If it wasn't for the PGA course, then I wouldn't have turned pro. I’ve now played in The Open, a PGA Tour event and I’ve had a HotelPlanner Tour card so, whatever the future holds, I can look back and say I've done that, which is pretty special” - Graeme Robertson
What are your stand-out memories from playing in the 2023 Open at Hoylake?
I was hitting balls beside Christo Lamprecht after the first round when he was leading. He's absolutely huge and hits it forever. I played with Russell Henley on the first two days. At the time he was doing OK career-wise and had won a handful of times but I'll never forget it because after the round, he went over and spoke to Phil Kenyon.
I've got a friend who knows Phil quite well and he said that Russell was trying to start working with Phil and it was a question of whether Phil had time for him. But they did start working together and, ever since then, he’s been unbelievable.
He was so steady and so straight with the driver and his irons. He just didn't make any mistakes and he always seemed to hit it in the right spots.
What have you been up to since the injury?
I've been coaching which I’ll be doing through the winter. I'll maybe get the odd pro-am in abroad but I’m busy teaching at the Forthview driving range which is really busy, and it’s got a really good putting studio as well.
