Sim could be next star product of Aussie pipeline
By Art Spander, Special to PGATOUR.COM
SAN DIEGO -- He's part of the Aussie Pipeline, the kids who grow up Down Under with thoughts of playing golf Up Over, across the Pacific and in the other hemisphere.
We're so accustomed to the success of Australian golfers in America, from Bruce Crampton to David Graham to Greg Norman to Geoff Ogilvy, that Michael Sim should be absolutely no surprise.
They're caught between two worlds, these Australians, living in the States, several, including Sim and Ogilvy around Phoenix, but thinking of home, of their particular sports, of their special meals and certainly of their families.
For Sim, tied for second after three rounds of the Farmers Insurance Open, two shots behind another player born across the ocean, Japan's Ryuji Imada, the adjustment has been relatively painless.
Not that it hasn't been an adjustment.
"I think the food is better in Australia,'' said Sim. He is 24, and last year, with three victories on the Nationwide Tour, earned a battlefield promotion to the PGA TOUR in August.
"I feel you eat healthier in Australia,'' was the explanation. "And Australian football. I'm passionate about Australian football. Last year I ordered (the network) Setanta Sports just to watch two odd games every weekend. I think it was 30 bucks. But I ordered it because I wanted to watch the football.''
He also misses the surf, although it's his choice to reside in the desert not along the coast. "My parents probably live two minutes from the ocean in Australia,'' said Sim.
On Saturday, he was living well, in a matter of speaking, far across that same ocean.
Sim shot a 2-under 70 on the South Course at Torrey Pines, the one where Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open in 2008. That followed Sim's 62 on the easier North Course on Friday and a 73 on the South on Thursday. His 11-under total of 205 is equals that of Ben Crane. Imada is at 203, 13 under.
"I think the guys at the top,'' he said, including himself in that group, "are putting well. The greens are soft and are quite bumpy. It's difficult to make putts. I missed a couple today, but I've holed my fair share for the week.''
As one would be expected to do with a 62 in the mix.
Sim has a history around here. At ages 15 and 16 he played in the Junior World Championship, finishing sixth in 2002. He hadn't been back in eight years.
"I've got an opportunity this week to win a golf tournament,'' he said. "I'd like to take full advantage of that Sunday.''
Sim was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, but when he was 5 the family moved to Melbourne, and he now is an Australian citizen, with a proper Australian accent, mate.
He left home after high school to enter a sports program, then came to the U.S. for a summer of golf. Early on there was no confusion about his goal.
"I always wanted to play golf on the PGA TOUR,'' Sim pointed out, "and it's my dream to be out here. I want to win golf tournaments.''
He won his first in the U.S. in 2006, the Nationwide PalmettoPride Classic, then three years later, without status, gained entry to the Stonebrae Classic across the Bay from San Francisco by invitation and came in first.
He would then win the BMW Charity Pro-Am and the Christmas in October Classic in August. That made him a full-fledged member of the TOUR, although it didn't get him in any fields until the Fall Series.
His first tournament of 2009 was the Bob Hope Classic last week.
"I played quite well,'' Sim said of his tie for 63rd. This week, of course, he's playing very well.
Winning on the Nationwide Tour has made a believer out of Sim. He knows what to do.
"I'm going to just play the golf course until I get to the back nine,'' he said. "Par is a very good score on (the South) course, especially if the wind gets up like it did this afternoon.
"If I can go out Sunday and play like I did on the back nine today, I've got a really good shot at winning.''
Sim has learned America. Sim also has learned American football, if slowly.
"I watch it,'' he said of the NFL, "but I still don't know all the rules. I watched when the (Arizona) Cardinals played New Orleans in the playoffs, at Aaron Baddeley's house.''
Baddeley is another Arizonan by way of Australia.
"Every play I was asking friends, what happened there? Why is that a penalty?" he said.
What nobody has to ask is who is Michael Sim. He's introduced himself in a big way.
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