DreamBlogs: Career Changes in Progress

Turning Pro at 50 | Graham Banister

The Rookie Plays on Sunday

You know that movie “The Rookie,” with Dennis Quaid playing a pitcher who makes it to the major leagues after being out of baseball? When he went out on that field, in a major-league stadium, for the first time and looked around…that feeling, that’s what it felt like for me. You never really think you’re going to get there, and then you do.
Posted by Graham Banister on April 26, 2009 - 10:47am  

50-year-old Graham Banister earned a qualifying card on the PGA Champions Tour in a national qualifying tournament in November 2006. This means at most Champions Tour events during 2007 he was eligible to play in a single qualifying round, usually against 40 or 50 other pros, for one of eight or nine spots in the real thing: a three- or four-day Champions Tour tournament with a multimillion-dollar purse.


Rookie on the Champions Tour

After years of barely playing golf, Graham Banister rediscovered his game and earned a chance to play as a professional on the PGA Champions Tour.
Posted by Graham Banister on April 26, 2009 - 10:36am  

 

April 2007 — It feels somewhat unreal to be out playing with some great players, especially since just four years ago I was just banging around a public course with a few of my mates. The highlights include teeing it up in my first event as a pro at Turtle Bay Resort in Hawaii. I shot two under and even though it wasn’t quite good enough to qualify it was quite satisfying. I also got to meet Gary Player. My next highlight was shooting 67 in California and losing in a playoff. That was also one of the lowlights!