By Harry King
FORT SMITH — What happened to Alistair Presnell on the final hole on Friday was enough to remind him of the day job in his back pocket.
At least working as an air conditioning apprentice, the pay is regular. On the Nationwide Tour, where the money is good and playing golf for a living is the envy of weekend hackers, one bad swing can jeopardize the paycheck.
Tall and strong with an effortless swing, Presnell was two-under-par for the tournament when he stepped to the tee on his 36th hole. Presnell had been hitting a soft draw all day, a shot shape that would follow perfectly the fairway of the uphill 18th at Hardscrabble Country Club. This time, his launch did not turn left. It sailed over a large cedar in the right rough and touched down close to the three strands of cable bordering the out-of-bounds parking lot.
After a five-minute search that included caddies, a couple of spectators and Presnell’s playing partners, he uttered a epithet and returned to the tee, driver in hand. The scorecard says the hole is 437 yards and Presnell was barely 100 yards out after his second tee shot. The approach hit pin-high, but hopped once and rolled into the back fringe. He two-putted for a six and an even-par total of 140.
When the day was done, that was just good enough to play the weekend and collect some coin.
Early in the week, Presnell came up as “who” during a review of the Nationwide Tour money list. No. 6 on the list, he was nowhere to be found in the very thorough Nationwide media guide.
Turns out that Presnell played amateur golf in Australia into his mid-20s. Last year, at 29, he and a couple of friends toured the United States in a van, failing four times to get through Monday qualifying for the Nationwide.
“I wasn’t living the dream, I was chasing it,” he said earlier this year.
Like so many players, Presnell was teetering, a good week away from a real opportunity. He tied for 52th in the Johnnie Walker Classic in western Australia in February and then entered the Moonah Classic, the second stop on the Nationwide. He shot a 4-under-par 68 in the final round and cashed for $108,000.
The victory, he said, came during what might have been his last four weeks of trying. If he had not won some money, he might have called his old boss about that air conditioning gig.
Just as importantly, the victory is worth a two-year exemption on the Nationwide.
The U.S. was always the goal, he said.
“The money is great but the win opens a big door for me,” Presnell said.
Watching him play on Friday, his talent was evident. A slow-rolling putt lipped out and so did a soft chip shot. His putting touch was so right-on that he had never sweated a second putt. His skip, skip, stop uphill chip netted par on No. 10 after one of his few wayward tee shots.
In addition, he came across as nice guy, handing out golf balls to a couple of kids and one to his scoreboard toter, Ernie Cole of Fort Smith. Presnell asked Cole about his job and his wanted to know about Cole’s job and family and even loaned him some sunscreen after Cole admitted he was unprepared.
During a backup on the tee for the par-five 11th, playing partner Esteban Toledo asked about the kangaroo with the boxing gloves on the side of his big golf bag. Presnell explained that back home in Australia, the kangaroos do some sparring.
Back home, too, there’s always that air conditioning work.
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
