Following an outstanding performance in the PGA Play-Offs, PGA Cup star Toby Hunt earned a spot in the British Masters and finished inside the top 35. Now he feels like he can compete at this elite level.
When Toby Hunt reached the turn on day three of the PGA Play-Offs at Aphrodite Hills, the prospect of earning a spot in any DP World Tour events looked very remote. But then he came back in 29 shots, six under par, and finished the week in third spot behind the Scottish duo of Paul O’Hara and Graeme Robertson.
Four months later, after an unfortunate injury to Robertson and some last-minute travel plans, the Whitchurch Pro has teed it up at Trump International in Aberdeen and then enjoyed a superb week at The Belfry at the British Masters.
There he would finish in 33rd, in a tie with Ross Fisher, Matthew Jordan, Aaron Rai, Jordan Smith, Elvis Smylie, Clement Sordet and Matt Wallace.
The following week, Hunt, a member of the 2024 PGA Cup side, would excel again, this time on the Challenge Tour event in France, opening up with a 64 to sit one off the lead before finishing in a tie for 12th.
When did you find out that you had a place in the field in Aberdeen?
I actually got into the Challenge Tour event in Ireland from a PGA invite. Then I got a phone call from the PGA about 4pm on the Wednesday saying that Graeme had had to pull out through injury and did I want to go and play in a DP World event at Trump International?
So my caddy and I flew straight over from Dublin to Glasgow, had a three-hour drive up to Aberdeen and went and played that for my first event, having not seen the course at all. We got to Aberdeen at midnight and were on the tee for 8.50am – so that was my first experience at a DP World Tour event.
And the opening hole was quite a wake-up call?
Yes, especially when it’s 40mph winds straight into your face and you’ve never seen the course before. We had no prep other than hitting some shots on the range and I had just spent the previous few days prepping around a parkland course with some juicy rough and sloping, grainy greens – and then it was straight into some punishing links golf where, if you missed the fairway, you were struggling to find your ball.
I pulled my opening tee shot, which my playing partner found, and I spent the next 20 minutes hacking it up the hole, basically hitting it in the rough from one side of the fairway to the other and I kind of thought, what the hell am I doing here? My caddy Dan (Page) turned round on the 2nd and said that it can’t get any worse and it didn’t to be fair.
I played really solidly for 15 holes and was 2-under for those and I just made silly bogeys on the last two, so I was right on the cut line. I missed it the next day, but I did enjoy the experience. The way the DP World Tour put on an event is just absolute quality.
How did The Belfry invite come about?
It was my girlfriend’s birthday so we went to Spain with our baby son and then I got another phone call from the PGA on the Monday of the week of the British Masters, saying Graeme still wasn’t available to play. So I got the next flight home and went straight for a practice round on the Tuesday afternoon.
I’d never played The Belfry and the only times I’d been up there were my three PGA residentials when I was qualifying but I’d never actually played any of the courses. Luckily, my caddy had played The Brabazon a few times and he had gone and walked the course twice before I had even got there. I got a practice round in and my coach, Will Urwin, was there to have a look at the swing so we did manage to get in some last-minute prep.
You teed off on 10 on the Thursday morning, is that a good or a bad thing?
It was good because we said in the practice round that if my caddy saw me with the driver in my hands on the 10th tee, to just put it back in the bag. There were a lot of people watching and quite a few friends and family so it was quite an easy decision just to hit a 9-iron down the middle of the fairway. I made a par four so it was already four shots better than the last time I had played in a DP World event.
You came to the 18th on Friday needing a par to make the cut. What was that like?
I knew exactly where I was and what I was doing, yeah. I didn’t think about the cut on the front nine and then I birdied 9, 10 and 12. I had a chance to hit the par-5 17th in two but didn’t manage to make a birdie so I knew what I needed to do on the last.
I hit a great drive that just ran through the fairway, then I didn’t quite strike the wedge coming out of the rough and it didn’t get up the hill. It came all the way back down to about 65 feet and I left myself a bit of a tricky left-to-right five-footer down the hill. That wasn’t ideal but, when it went in, what a feeling and there was a massive roar and I felt like a bit of a celebrity getting to play the weekend.
“To get that opportunity through The PGA was incredible and hopefully my performance will warrant them having more invites on the tour in the future” – Toby Hunt
Looking back now, how do you think you coped with the whole thing and what did you learn?
Well, the sleep was terrible because we have a seven-month-old, but it was just having to take the adrenaline into account. It wasn’t really nerves but I could just feel my heart rate going and the blood was pumping around the body a bit quicker and so the ball was going half a club further on the first few holes.
Obviously, short game-wise, they’re fantastic. But the biggest thing I took out of it was the actual belief that I could compete at that level. I appreciate that I was 12 shots away from the win, but I made the cut off not having the best of build-ups and I shot two 69s in the middle rounds.
Over the weekend, I felt comfortable and I felt like I belonged. At Trump Aberdeen, there was an element of imposter syndrome as it was just a completely bizarre experience with getting there last minute and playing with players I’d obviously heard of before. But having that bit of experience probably helped too.
How do you think your game measured up?
I didn’t really play with anyone who was hitting it 50 yards past me or hit it so much better than I did. No disrespect to anyone I played with but I felt like I was on a par or even played better than they did on that particular week so it’s given me a lot of belief and a lot more confidence than I’ve probably ever had in my own ability.
To get that opportunity through The PGA was incredible and hopefully my performance will warrant them having more invites on the tour in the future.
For me, these last few events have definitely helped my cause to ask for invites, whether it’s through the PGA or a management company or the Tour itself. I can now say to people that I played in the British Masters against some of the best players in the world and managed to finish 33rd. Then to go to the Challenge Tour the following week and finish 12th adds to that. So it would be a huge thanks to the PGA for the opportunity really.
