Six funny travel stories and experiences, as told by Australia’s leading golfers and one highly entertaining Englishman.
If there’s one thing professional golfers learn quickly, it’s that life on tour can be five-star hotels, courtesy cars and pristine fairways – but not all the time. And certainly not in the earlier stages of one’s career. For every postcard sunset over a practice fairway at a PGA Tour, DP World Tour, Asian Tour or LIV Golf event, there’s a missed connection, a frantic repacking session or worse. The Australian contingent, scattered across tours from Tokyo to Texas, seems to specialise in the kind of hilarious travel chaos that becomes funnier – but only after enough time has passed. ▶ ▶ ▶
Cam Smith’s calendar mix up
“In 2018, I played really solid at the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club. I played great in the final round and finished T-6. I was all packed and relaxed heading to LAX airport in Los Angeles on Sunday night. I had a red-eye (overnight) flight booked back to Jacksonville, Florida through Charlotte. It was set to take off at 12:30am and I was going to land in Jacksonville about 10am. When I got to the airport, the kiosk wouldn’t let me check in, so I asked an airline staffer what was going on. She quickly pointed out that I had actually booked my 12:30am flight for that Sunday, meaning just after midnight before the final round – not 12:30am on Monday morning after the tournament finished. I felt so silly [laughs]. I think I had to sit there and book another flight on my phone. I managed to get a brand-new flight that connected through Denver, Colorado, where I had a layover for a few hours. I don’t think I arrived back in Florida until the afternoon.”
Marcus Fraser’s food nightmare
“I had food poisoning in Jakarta [at the Asian Tour’s Jakarta International Championship last year] and had to withdraw. It was the first time [in 23 years as a pro golfer] that I’ve had to WD with illness and not injury,” the three-time DP World Tour winner recalls. “I ordered some sushi into the hotel… felt a bit brave [doing that] and realised I was a bit stupid. I was in bed for two days, but I managed to get back out to the course on Sunday afternoon because [fellow Australian] Wade Ormsby was leading. The Asian Tour gave me a cart to get around the course and watch him. Wade won, and I celebrated with him, but I had to just drink a lemonade and eat a piece of dry toast. It was the only thing I ate for three days.”
Lucas Herbert’s right city, wrong state
In 2021, Lucas Herbert birdied the 72nd hole of the Albertsons Boise Open to fulfill a lifelong dream of earning a PGA Tour card. At least he thought it did, before a media release from the PGA Tour used the word “likely” and made him feel less certain. He had finished T-4 but figured it best to travel from Boise, Idaho, to the next event in case he needed another good result at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, to improve his status for the next PGA Tour season.
Direct flights from Boise to Columbus didn’t exist, though. So, Herbert and his team flew from Boise to Dallas to connect to Columbus in order to play the tournament at the Scarlet course at Ohio State University Golf Club.
“We all fly in, grab our bags and we go to the rental car desk to get our car,” Herbert said on a podcast. “I had the Avis app and it was telling me that the car was there, but something wasn’t matching up. I was thinking maybe there were two airports and we were at the wrong one. Then I look at Google Maps and not only am I at the wrong airport but I’m in the wrong city. We’d booked flights to Columbus, Georgia!
“We got through the entire process of checking in, got our boarding passes, got on the plane and it was not until we got to the airport and looked at our location on Google Maps that we realised we’re in the wrong state!”
Anthony Quayle’s haunted mansion
“I have a similar story [to Herbert]. One year, I think it was my rookie season on the Japan Tour, I hopped on the bullet train from Tokyo Station. I can’t remember how to pronounce the name of the town I was heading to, but it was the first time I tried to buy the ticket myself instead of going to a teller and getting them to issue the ticket for me. There are 47 prefectures in Japan, so it’s tricky. I boarded the train and I was sitting on it for two hours, into a four-hour train ride, when I realised, Oh s–t, I’m going in the wrong direction. I’m supposed to be going north of Tokyo, but I’m heading south-west. I jumped off at the next station, got another ticket, and then it was about six hours back up to the where I was originally supposed
to go.
“Aside from the train, I’ve been really lucky in terms of flying and the stories of clubs being lost in transit. I do have a good accommodation story. Me and a few other Aussie pros got an Airbnb last year, and this thing was 100 percent haunted. I don’t even believe in that stuff. But the first night we stayed there, I thought I heard someone jostling my doorknob at 2 o’clock. I woke up to it, and I was like, The guys are messing with me. I slept average that night and then I woke up and all the boys were in the kitchen. I said, ‘Did one of you idiots play around with my doorknob last night?’ And they were like, ‘No.’ I then told them I thought someone was trying to open my door last night. They asked, ‘At what time?’ I said, ‘2 o’clock.’ One of the boys said he heard footsteps outside his door at 2 o’clock and the lights turned on at 2 o’clock. For the rest of the week, I slept horrifically and I don’t even believe in that stuff. Now, I guess I’m a believer [laughs].”
Scott Hend’s borrowed set
“In 2021, I was playing on the European Tour, playing in Hamburg at the Porsche European Open a week after we had played in Denmark. I had like four days off, so I decided to fly back [home to] America to see my family. Then, I came back to Hamburg, Germany. In the process, the airlines lost my luggage and golf clubs, so I had to go to Uniqlo to buy some clothes. I had to use [Scottish tour pro] Stephen Gallacher’s golf clubs. His clubs are about a D6 [swingweight], so much heavier than mine. I kept hitting every shot fat. And then I went to the golf professional at the course and ended up using his golf clubs out of the shop. I borrowed a pair of golf shoes from [another Scottish tour pro] Scott Jamieson. I ended up missing the cut, obviously.”
Eddie Pepperell’s missed/made cut
“In 2015, I was playing the Open de Espana at Real Golf Club El Pratt [near Barcelona] and I thought I’d missed the cut. So, I flew home [to England]. I literally got off the plane and checked the leaderboard, saw I’d actually made the cut, and had to hop on another flight immediately from Gatwick back to Barcelona that night. That’s the only time I’ve ever done that, because it’s an unusual thing to do. When I walked off the course on Friday afternoon after my second round, I sat somewhere silly on the leaderboard, like in 95th or 100th place. But everybody [in the afternoon wave] just went backwards and I made the cut. I flew home with Jamie, my caddie, and we had to fly back out together. I arrived back in Spain at midnight and got back to the hotel late. I had a very early tee-time. I remember I played the weekend with Miguel Angel Jimenez.”
Photographs by Christian Petersen, Arep Kulal, Steve Dykes, David Cannon, Will Russell, Matthew Lewis
