Ross McGowan Q&A

Features
  • September 7, 2009

Find out more about England’s Ross McGowan, including his love of 1980s British sporting superstars with moustaches.

One good week can change a golfer’s perspective on a year quite quickly, as Surrey’s Ross McGowan can testify.
At the start of last week he was safely inside the top 100 of the European Tour rankings so would have felt his card for 2010 was safe enough, but after a fine third place finish in the Swiss mountains at Crans-sur-Sierre, McGowan is now 63rd in the inaugural Race to Dubai.
It means a place at the Dubai World Championship is now a realistic possibility for one of England’s finest young players.
Good as McGowan is, however, he is also flying a little under the radar for many golf fans who know much more about his friend Rory McIlroy and other hot young Europeans such as Martin Kaymer, Alvaro Quiros and Pablo Larrazabal.
If his three years as a professional have not quite measured up to the startling efforts of those players, McGowan’s quiet progress shouldn’t be overlooked.
He turned pro at the start of 2007 after a successful spell at college in Tennessee and an amateur career that earned him representative honours and the 2006 English Amateur Championship.
He wasted no time adjusting to life in the paid ranks, claiming three top 11 finishes in his first three starts in South Africa.
Within a few months he had claimed two wins on the Challenge Tour and was seeking a battlefield promotion as he sought the third season win that would catapult him onto the main tour.
That proved just beyond him (he had three runners-up finishes) but started his rookie year on the main tour just as smoothly as he had begun on the Sunshine and Challenge Tours.
Six top ten finishes in 2008 earned him over 400,000 Euro and 70th place on the end of season rankings.
This year has been a little more erratic but he has already banked more money than in 2008 and there is time to add more.
He very nearly won the Johnnie Walker Classic in February – an inspired last day charge from Danny Lee foiled him – and he was calm and collected when claiming third spot in the Omega European Masters.
Earlier this summer Golf365 got the chance to find out more about one of the more laid back and friendly faces on the Tour.
The Ross McGowan Q&A
Favourite food: Steak
Favourite TV programme: Top Gear
Favourite film: Se7en
Favourite music: Alternative
Favourite football team & player: Aston Villa, Dean Saunders
Favourite golf course in the UK: Burnham and Berrow, Walton Heath
Favourite golf course worldwide: Seaside Course, Sea Island, Georgia
Favourite course designer: Donald Ross
Favourite club: Driver
Event you’d most like to win: The Open Championship
Major your game is most suited to: The Open Championship
Best round of golf: 59 at Willow Creek, Tennessee in 2003
Worst round of golf: My first junior Stableford in 1995
Player(s) to watch: Alvaro Quiros and Rory McIlroy
Best friend in golf: Rory McIlroy and Rob Dinwiddie
Dream four-ball: Nigel Mansell, Alan Shearer and Graham Gooch
Career Highlights:
European Tour: Runner-up 2009 Johnnie Walker Classic & Third 2009 Omega European Masters
Challenge Tour: winner of 2007 Estoril Challenge de Portugal & 2007 Oceanico Developments Pro-Am Challenge
Amateur: 2006 English Amateur Champion
In the bag:
Driver: Callaway FT5
3-wood: Callaway FT Tour
2-iron: Adams Golf Idea Pro
Irons: Callaway Prototype
Wedges: Callaway X Tour
Putter: Odyssey White Hot #7
Shoes: Footjoy Dryjoys
Head cover: Smoky (University of Tennessee mascot)
Belts & buckles: Druh

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