This month our writer reflects on the time in his career where he experienced playing on the PGA Tour 

Fifty years ago I flew from the-then Jan Smuts Airport to play on the PGA Tour in America. I had got my PGA Tour Card the previous December at the Tour School in Orlando, and left in good form as I had just led the European Tour Order of Merit, therefore following in the footsteps of Peter Oosterhuis who had done the same the year before.

In two weeks of golf, there were two events of four rounds each and they gave out 25 cards. There were two South Africans, Vin Baker and myself. Seve Ballesteros was also there. Well-known Americans like Jerry Pate, who won a US Open, George Burns, Bruce Lietske and Craig Stadler all missed out, which meant they had to wait another year to try again.

My first event was the Andy Williams San Diego Open which coincidently was played at the same course where I had won the World Junior Championship as a 17-year-old, at Torrey Pines.

As you can imagine, playing on the PGA Tour had been a dream since I was a kid. Now, here I was fortunate to know the golf course but hardly knew any of the other players, so was out of my comfort zone. I was used to having a large group of South African players around to play practice rounds with, eat dinner and generally mix with.

So this was my first tournament as a professional golfer on the greatest pro tour in the world and my goal for the year was to finish in the Top 60. The short-term goal was to keep making cuts so that I wouldn’t have to pre-qualify for upcoming tournaments.

My play that week was good and I left quite happy with my first event in America. Then it was a short trip north to Los Angeles for the Glen Campbell LA Open played at the wonderful Riviera Country Club, a terrific golf course that has staged Majors and is famous as one of the few courses in America that has kikuyu fairways.

Although it wasn’t far away, I had to arrange to get there, find a place to stay, somewhere to eat and make sure that the hotel was an easy drive to the golf course. I ended up staying at a Holiday Inn and there were no other players that I saw all week. I had dinner on my own all that week, which wasn’t fun.

Gary Player and Bobby Cole hadn’t started playing that year – they would both only start when the Tour moved to the Florida Swing.

I began with a solid 69 then shot 75 which was good enough to play over the weekend, where I had two 73s and finished 30th. I was drawn to play with Arnold Palmer for the final round which was a special experience.

From Los Angeles it was a move all the way to South Florida for The Players Championship, at the Inverrary Golf & Country Club in Fort Lauderdale. Deane Beman, the PGA Tour Commissioner, was already planning the permanent home for this event and the goal was even then to try to make it the fifth Major. Jack Nicklaus was quoted as saying that he’d like to win it three or four times to get it onto his record.

That week I also took possession of a new Cadillac. My plan was to drive to most of the tournaments. Unfortunately, I didn’t realise how far apart some of the tournaments were and America is a huge country, especially if driving alone.

This was the first of two missed cuts in a row but the good news was that Bobby Cole, Gary Player and Peter Oosterhuis were now all playing, so my practice rounds weren’t so lonely.

The second of the Florida Swing of events was the Florida Citrus Open which is now called the Arnold Palmer, at Rio Pinar Golf. The next year I had my best finish on the PGA Tour there, finishing second to Gary Koch.

The Doral Eastern Open is played in Miami and is still a venue on the PGA Tour. After rounds of 69, 73 and 69 I was paired with Gary in the last round and was tied for 8th on the final tee. A par at the last and I tied with Tom Weiskopf and beat Gary by one shot. Anyway, my 14th place finish was the best so far for the year but I was going to need a lot more of these finishes if I wanted to finish in the Top 60.

At the end of March we travelled north to South Carolina for the Sea Pines Heritage Classic played on a newish Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus-designed course called Harbour Town. It was Nicklaus’ first attempt at golf course design and it was – and still is – a stunner. I made the cut but was down the list.

I was starting to get excited as it was now only two weeks to The Masters and we played in the Greater Greensboro Open the week before. After a 75 in round one, I shot a 67 to get to play over the weekend and just managed to finish in the money.

Now it was off to Augusta for my second visit. There were four South Africans in the field – Gary, Hugh Baiocchi, Bobby and myself. I can’t say my first venture to Augusta was that enjoyable as I missed the cut. I was also completely intimidated.

I was much more comfortable in my second Masters and really played well. In round one I hit my second shot over the green at the par five 15th and chipped it over the green into the water and ended up with a dreadful eight and shot 75. I then got progressively better with a 74, 73 and a final round of 70 to finish 19th which ensured I got an invitation to the following year.

Those were my first three months on the PGA Tour. My big mistake was not to get a base in America – somewhere I could go to after missing a cut or when I had a week off. I really think that would have made a huge difference. In those days to get back to South Africa from America it was a two-day trip so I was only worth it if you had at least two weeks off. Whereas playing in Europe was easier.

There was also the additional pressure of having to make the cut so you were in the following week. From my first year in Europe I was always exempt. The only tournament I ever had to pre-qualify for was my first Open Championship in 1971.

It’s easy to see why I preferred to play in Europe – big fish in a small pond rather than a small fish in a huge pond.