Bowditch took unusual journey getting to Augusta

It took 30 years for Steven Bowditch to make it from his native Australia to the gates of Augusta National Golf Club, so you can imagine the thoughts racing through his head when he turned the courtesy car off Washington Road.

Well, perhaps not.

“The first thing that came to mind is a police officer pulled out in front of me and I thought, ‘Man, don’t crash on Magnolia Lane,’ ” Bowditch said with a laugh. “It was a cool moment just driving up there and seeing the clubhouse. It was a cool moment.”

Bowditch’s presence at the Masters Tournament is beyond cool. He doesn’t think his journey, which culminated with a Texas Open win two weeks ago, is all that special, but it truly is – perhaps one of the best perseverance tales in golf.

“People have gone through all sort of different things in life, and you see it all the time coming out the other side,” he said. “So, remarkable? Not at all.”

As a 17-year-old, Bowditch was paired as an amateur in the 2000 Australian Open at Kingston Heath with national icon Greg Norman. He impressed the Great White Shark enough with his game – a John Daly-esque combination of long but erratic driving and incredibly deft hands – to earn a lift in Norman’s private jet back to their native Queensland.

At age 22, Bowditch won the first Nationwide Tour event he entered on a sponsor’s exemption in South Australia. The next week, he lost a playoff in the New Zealand Open, launching him on a season that would see him finish fourth on the Nationwide Tour money list and earn him his PGA Tour card.

Instead of relishing his career achievement by reaching the most elite tour in the world, however, Bowditch experienced crippling depression. In a game defined by numbers, his rookie results in 2006 were written mostly in letters – MC, DQ, WD. In the two cuts he made in 22 starts, he finished 76th and 78th, earning a total of $11,160.

In the midst of that season, Bowditch tried to drown himself in the pool of his Dallas condo. His former girlfriend found him, resuscitated him and got him the help he needed to battle his depression. His story was detailed in 2009 by Golf World magazine, and it gets brought up every time Bowditch has success. However well-intentioned, Bowditch says, it’s like picking at a scab.

“To be honest, I haven’t been candid at all with it,” he said Tuesday under the big oak behind Augusta National’s clubhouse. “I only really did one or two stories with it early. And all the publicity in the last couple of weeks are all from that. It is a – I am regretful for what has happened, for what has come about. But for the wrong reasons for me; the right reasons for everyone else. If I can help that one person get through something, it’s worth all the questions and all the scrutiny and everything being re-brought up to the surface. But hopefully, I can just keep playing golf.

“It’s a very private and personal matter, but if I’ve been able to help someone it’s been all worth it.”

Bowditch is in a great place. His laugh is infectious. His excitement at being in Augusta is genuine. When he arrived Monday, the course was closed, so he made do.

“Had some buddies and went over across the road and played on the simulator,” he said. “That was my first time around Augusta. Turn up at the Masters and go across the road on a simulator.”

He sneaked off the 10th hole on Tuesday morning a few minutes before the gates to the course opened to spectators. But he paused at the top of the hill to see the patrons flood onto the course.

Then he turned and caught up with his caddie halfway down the 10th fairway.

“Yeah,” he said to his caddie. “This is pretty cool.”

When did the thought that he was playing for a spot in the Masters cross his mind in Texas?

“About the Friday before I’d won,” he said. “It’s just part of the deal. You can’t not think about it. You accept what it is and hopefully move past it and be able to do what you do and grab the invite at the end.”

This is where Bowditch always imagined he could be one day, no matter how far away it seemed.

“I had the belief,” he said. “When I was 15 or 16, I said right then and there when I made the decision to be a professional golfer that by the age of 30 I would have my PGA Tour card locked up and secured. I’ve had it a few times before that, but never had it locked up and secured. I guess it was always that goal and drive to get there. It’s a long road for any golfer out here, and these guys are the best in the world. Like any sport, you’ve got to put in that little bit extra if you want to get any further.”

Bowditch paused at the turn to wait to play the front side with countrymen Adam Scott, John Senden and Oliver Goss. He was a few years behind Scott at the Kooralbyn School, which later produced Jason Day.

They are part of a seven-man Australian contingent that kept expanding with a string of three Aussie winners in the past four PGA Tour events, including Senden in Tampa and Matt Jones in Houston.

“You know, to see Matt Jones win and Bowdo win, who are guys that I grew up with, was a great feeling for me,” Scott said. “Because I just, I don’t know, they finally got the belief that they were that good.”

Fellow Aussies Senden, Scott Gardiner and Aaron Baddeley stuck around the 18th green to congratulate their mate in Texas.

“I’m really proud of him,” Senden said afterward. “He’s a battler, and he did a great job. He’s gone through a lot in his life, and it’s great to see him come out the other end.”

Now he’s walking around Augusta National with the Masters music playing in his head and the secret to dealing with whatever comes his way.

“Great family life,” he said. “Play for more than yourself.”