Matt McQuillan has rediscovered his form and is proving he belongs on the PGA Tour.
Sometimes life as the next big thing can be -- as the Tragically Hip once put it -- a small-town bring-down.
Matt McQuillan loves Kingston, loves golf. But in 2006, after three frustrating years chasing his dreams with other people's money trying to fulfill his promise as Canada's next big golf hope, he'd had enough.
Away went the clubs and the former amateur star took a job bartending at Forno, an upscale pizza place in his hometown.
McQuillan, who rolls into the RBC Canadian Open as the sudden favourite for tallest midget honours -- also known as being the top Canadian in what is a deep international field -- basked in a disappearing act of his own making.
"I was kind of a forgotten person when I was working in town," he said this week from his Vancouver hotel prior to tipping it up at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club.
"Growing up all I knew was golf and I was well-known enough that everyone was pulling for me, everyone wanted to know how I was doing.
"It was kind of nice to get off the radar and not have to explain why I didn't shoot 65 or how I hit it OB (out of bounds) on that hole. It was nice to keep to myself a little bit," he said.
McQuillan, 30, is firmly back on the radar now. That's the way it works in Canadian golf, where any kind of success makes you a standout.
In early July, he broke a streak of 10 missed cuts in his rookie season on the PGA Tour to finish third at the John Deere Classic, the best finish by a Canadian on Tour in 2011. The third-place finish was worth $261,000 to McQuillan.
He followed it up with a tie for 34th at the Viking Classic in Mississippi, earning $19,000. It was enough to pull himself into 152nd place on the money list. McQuillan needs to finish in the top-125 to keep his card for next year.
His recent play is one of the few bright spots for Canadian professional golf on the eve of the national championships.
Stalwarts Mike Weir and Stephen Ames have seen their games fade after years as contenders on the PGA Tour. The next generation -- David Hearn, Jon Mills, Graham DeLaet and a handful of others -- haven't quite found their form of late, despite carving out solid pro careers. There have been some promising amateur performances but converting those into a run on the PGA Tour is uncertain at best.
While tiny Northern Ireland - with a population of 1,700,000 - can count three major champions in 13 months; Canada's streak of 56 years without a Canadian winning the national open looks likely to continue.
According to Henry Brunton, long-time national team coach for Golf Canada, a country with a golfing population the size of Canada's should produce a PGA Tour player about once every nine years.
"We're ahead of that pace," Brunton says. "But it's a big world out there. Canadian golf fans are looking for that player to be the face of Canadian golf and step up and contend and be a factor at majors -- and there are some players in the pipeline -- but no one is out there right now ready to satisfy the fan's hunger."
McQuillan at one point seemed to be good bet to be that player. He may yet be but he'll have taken the long way, should it happen.
"He is a legitimate talent and is afraid of no one," says Brunton.
After a stellar amateur career at U.S. powerhouse colleges Oklahoma State and Georgia, McQuillan rubbed shoulders with the likes of Charles Howell III and Hunter Mahan before turning professional in 2003.
As the toast of Kingston's golf scene, McQuillan met his rock and roll heroes, members of the Tragically Hip. He was initially sponsored by a consortium that included the band's bassist Gord Sinclair and guitarist Paul Langois.
The rockers could relate to the vicious game that is pro golf.
"There is no doubt both professions are really, really difficult to get to a higher level," said Sinclair from Kingston on a rare off day from The Hip'ssummer tour. "But doing what Matt does for a living is much more merciless than the rock and roll business. We've been fortunate and done really well at our level, but in Matt's profession it's a real feast or famine kind of thing."
McQuillan's experience was in some ways typical of Canadians trying to make it in what is a ruthlessly competitive global golf marketplace. There were some successes -- he won the Telus Edmonton Open on the Canadian Tour in 2005 -- but more failures.
"It was tough to stay optimistic with the way I was playing," he said. "There was a lot of adversity."
For a period of time, the solution was to quit. He wasn't enjoying the game and didn't want to be spending his backer's money (the minimum budget for a touring professional is about $1,500 a week) without any signs of being able to pay them back.
While working at Al Forno's -- a friend got him the job for which he had no experience -- he settled into a rhythm of slinging food and drinks at night and playing golf with friends for fun during the days. He didn't practice much, just ripped it. During one of those games, he tore off a pretty casual round in the low 60s.
"You get tired of saying 'nice shot' 64 times," said Sinclair.
After 18 months away from the competitive side, McQuillan realized his passion was back, but he didn't have the means to return to touring. In a matter of days, a second group of backers came together -- Sinclair isn't part of this one, though the Hip's managers also manage McQuillan -- and his bartending days were behind him.
His breakthrough came when he made it to the final stage of the PGA Tour's Qualifying school and earned his card for 2011, becoming the rare golfer to make the jump from the mini-tour circuit to the big leagues.
Those who have known McQuillan the longest say his talent was never in doubt. His long-time teacher Kevin Dickey recalls meeting him as a shy, bespectacled 13-year-old who could hit fades and draws on command even then.
"From about 16-20 (years old) he was the best player his age in the country," says Dickey, who worked with McQuillan at home in Kingston before his breakout showing at the John Deere earlier this month. "He has enormous ability."
It has taken time but there are significant signs that the talent is finally coming through, just when Canadian golf could use a good story to tell.
Little Northern Ireland can write full-length novels with chapters devoted to the likes of Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke, major champions all.
Canada could do with an upbeat haiku or maybe the chorus for a song.
"People want the best for you," McQuillan says. "They almost expect it to happen, or thought it would happen much sooner, but it takes time.
"I'm not giving up on my dream, I'm living it."
