NAYARIT, Mexico – The road to the PGA TOUR hasn’t been easy for Brian Benedictson but he showed marked improvement in 2009 after losing his card in both 2007 and 2008.

Benedictson, 30, finished T-18 at the Tour Championship earlier this month, guaranteeing him a place to play in 2010.

The Canadian Tour sat him down for an interview.

CANADIAN TOUR: You grew up in Comox, British Columbia. Where is that?

BRIAN BENEDICTSON: Comox is a town of about 12,000 on the northern half of Vancouver Island.

CT: Was it the typical ‘My parents started me in golf’ beginning.

BB: Yeah. I grew up on a nine-hole golf course and I would play 36 holes every day in the summer and work at the course. My dad is a 2-handicap and we would play together as much as possible. Both parents were golfers and started me when I was ten. I got the hang of it right away and was a scratch golfer by the time I was 13.  

CT: British Columbia has a great climate for golf, doesn’t it?

BB: I live in probably the mildest climate in Canada so we can golf year round. The golf courses in the area close for maybe six weeks but there are no set dates that they do. I’ve played golf on Christmas and New Years day even though the greens may be slightly frozen and the course is wet.

CT: Compared to many players, you took a somewhat unconventional route to being a touring pro. Why?

BB: I was only 17 when I graduated high school and still had a year of junior golf left. I wanted to keep playing golf but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to college or not. I decided to take a year off, get a job and do my own thing for that year. I wanted to experience life on a different level than what I was used to and figure out what I wanted to do. That one year turned into four years and in those four years, I worked 50 hours a week on a construction site.

CT: What did you do?

BB: I started off as your general labourer packing lumber and shovelling dirt. I took a lot of pride in what I did and moved steadily up the ladder. When you work in carpentry, you can physically see something go up and I found that very interesting. I really enjoyed the work but I started to see myself going down the wrong road. I realized it was time to go to college and start playing more golf than I had been. I was still playing during the construction years but although I was playing in all the amateur tournaments, I wasn’t what you would call competitive. It was time for a fresh start and a new road.

CT: Do you mind sharing what wrong road you headed down?

BB: It was just the redneck road of drinking beer and working all the time. I didn’t want to turn into the hillbilly I was turning into - so I went the other way. I was making good money and working hard but it wasn’t what I wanted to be doing anymore. I felt like I was stagnating.

CT: Yet you majored in Construction Management when you went to college.

BB: I still had a love for it so I wanted to find a college where I could get a golf scholarship and study construction. I went to Utah Valley State Junior College for two years because it had both.  I got almost straight A’s there after having a C+ average in high school. That showed me that if I apply myself, I can get things done. I then transferred to Chico State (California), took Construction Management and played on the golf team. My dad was a contractor and because of that, I have always had an interest in math. I loved learning things like how to build a bridge and how thick a piece of plywood has to be to support the concrete. It was a very busy time in my life and I made a lot of good contacts there.

CT: And you also made the Dean’s List.

BB: I did. I’m pretty smart, I guess (laughs), but I’m really just a hard worker. I always have been and that work ethic has helped me throughout my life. If I had an exam at eight in the morning I would get up at 4:30 and study until then.

CT: Talk about your professional start in golf.

BB: During my last year of college, I started putting sponsorship packages together and was able to raise enough money for two years of pro golf. I bought into a series on the Gateway Tour and didn’t even come close to cracking an egg.

CT: Cracking an egg?

BB: I had never played desert golf before and the guys were shooting 25 under par every week. I was shooting even or a couple under and missing almost every cut. I eventually won a couple of mini-tour events and talked to a few guys who recommended the Canadian Tour so I came back home. I got my card in the spring of 2007, lost it and then got it right back in the fall. I lost my card again in 2008, got it back, and here I am again.  

CT: Turning pro and having that kind of start must have been a real eye-opener.

BB: For sure it was. It’s always difficult to step up to the next level because you have a tendency to look around and compare yourself to other players. You watch others working on putting or some other part of their game and you question whether that is what you should be working on. I know that affected me and for a time I lost what got me to where I was. You know, ‘There is the ball and there is the hole – now hit it.’

CT: That seems to happen to a lot of players, is the intimidation factor part of it?

BB: I don’t know, but it seems like we all start working on our swings too much and overanalyzing everything. On top of that you have to worry about money, making cuts, getting sponsors and traveling. I’ve always believed I have the game to compete out here and I think it just takes time to find your way.

CT: What is Brian Benedictson’s way?

BB: It’s what I had when I was a little kid.

CT: ‘There is the ball and there is the hole…’

BB: Uh huh. It’s also having fun on the golf course and laughing and joking around with the guys. You bear down and get serious but in the end, it’s just a game. If you take it too seriously and try too hard, it won’t be much fun and you end up beating yourself up. Keep it simple.

CT: You just said ‘Keep it simple’ but earlier you were speaking of your fascination with how things work. That seems to reflect an analytical side; does that come into play or even interfere with how you approach golf?

BB: Yeah…and that is something that I’m trying to get away from because I don’t want to be analytical with my golf game. I want to keep an eye on the fundamentals and I don’t want to be out there thinking about every part of my swing. My dad is the biggest analyzer you have ever seen and I guess some of that has rubbed off on me. The biggest thing for me is to just be happy and enjoy what I am doing. Obviously you want to play as well as you can but you don’t want to be miserable all week if it doesn’t go exactly how you want it to.