You could almost lose track of all the Germans who were out and about in Eichenried on Thursday. “Which one is that?” was a question that was heard several times from the spectators, who were already in droves on the first day of the BMW International Open: No wonder that a particularly large number of local athletes can also be seen at the home tournament . 15 golf professionals and two amateurs from Germany are taking part in the tournament in Eichenried this year – and based on this figure alone one can deduce that things are not going too badly in German golf at the moment.
“I’ll be honest: I’m very happy about it,” Hurly Long said on Thursday when asked how it feels to be the best German on the European tour at the moment. Long, 26, currently 30th in the season rankings, has established himself at the top European level this year – which is not always easy when you have been considered a great talent for ages. In 2017, at the age of 22, Long played a round of 61 shots at Pebble Beach, one of the most prestigious golf courses in the world, and became a celebrity there because all the legends of the game could not play better than him; his course record in California still stands today.
Competing with the best in the world from a young age has obvious benefits from a sporting perspective
Long is one of a group of German golfers that has been growing in recent years: in 2015, after school, he went to the USA to play golf in Texas. Competing yourself with the best in the world at an early age has obvious advantages from a sporting point of view, and US universities also offer quite a feel-good program for their students: Once you are in, you get coordinated curriculum and sports plans and have access to the best practice facilities and does not have to worry about organizing the tournaments or life planning – the focus is solely on the golf course. In addition to Long, professionals like Thomas Rosenmüller from Eichenried, who is now playing on the second-highest tour in the USA, crossed the Atlantic very early on and are now benefiting from the experience gained at a young age. The same goes for Matti Schmid, who was named best young player on the European tour last year.
“I’m a guy who needs a little more time for many things”: Nicolai von Dellingshausen.
(Foto: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
Nico von Dellingshausen chose a slightly different path. From Germany he went on the Pro Golf Tour, a small, European qualifying series that brought Martin Kaymer to a world career years before him. “I’m a guy who needs a little more time for a lot of things,” says Dellingshausen. He gradually played his way up from the small golf world to the big one, without the comfort of an elite university. He still remembers his first winner’s check for 400 euros for a 20th place at a tournament in Egypt: “I was happy at first, but then I did the math and realized that I couldn’t even use it to pay for my flight.”
From the lowest level, Dellingshausen worked his way into the European elite class. Even if the start was different, there are parallels: Despite his university education, Long proved himself again on the small Pro Golf Tour before he made the step up. Both are now capable of a victory that has been hoped for in Germany for a long time. “The guys are doing a really great job,” says Marcel Siem, who at the age of 41 is in a different phase of his career. Siem’s four tournament victories on the European tour are only beaten among the German players by Martin Kaymer, Alex Cejka and Bernhard Langer, the old squad that had to play German golf alone for a long time. “It used to be just Kaymer, Cejka, Langer, Siem. Today we have five or six people who are delivering good results,” says Siem: “What the DGV is currently doing seems to be working.”
Not everyone wants to permanently take the life-changing step to the USA like Langer once did
In recent years, the golf association has managed to establish more top-level funding in Germany, together with locations like St. Leon-Rot, where private investors like Dietmar Hopp have invested a lot of money to give young German players similar conditions to those in the USA . “These clubs promote sports in a very mature form,” says Dellingshausen, who learned to play golf at the Hubbelrath Golf Club near Düsseldorf.
What the younger generation is still missing is the step beyond the European level. Kaymer’s career on the tour in Europe gave him notoriety – but it was only with his victories in major tournaments that he was able to gain international status. Today he demands patience with a view to his successors in Germany: “I think it’s important that you give the young professionals enough time,” says Kaymer, who was the same role model for today’s generation as Bernhard Langer with his big victories for him.
The four majors – three in the US, one in the UK – will play an increasingly important role in a golfing world that is now reorganizing itself between tours in the US, Europe and Saudi Arabia. Young Germans are well aware of this. Not everyone wants to take the life-changing step to the USA like Langer once did, but want to play the big events every year with a base in Europe: “The PGA Tour is a great thing,” says Hurly Long: “But as a child I have many dreamed of things: to hole big putts, here in Europe – and for major wins.”
