Big payday on the links still only a dream

Though he’s been a professional golfer since 2007, Mitchell Fox is still trying to figure out whether he has what it takes to make a living out of the sport.

So far in his pro career, Fox, who is from Alberta’s Blood Reserve, has racked up considerably more expenses than earnings. For example, last year he played in nine events on the Canadian Professional Golf Tour. Fox, who lives in Okotoks, Alta., made the cut in five of those tournaments and won a total of $3,012 from those events.  And that was an improvement from his 2008 season, in which he entered a dozen tournaments on the Canadian tour and won a measly $200.

Fox said it can cost between $20,000 and $50,000 to play on the Canadian tour in one season, so he’s been digging into his own pockets to finance his career.

And he’s been forced to take on the odd job, like earlier this year when he worked as a security guard. Fox has also relied on some financial support from family and sponsors.

Though he has yet to enjoy any huge paydays, Fox, 22, plans to continue plugging along in the sport. His eventual goal is to compete on the lucrative PGA Tour, the world’s premier circuit.

“When I turned pro, I said I was going to do it for eight years minimum,” he said. “In golf, most guys don’t peak until they’re 30 years old.”

Fox said he’ll re-evaluate his career in a few years from now. If he’s still struggling on the Canadian Tour, he’ll probably know it’s time to do something else. But he’s hoping he’ll be making a living at the sport, hopefully on the PGA Tour or at least another better-paying circuit in the U.S.

As for the 2010 season, Fox is hoping to once again be a regular on the Canadian tour. He’ll head to Parksville, B.C., beginning on May 25, to participate in a tour qualifying event. Should he fare well there, Fox would earn his tour card, allowing him to enter any of the 10 events in the country on the Canadian circuit this year.
And if he doesn’t receive his tour card from the Parksville tournament, Fox can still try to enter competitions on the Canadian tour by qualifying for individual events.

Fox has already enjoyed some success this season south of the border. He placed second in the Talking Stick Championship, an event on the professional First Nations Golf Association (FNGA) Tour. That tournament, held March 12 to 14, was in Scottsdale, Arizona.

It was the first FNGA Tour event that Fox had entered. There’s a chance he could participate in other events on that circuit later this year.

“My first priority is the Canadian tour,” he said. “It’s a bigger tour and you get a lot more recognition.”

It seems only natural that Fox became interested in golf. He said he’s been on the links since the age of two. His father was a golf pro, first at a club in Medicine Hat and then later on the Enoch First Nation.

But Fox said one can’t really say he’s been golfing since the age of two.

“I was probably just hanging around and being a pest,” he said.

By the age of 10, however, Fox started entering tournaments. And then a couple of years later he realized he wanted to become a pro golfer.

Fox, who turned pro at age 19, originally thought he would be going to school in the U.S. while furthering his golf career. He accepted a scholarship offer from the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV).

Though he was keen to play in the NCAA ranks, just before what would have been his freshman year Fox opted to turn pro instead.

“I had a change of heart and wanted to go in a different direction,” said Fox, who won back-to-back Alberta junior championships in 2005 and ’06. “I knew a couple of guys that went down (to different U.S. schools) and they didn’t like it.”

During the past two years, Fox said he has been the only Aboriginal golfer on the Canadian pro circuit. But that’s not because he is the only one talented enough.

“There are (other Aboriginal) people capable of playing on the tour,” he said. “But it’s a big step to take. And it’s an expensive step.”