Greg Chalmers: A Career of Success on and off the Course
When discussing Australia’s leading players over the past two or three decades, Greg Chalmers deserves to be at least mentioned in the conversation. Five professional victories at home, including two Australian Open titles, two victories at the Australian PGA, added to a win at the Barracuda Championship on the PGA Tour and a handful on the secondary Tours of the US and Europe, and Chalmers can lay claim to 11 professional titles in total. Before that the personable left-hander won the Australian Amateur in 1993, after being introduced to the game on the NSW Central Coast, then developing his skills and becoming an elite player while resident in WA and a member at Royal Fremantle. It’s been an extremely successful career by anyone’s standards.
Greg Chalmers is enjoying some early success on the PGA Tour Champions. And now having turned 50, the smile which has always been present, through both the highs and lows professional golf throws up, has become even broader, with Chalmers ready to tackle the PGA Tour Champions with his trademark energy and enthusiasm. Missing the qualifying school was a setback, however undeterred Chalmers has managed to play three tournaments early in the Champions Tour season and after a promising start has high hopes for what lies ahead.
“I’m really enjoying myself,” Chalmers said of competing against the over 50’s. “It’s been an extremely pleasant, slash, enjoyable experience. “It’s like everyone has chilled out a little bit and knows how fortunate we are to be still playing golf for a living in our 50’s and 60’s. “(The Champions Tour) has a great amount of competitiveness, but everyone has a smile on their face and is reasonably happy. I’m really loving it.”
With no exempt status, Chalmers managed to Monday qualify for the Cologuard Classic in Tucson, Arizona in early March, closing with a 67 in finishing tied for seventh in his senior tour debut. That top 10, as the leading player not already in the field for the following week’s event, earned him a start at Newport Beach, where he backed the first up performance with a 33rd at the Hoag Classic. Chalmers then would again safely negotiate another pre-qualifier for the Galleri Classic at the Mission Hills Country Club, finishing tied for ninth in another strong outing, and his senior career was off and running. A fourth start in his now hometown of Dallas next on the schedule, and with a positive outlook and a game trending in the right direction, Chalmers is looking ahead with plenty of enthusiasm.
“It’s been really great. I just need more chances and I think I can do something really cool,” he said. “There’s a category later in the year where tournaments start to include the top four guys who’ve made the most money and aren’t in the field. I’m in some majors now. I think I’m in the Senior PGA in May and there’s some events I hope to get in as I keep playing. I’ve had a lovely start, but you’ve just got to keep pushing. “Once you miss at Q School you’ve got to try to break the door down, it’s not going to be given to you.”
While Chalmers is also having fun off the course at the same time. In 20 years in the US, where Chalmers has called Dallas home, his PGA Tour career was highlighted by the victory at the 2016 Barracuda Championship near Reno, Nevada, where the unique, at least for professional golf, stableford scoring system is used. While any win on the US Tour is worth celebrating, little did Chalmers know at the time that his lone victory would asssit with his preparations for what was to come.
“It’s given me a lot more opportunity than I ever thought. I’ve ridden it into categories on the PGA Tour than have allowed me to play for a long time,” he explained. “Last year I played 15 events on the PGA Tour, so I was plenty busy enough. Really, I was just doing everything I could to stay sharp enough for Q school, Champions Tour, ready for turning 50.”
While his exploits and results on course are one thing, Chalmers has also branched out into the world of social media, showcasing his personality away from the fairways and greens of tournament golf. In building up quite the on-line media presence, Chalmers has attracted a strong following on Instagram (gregchalmers1973) and Twitter(now X – @GregChalmersPGA), as well as on the Hack It Out Golf podcast. They even have a name for his supporters.
“We came up with a nickname the ‘Gregulators’ on the podcast, so we have a bit of fun with that. The guys I do the podcast with have a big social media footprint, so it has quite a wide reach,” Chalmers said.
But is he an influencer or agitator with his posts and views on his social media channels? “I’m 50 years old and I have zero energy for things that agitate me or anyone else,” Chalmers joked, which is no surprise to anyone who knows him.
As for a potential trip home for the Australian golfing summer, if the stars align and schedules allow, the ever-smiling lefty could be heading our way sometime soon.
“I looked at it last year. It was only having Q School on the table, and I got into some PGA Tour events that handbraked me going back to Australia,” Chalmers reasoned. “If I can fit it in, I’ll definitely do it. It depends on how deep I go into the season here on the Champions Tour. I know they go right into November too. “The only thing that stops me coming back is scheduling. It’s got nothing to do with desire, the desire is always there.”
The desire will also be there for his followers and supporters to keep a keen eye on his progress on the Champions Tour, back on local shores to also watch him play should that trip home fit the schedule, and to engage with his entertaining social media and podcast offerings. He may have turned 50, however Greg Chalmers is certainly still having fun.
