Gavin Dear tees off 2010

on the Road to Morocco


FROM THE SCOTSMAN.SPORT.COM WEBSITE
By Martin Dempster
Gavin Dear, one third of Scotland's Eisenhower Trophy-winning team of 2008, has found out quickly that being a professional golfer is not necessarily as glamorous as some might think.
The Murrayshall man launches his 2010 campaign today on the Alps Tour in Morocco and has discovered that life on one of the third-tier circuits in Europe is a far cry from the main Tour. "Morocco is an interesting country to have travelled to and the drive down from Casablanca to Essaouira was different, it certainly wasn't like driving to Lytham Trophy," said Dear (pictured by Tom Ward Photography).
"A lot of people will think that it's a fabulous life being a professional golfer. It can be, but out here this week it's not particularly fabulous. Myself and Steven Hume, who also qualified for the Alps Tour, hired a car as there was no other way to get to the tournament venue.
"This car wouldn't pass an MOT back home and I spent the drive dodging horse and carts, chickens, sheep and dogs."
Dear, who won the Alps Tour qualifying school in November, has spent a month in Florida preparing for the new campaign and is looking to get off to a flying start in this week's £50,000 Open de Mogador.
The winner of the event gets in to the European Challenge Tour's Moroccan Golf Classic in April and the 25-year-old from Scone, Perthshire is hoping that can be one of a handful of appearances on the second-tier circuit.
"I have spent a lot of time with my management group working out strategies and finding out bits of information to help formulate a schedule," he said.
"For instance, I have entered the qualifying for the Allianz Tour, a French circuit run by the French Federation. At the Tour School, if you finish in the top five you receive an invite into the four Allianz Challenge Tour events in 2010."
While Richie Ramsay, for one, believes that a negative attitude has held some Scottish golfers back in the past, Dear, who is delighted to be representing Murrayshall House Hotel and Golf Courses this season, says that won't happen with him.
"The advantage of going to America (he went to Lynn University, Boca Raton in Florida) is that I became more of a positive person," he said. "I really have a 'can do' attitude these days. Most importantly, though, I expect more of myself these days. I am still able to remain level headed and that will undoubtedly be my biggest strength."