Lockdown life in Florida could be worse for Scott Jamieson

Scot says it will be ‘hard’ when the PGA Tour returns to action as he waits for August start-up
Scott Jamieson has been in Florida, where he now lives, since returning from Qatar early last month.Scott Jamieson has been in Florida, where he now lives, since returning from Qatar early last month.
Scott Jamieson has been in Florida, where he now lives, since returning from Qatar early last month.

Think Mary Poppins or Nanny McPhee. Well, maybe not. But lockdown life for Scott Jamieson is very much along the lines of two of the names that instantly spring to mind when he mentions his main job at the moment in the family home in Florida.

“(Wife) Natalie has taken on the role as teacher for the home schooling for our six-year-old daughter, Zoe, which means I’m being the nanny looking after our other two children, three year-old Oscar and Max, who is one,” said the affable Glaswegian, laughing. “I’m good at that job to a point – the bikes have been getting good use in the street – but then run out of things to do.”

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That home is in Ponte Vedra Beach, basically next door to TPC Sawgrass, which hosts he Players’ Championship, golf’s so-called fifth major. The Jamiesons moved there two and a half years ago, partly because Natalie is American and partly to allow Scott the opportunity to practise in decent weather in the winter.

“We could certainly be in much worse spots, that’s for sure,” the 36-year-old told The Scotsman/Scotland on Sunday of living in the Sunshine State during golf’s shutdown due to the coronavirus crisis. “We are on lockdown, much like people back home, but given the weather, we are able to be outside a lot with the kids.

“We live in a gated community and we have barely left since I got home from Qatar (the last event on the European Tour in the first week of March). We feel as though we are protected here. We can play out on the street. There are a few other families in the street with young kids, so they can ride their bikes out there as we chat to one another from across the driveway.

“I think Orlando is a little bit stricter than us here in St John’s County, where the number of infections is relatively low. If you are out in public in Orlando, you have to be wearing a face mask.

“My golf course here, The Plantation, is actually still open, as is TPC Sawgrass, but I haven’t played. I am able to go along and do a bit of chipping and putting as it is still being maintained. But, with the world still being in the thick of this pandemic, there is no point in me going to play at the moment. I’ll wait, especially when it looks as though it is going to be a while before we are back competing again.”

Events on the European Tour have either been postponed or cancelled until the end of July, with the Betfred British Masters, due to be held at Close House, near Newcastle, due to be first up on an ever-thinning schedule. In the US, meanwhile, the PGA Tour is planning to restart in the middle of June, with the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth set to be the first of four tournaments to be staged without any fans.

“Life is a little different just now, isn’t it?” said Jamieson, who played his amateur golf at Cathkin Braes on the south side of Glasgow. “It is obviously frustrating. I think everybody just wants to get back playing as soon as possible. But it is a completely different kettle of fish. There’s one government here in the US, albeit the local ones.

“There’s so much more goes into getting a European Tour event up and running. You have to talk to the German government, the French government, the Spanish government, even the Scottish government and the UK government. I don’t envy their position at Wentworth (headquarters of the European Tour) right now. They’ve got an unbelievable headache on their hands.

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“As for the PGA Tour, starting in June seems very optimistic to me. But, if they do, that will be hard for me sitting and watching all the guys I play and practise with here go back to work. But it is what it is. There is nothing I can do about it. I will just need to try to be ready when we get the go-ahead.”

Keith Pelley, the European Tour chief executive, has told members they should expect a change in prize funds as “tough measures” are implemented in the short and long term. In an interview with The Scotsman, eight-time European No 1 Colin Montgomerie said a “total reset” was looming.

“It is definitely concerning,” admitted Jamieson, winner of the 2012 Nelson Mandela Championship in South Africa. “The European Tour has done a great job the last couple of years in boosting the prize funds. But no one knows how big a hit this is going to cause. If we are playing for 75 per cent of what we have been for the next couple of years, it’s probably not that big a deal. But, if it is bigger than that, then, yeah, it could potentially be a problem.

“I think there will still be a big hunger for live sport when this passes, so hopefully sponsors recognise that, jump on it and try to help make everything positive again.”

Among the events postponed is the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open. It was due to be held in July back at The Renaissance Club, where Jamieson finished as the leading home player in joint 24th in the Rolex Series event last summer.

“Ideally, starting back at the Scottish Open would have been great,” he admitted. “But would you want to play the Scottish Open with no fans? It is such a great event and hopefully we might be able to have fans if it’s in September, so that would make it a better option.

“If the tour is back up and running again in August, that would be fantastic. It’s disappointing that we can’t start in Germany (the BMW International Open scheduled for June has been cancelled along with the French Open the following week), but if we can get the Scottish Open on the calendar at a different time, that’s not going to be a big deal in the end, is it?”

The one downside for Jamieson about living so far away from home at the moment is not being able to see his dad, Peter. “He’s on lockdown on his own. He suffers from COPD, so he needs to be very careful,” he said. “My sister has been dropping his shopping off for him. I feel terrible for him because for the last four weeks he’s been out for his daily walk but not had any contact with other human beings.

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“At least if you are a family on lockdown, albeit you end up stepping on each other’s toes, you have someone else to talk to. You might have to bite your tongue every so often, but that’s not a problem at the moment.”

He is looking forward, though, to being back on the golf course with his trusty caddie, fellow Scot Ritchie Blair, at his side. “I miss competing,” admitted Jamieson. “I love the game and all that, but it’s more the daily purpose and the motivation to get better that isn’t there just now that you miss because you don’t know when we are going to be back playing again. It’s completely out of our hands, but hopefully it’s sooner rather than later.”

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