Michael Sim reveals he is looking for a shift into coaching due to financial challenges of Australasian Tour

The golfer once touted as Australia’s next big thing and played alongside Tiger Woods in the final round of the U.S Open is facing the prospect of looking for work outside of tour golf. Discover how hard life can be for some of our best golfers.

THE golfer once touted as Australia’s next big thing and played alongside Tiger Woods in the final round of the U.S Open is facing the prospect of looking for work outside of tour golf.

Gold Coast golfer Michael Sim is one of many Australians on the PGA Tour of Australasia doing it tough on a circuit dropping events and prizemoney.

The 35-year-old, who goes into round three of the Australian PGA Championship today at one-under par, is currently completing his bridging course to become a PGA member in order to set him up for a coaching role in 2020.

Finalists for Blitz Golf at Glenelg. Michael Sim. Picture: David Brand

“I’m taking a bit of a different road at the moment,” The Robina resident said.

“We will see what happens over the weekend and it’s a bit unfortunate I haven’t really got anywhere to play overseas.

“I’ll probably look at doing a few pro-ams and play tour events in Australia then do some coaching.

“It’s a bit of a tough time in Australia at the moment. The Queensland Open wasn’t on this year and WA Open was pushed back to a pro-am. I believe it has to do with (the lack of) sponsors.”

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It’s a world away from the early stages of Sim’s career where he mixed it with the best in the world on the U.S PGA Tour, reaching a career high ranking of 34 in 2010.

Sim burst on to the scene in 2006 on the U.S development tour, earning a card for the PGA Tour where his battle with injury began.

A stress fracture in his back in 2007 was the start of his troubles but he managed to remain on the international scene, finishing the U.S Open tied 18th in 2009 while playing next to Woods, tied 51st in the PGA Championship and was invited to play in the 2020 Masters before having to withdraw due to injury.

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Sim has been playing around Australia in recent years but only a win at the Australian PGA would give him a card for the European Tour.

He hit one-over par in Round 1 but turned it around to hit two-under par on day two to make the cut.

“I got off to a pretty ordinary start (on Thursday) but I managed to get it back on track,” Sim said.

“I’m looking forward to the weekend. I haven’t really been looking at the leaderboard. There are a lot of great players in front of me but I’d like to post another couple of good rounds.”

“I’m still enjoying my golf. I’m definitely not as competitive as I used to be playing in the (United) States but I’m stringing a few rounds together which is nice.”