Lucas Herbert didn’t have a Tour card in January, now Australian star is ranked 84th in the world

LESS than 12 months ago Lucas Herbert didn’t even have a Tour card, now the Australian rising star is 84th in the world and chasing big money in the European Tour playoffs.

Lucas Herbert shakes hands after finishing his round at the Portugal Masters.

LUCAS Herbert is 22, from Bendigo, and right now there are only 83 golfers on the planet better than him.

Last month that number was 77 because big-hitting Herbert didn’t just jump into the world’s top 100 for the first time, he shot to 78 after a string of stellar results that helped push his 2018 prizemoney upwards of $1.4 million.

It’s a staggering rise given he began the year without official playing status anywhere, just a lot of confidence after a Sunday last November when he nearly won the Australian Open.

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Munching on a cheeseburger in a Cheltenham cafe, just down from his apartment located, not surprisingly, in the glorious Melbourne sandbelt recently Herbert said it was the Sunday last December, when he played with Australia’s top-ranked player Jason Day, and beat him, that he realised he could take his game to the world.

He’s done that this year, securing his European Tour card and is part of the season-ending playoffs, in South Africa this week then Dubai next week, with nearly $20 million up for grabs.

Herbert powered in to the money-making series with three straight top 10s in September and October, to announce himself as a key plank of Australia’s generation next of golfers.

Lucas Herbert shakes hands after the third round of the Portugal Masters.

Results have been just a by-product of an assured confidence, which Herbert conceded sometimes mistakenly came across as cockiness.

It’s a character the brash young man said could rub people up the wrong way.

But it was an attitude that also earned him a golden life experience because he was ballsy enough to ask for a practice round with Tiger Woods at this year’s British Open at Carnoustie, only his second time at a major.

“I put my name down with Tiger and saw him on the putting green. I said if he had someone else he wanted to play with, that would be fine, but that I would love to play a practice round with him,” Herbert told the Sunday Herald Sun.

“He said, ‘No worries, see you on the tee’. He turned up about 15 minutes late, but I would have waited an hour. It was cool.”

They talked less about golf and more about their passion for video games. Herbert travels with his PlayStation, using it as his distraction from the course. Woods was the same, until it got a bit out of control

Lucas Herbert and Tiger Woods share a laugh during a practice round at Carnoustie.

“He said he had to stop because he was playing until 3am. Hot got rid of it,” Herbert said.

Herbert said he did more watching than talking anyway during their nine holes together, because he didn’t want to be a “fan”.

He can’t be either, because Herbert is now a fellow competitor, with a track record in the past 12 month to prove it.

Following that sixth at last year’s Australian Open he’s racked another eight top-10 finishes in tournaments from Singapore to Sicily. He’s finished third three times, including the British Masters where he topped world No.1 Justin Rose.

There was a second in Portugal too, where he gave up a two-shot lead in the final round, and Herbert knows that’s the next box he needs to tick.

Up with a bullet

Year	Events	Top 10s	Year-end Rank
2013	3	1	1088
2014	5	-	854
2015	6	-	1197
2016	12	2	731
2017	13	5	278
2018	21	7	84*
			*at time of publish

“If you put a win in there, that’s a world class 12 months. So that’s the next thing,” he said.

Such a stellar year has provided Herbert with the financial security to help him take that next step. He may only be 22, but he’ll have a full-time coach and physio travel with him in 2019.

“This year it has been evident, when they are at events I am making a hell of a lot more money than when they’re not there. It just makes a hell of a lot of sense,” he said.

“It’s a gamble. But I like my odds.”

It’s a calculated decision, much like his ambitions, which are to get inside the world’s top 50, and qualify for next year’s US Masters.

Lucas Herbert and Jason Day watch a putt during the final round of the Australian Open.

Herbert knows how to get there too, having used his social media prowess to reach out to a rankings guru, who told him how many points he would need to hit his mark.

“Before Portugal, I needed 50-60 points. I’d earned 52 for the year to then, in 20 events. I got 12 in Portugal,” he said.

“Playing in the playoff events, it’s do-able. A win would do it, maybe a few top fives. I’m across what I need to do. That just keeps driving me.”

He’s not one to shy away from his ambitions either. Herbert is driven, to make money and to take care of his family, although tickets to the Carol King musical and a night at Crown are about as far as his parents’ expectations go.

Reaching his career-high ranking of 78 was only celebrated for a moment too. It’s only the beginning.

“As arrogant as it sounds, that’s not the highest I am ever going to get to,” Herbert said.

“For a day you say, ‘How cool’s this’, but then next it’s getting to 60 and 50 and 30. If you sit still and look back at what you’ve done, guys will catch you. I keep looking forward.”