At the end of every main tour season, there’s always a heartbreak story.
This year on the US Champions Tour, that poisoned chalice belonged to David Bransdon.
The affable Victorian, whose professional career has been a slow but ever-brightening burn over 30 years, made his way in 2024 to the big “senior” dance that his skillset has demanded for years.
He scratched around near the all-important 54th ranking – the position that determines next year’s card status – for much of the season, then roared home with a late third place in Virginia to finish 35th and earn his 2025 stripes.
This year, sadly, was almost the exact opposite.
He was inside the mark from early April until, you guessed it, the very last tour stop at the same Virginia layout that had been his saviour a year earlier.
While one slot on the money list can never be fully attributed to one swing, one round or one day, on the surface, it’s the closing 76 that hurts.
But to Bransdon, that score was emblematic of the couple of months building to that moment.
His best is demonstrably good enough, but those types of lapses proved his downfall.
And it’s left a simmering anger in a golfer already bubbling with a healthy dose of competitive juices.
“It’s frustration because I was that close with an aspect of my game that was horrendous, if I’m gonna be brutally honest,” Bransdon said on the eve of his first crack at the NSW Senior Open at Thurgoona, near Albury, this week.
“I’m trying to be more positive in the way I talk about it, so I’m not gonna give myself an uppercut, and I’m going to stop talking negatively about that area because it’s not helping.”
“I’ll just acknowledge the fact that I had a very weak part of my game that was unbecoming of a professional.”
“And it’s a part of the golf game. It’s not a mental issue. Well, mental’s probably a part of it, but this is my profession.”
“It’s the old adage, and my grandad used to say it, my dad used to say it – if you’ve got nothing positive to say, don’t say it.”
“So that’s what I want to do with this part of my game, because I still think I’ve got a role to play in the (United) States and I still feel like my game’s good enough to play there.”
“I’ve just made it hard for myself.”
“I was in a good position, and unfortunately, I didn’t get to where I needed to be and missed by not very far. And it’s going to cost me some starts.”
“But I’m going to go back there with a good attitude, a better attitude to the aspect of the game that’s hurt me.”
Bransdon, never high profile but always a generous interviewee, eventually confessed that his “Achilles heel” had been his chipping.
And listening to the description of his previous couple of months – largely off the screens of those at home who follow his career – it was clearly the difference in his fortunes.
“It got horrendous. Just around the greens. And it cost me lots of shots – you either don’t save par or you don’t make birdie and you need your share of both to contend or keep from going backwards,” he said.
“Basically, the only time I played any good in the last few months was when I was hitting 13-plus greens every day. I had a few rounds where I hit 18 greens, and they were my five and six under rounds. But there were not enough of those.”
“But one thing those guys have over there is a great short game, and that’s one thing I certainly didn’t have this year.”
“So yeah, I’m working on it. I’m working on thinking positively about it. I’m working on saying good things about it – they’re all works in progress,” he said with a grin.
One thing Bransdon will never have to worry about is length off the tee, and he tuned up today with typical imposing force in his first look at Thurgoona Country Club Resort.
It’s hard to imagine he won’t be at least in touch with the leaders when the final-round draw is made on Saturday night – and he’s very keen to prove to himself that his game will withstand that pressure with victory in sight.
He did enough on the Champions Tour to know that his game was worthy, but that final step has eluded him – so far.
“I didn’t initially feel like I belonged over there. I was a little overawed early last year when I played with good players.”
“But some of them were really nice and really friendly. And it’s pretty warm and fuzzy (feeling) when some of those Hall of Fame guys walk past you and say, `G’day, Dave, how are you going?’.”
“Yeah, guys like (Bernhard) Langer and (Ernie) Els and (Retief) Goosen and (Padraig) Harrington – I’ve played with all of them over the last couple of years, and it’s pretty nice.”
“It’s a spot I’ve got accustomed to and felt comfortable in. That’s good.”
“So (to lose my card) is pretty raw still at the moment.”
“It definitely leaves that fire in the belly this week and the next couple to start proving things to myself and to get back there.”
