Lewis looks like he's in for the long haul

CADDIE'S ROLE:Tom Lewis' victory in the Portugal Masters three weeks ago means he now has greater control over his schedule, writes COLIN BYRNE

BLEARY EYED, quite disoriented and at about 35,000 feet over Outer Mongolia in an Airbus A330 sometime early yesterday morning local time, I found myself contemplating the unpredictable nature of trying to eke a living out of worldwide professional golf.

It may not have been my most lucid moment, especially as I was trying to remain horizontal enough to lay claim to most of the free seats in the middle of row 39 and pretend to myself that spreading out would both secure my extra leg-room and slumber. Instead it only caused hip and back discomfort, my attempts at snagging a business class seat were foiled, last minute, at the departure gate in Abu Dhabi.

The fact I have headed east to the HSBC Champions Tournament in Shanghai when realistically a few weeks back I was thinking more of a jet-lag free jaunt down to Spain for the second stage qualifier of the European Tour school is another example of the whimsical nature of the great, galavanting gamble of professional golf.

In the professional game, and particularly starting to caddie for a young player, Tom Lewis, who at that time had no official playing status, you need to be pretty much on stand-by, in anticipation of a trip to who knows where.

The early stages of a young professional’s career can be almost as capricious as the recent contest to elect the ninth President of our own little land. Where there is chaos there would appear to be opportunity. Where there is despondency with a system and our public representatives it looked like anyone with a thick enough neck had a chance of contesting for the highest office in the land, until the final hour when sense and integrity prevailed.

With the heroic exploits of my young, and at the time status-less, player in the final round of the Portugal Masters three weeks ago, both Tom’s and his bagman’s schedules have changed dramatically. From the arduous quest of trying to gain a playing status through some tournament invitations, including the tournament he won, the more realistic journey was going to be through the long and rocky road that is the tour school.

There are three stages of the tour school in Europe and by a stroke of luck, resulting in another competitor pulling out of the school Tom gained exemption to the second stage which takes place early December. The top 10 on the world amateur rankings are exempted from the first stage qualifier. This was a fortuitous break already as we saw that the very talented and top points scorer in the Walker Cup, Paul Cutler, did not make it through the first stage qualifier.

There are twists and turns along anyone’s career path which determine the ease of passage to the upper echelons of the game, or if indeed they ever make that transition. On top of Tom Lewis and his team of advisers securing some invites for him to try to slip in the back door and out onto the European Tour, and some other subtle twists of fate like not having to endure the first stage of qualification, it was Tom himself who seized the moment to seal his immediate fate on tour.

It is a remarkable achievement to win so early in a young career. Along with the morale boost it will give Tom, almost as significantly he now has the chance to plan his early steps as a professional. This is almost as important an advantage as having won.

Top golfing is about routines and so too is scheduling. An annual plan, with performance optimisation at a premium is something that normally only established players have the luxury of hatching.

Tom has already put himself in the position of competing at the highest level with many of the top players on the PGA Tour who will be playing in Shanghai this week. Knowing the respect he has for his fellow competitors it will just be another event that he is going to compete in and although the names may carry a little more kudos the objective of playing the course as best he can will still be the ultimate objective. He will have a healthy respect but not a capitulating one.

It is not such a great surprise Tom has already catapulted himself onto the world arena of golf. You just need to spend a little time around him in order to get a sense of his prowess.

It is a surprise to be back trawling the globe quite so soon after myself and Tom’s recent initiation. I am now in Shanghai shaking off the numbing effects of my first long trip in a while, amongst the hacking and herding of daily life in a metropolis with well over 20 million inhabitants.

We have arrived early amongst the sounds and smells that tell you are in a very different part of the world, in preparation for his first World Golf event and another challenge to whet the appetite of my young master.