Former PGA golfer shares story of resilience with Hoover chamber

How did a self-proclaimed under-sized, under-talented golfer find his way into the youth-centered PGA Tour as a 40-year-old rookie?

It may have started with buying a set of clubs at a garage sale as a child, but what truly set Gary Christian up for success was his ability to never give up, he shared with the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.

Raised in London, England, Christian grew up playing sports like soccer, rugby and cricket but really hit his stride when he began playing golf. He had the opportunity to move to Alabama to attend Wallace State Community College and later went to Auburn University, where he played collegiate golf and was part of the 1994 All-SEC team.

“My journey started as a leap of faith to leave my country, to leave my family and friends to pursue the dream of playing professional golf,” Christian said. “It was a story of resilience, perseverance. Something that takes that long to happen, you’re going to have to demonstrate those qualities and traits.”

However, Christian said he made a fatal error during his last year of college by changing equipment and dropping in the rankings, which cost him his shot at turning pro after school.

Worried that was the end of the journey, he found his second chance working as the membership director of the Inverness Country Club.

He continued practicing and focusing on his end goal of joining the PGA Tour, even when that meant dealing with obstacles like less-than-ideal living conditions.

“You learned toughness,” Christian said. “You learned that if you really, really wanted to do this, these are the sacrifices that you have to make to show you and everyone else that you’re prepared to do whatever it takes to get to that level of playing professional golf.”

He went on to play for six years on the mini tours, winning 30 times, and spent six years on the Korn Ferry Tour, winning twice. But each time he would try to qualify for the PGA Tour, he failed to make it beyond the second round — until he found the ability to pivot.

He said he realized he needed to change how he approached things and turned to the resources his two mentors shared with him. Boxes of paperwork and cassettes focusing on the psychology of the sport and building confidence became an integral part of his game plan for moving forward, and that approach paid off.

“There was that feeling of invisibility when I started doing it, and I could feel my confidence rise,” Christian said. “When we become successful, we have a plan or we have a vision that we want to happen. If we can imagine it as clearly as possible, then that will manifest itself.”

The next year was an incredible transformation, he said. Though he didn’t make it past the second phase of the qualifiers, he said he remained positive and continued pushing forward. He rededicated himself each year to pursue his goal, and in 2011, he made it into the PGA Tour as a 40-year-old rookie.

“Sometimes the journey is more interesting than the actual destination,” Christian said. “When you think of all of the hard work and all of the disappointments and everything that had gone wrong and all of the time it took, those first few months just really put into perspective how fortunate I was and how lucky I was, how much the hard work was all worth it in the end.”

From receiving a letter from Arnold Palmer to meeting Former President Bill Clinton, Christian had a whirlwind of experiences when he joined the PGA Tour. “For a working-class lad from London to be pictured with a president of the United States — that’s a pretty impressive moment,” Christian said.

The experience of his life was qualifying for the FedEx Cup playoffs and playing with Tiger Woods, where the two walked the fairway together and talked about competitive golf, he said.

After two years in the PGA, he suffered a career-ending injury. However, he was able to compete in one last event before hanging up his clubs, ending his professional golfing career on a high at the Pebble Beach tournament. He said he hit every freeway and green.

“It was an amazing end to an amazing journey,” Christian said. “To finish it like that, it still gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. You couldn’t have scripted a better way to finish a career.”

Though his days on the PGA Tour were over, Christian didn’t leave the sport altogether. He went on to become a commentator and a studio analyst for the Golf Channel, PGA Tour Live/ESPN+ and Sky Sports UK. He also teaches and speaks with groups about his journey.

“If you treat people well and respect people … good things happen,” Christian said.