A couple of glasses of red wine and a bit of late night reflection was all it took for freshly crowned NSW Open Champion Jason Scrivener to change flight plans and make a tilt at this week’s Emirates Australian Open.
“I had a couple of glasses of red (to celebrate last night),” Scrivener smiled.
“I should be 30,000 feet in the air right now.”
Scrivener, who startled a few people when he arrived on the range at The Australian Golf Club today, was due to make his first appearance on the 2018 European tour in this week’s Hong Kong Open but decided to stay closer to home and chase his first national Open title.
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“I’m a little bit shocked, to be honest. I think after winning [on Sunday] it's probably helped my chances of finishing high up the money list or Order Of Merit here and there's a lot of perks that come with that.
“I spoke with Ian Davis, my manager. We spoke about it two weeks ago before the NSW Open and said if I did win I would probably lean towards playing the Australian Open. When that happened, it made it a trickier decision to make.
“To be honest, when I finished I was still committed to going to Hong Kong, then I thought it over, and I think this is definitely the right decision.”
Scrivener described the choice as an easy one in the end. The chance of making a solid tilt at the Australasian Order of Merit, and the genuine liking he has for the Kensington layout, where he and his coach, Gary Barter do most of their work.
“I feel like I'm playing well and I want to contend the next two weeks and give myself a chance to get up the money list.
“I was here already, I know the course really well.”
When asked about the impromptu schedule change and his tournament plans for the coming weeks, Scrivener was unphased.
“It's only the one event that's changed. It's disappointing as Hong Kong is a course I like and it's a great tournament.
“It's disappointing to miss it, but I'm stoked to be here and looking forward to this week. It was a win-win really,” he smiled.