You’ve heard of people who follow their dreams to the ends of the earth?
Well, meet Rob Rashell. By our calculation he passed the ends of the earth awhile ago, and yet he still keeps trekking from one remote golf outpost to another.
There was, for example, the tournament in Shanghai, China. That little outing required a flight of about 15 hours each way. Rashell played two rounds, missed the cut and, he said, “spent almost more time in the air than I did on the ground.”
Then there was Madeira Island, which is a speck of land in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Morocco. Renowned for its wine, the island also has one of the shortest runways for jetliners in the world, making it “a scary place to fly into,” Rashell said. “If you miss the landing by very much, you can be in big trouble.”
Rashell survived his trip to Madeira Island and has gone on to touch down in Hong Kong, South Africa, Singapore, Denmark and the Persian Gulf country of Qatar, which is almost shouting distance from the war in Iraq. In the weeks ahead, his itinerary has him in Germany, Russia and the alpine air of Switzerland.
“I’m logging some serious frequent-flyer miles,” he said.
All in pursuit of a dream.
Rashell, a 1994 graduate of Lake Stevens High School, is a professional golfer who has played mostly in Florida and Arizona since leaving the University of Washington in 1999. This year he entered the qualifying school for the European PGA Tour, and there he used back-to-back birdies on the last two holes to get his tour card and with it the opportunity to compete in tournaments throughout Europe, Asia and even Africa.
With a few weeks to go on this year’s schedule, the 28-year-old Rashell has pocketed roughly $170,000 in American dollars, which gives him a good chance of keeping his spot on the European tour in 2005. The top 115 on the money list each year retain their cards, and Rashell currently ranks No. 101.
“A couple more good checks would probably be enough for me to keep my card,” said Rashell, speaking from a hotel room in Amsterdam, Holland, site of this week’s KLM Open. “And that would be a great accomplishment for me in my first year over here.”
Of course, not all the money Rashell earns ends up in his pocket. His expenses for airfare, lodging and food would make a jet-setter wince. In addition, he received financial assistance early in his pro career from a group of investors – mostly family, friends and some UW boosters he met while in school – and, he said, “I’ve got to pay those guys back.”
Still, his winnings this year have him thinking about the day he can start socking away money for his own future. “It’s exciting,” he said, “to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Some strong early finishes – including a second place at the Madeira Island tournament, for which he earned about $54,000 – not only padded Rashell’s cash total, but gave him the opportunity to enter more events as the season unfolded. Still, there were other times he showed up hoping to play, but was left on the waiting list. Imagine flying all the way to Singapore thinking you might compete, only to be told, “Nope.” Or a few golf-less days in Qatar, same reason.
“You just have to go,” he explained. “You can’t take the chance that you might have been able to play, but you just didn’t show up.”
Though his family still lives in Snohomish County, Rashell’s U.S. residence is a rental house in Scottsdale, Ariz., which he visits periodically during the golf season. His “home away from home,” though, is the Crown Plaza hotel adjacent to London’s Heathrow Airport. If Rashell plays all four rounds of a tournament, he usually travels directly to the next event. If he misses the cut, he typically returns to London for a few days before moving on to the next stop.
“It has definitely been an adjustment for me, learning how to travel and play golf around the world,” he said. “I don’t know if there is any tour in the world that’s as demanding as the European tour with all the air travel, the different styles of golf courses, the different currencies and the different languages every week. You have to try to speak French one week, Spanish the next week.
“It’s an adventure and you just have to learn the ropes,” said Rashell, who spent a few days early this week trying to get his visa squared away for the upcoming trip to Russia. “There’s the golf and then there’s the rest of it. But it’s definitely been fun, even though there are definitely times that it’s been tiring.”
The highlight of his year overseas, he said, has been “the opportunity to see the world. You get to see so many different golf courses and so many different countries. The golf is going to be the same a lot of the places you go, but to see how different people live in different parts of the world has really been a lot of fun.”
Rashell had hoped to be playing on the PGA Tour this year, but came up short in the tour’s annual qualifying school. He expects to try again this year, beginning with the first stage in late October and concluding, if he advances, with the finals in early December. If Rashell gets his PGA Tour card, he will likely return to this country. If not, he will probably be back in Europe for another year.
“Since I started this whole deal five years ago,” he said, “my goal has been to get better every day. “I feel like I’m making improvements on what I’m doing and how I think, and that those improvements are reflected in my finishes and my money. Since 1999 I’ve made more money each year than the previous year, and I think that’s a sign that I’m headed in the right direction.”
Rashell, who is single, figures the time he spends abroad is an investment in his career.
“You have to learn your trade,” he said, “and what I’m doing is no different than someone who is preparing to be, say, a doctor. Those people have to go to school and then grad school and then they have to do their residency. That’s kind of like what I’m doing now. Obviously there are some guys on tour, like Tiger Woods, who are going to excel right away. Well, more power to them. But for me, I’ve had to work for every little bit of it and that will probably make me enjoy it that much more when I do succeed.”
Which is why he puts up with a lifestyle that is thrilling, you bet, but at times frenetic and at other times aggravating and almost always uncertain.
“Usually I can’t wait to get to the golf course each day,” Rashell said. “I just love to go out and play. To be dead honest, the checks are great. But what I really love is to be able to compete against the best in the world.
“If it takes 10-15 years to pay (the investors) back that’s OK because I really enjoy what I’m doing. I can’t say I’m never going to do anything else because I really don’t know what the future holds. But for now I really love it. And I’ve always thought that if I continue doing what I’m doing, sooner or later the money will take care of itself.”
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