LACONIA — Mark Baldwin endured a 10-hour car ride, grabbed a few hours of sleep at a Florida rest stop, and salvaged a practice round he called “probably the worst I’ve had all year.”
Not exactly a comforting warmup for a tournament, let alone a tour qualifier.
Baldwin’s last-second decision to fill a late opening at the Florida Winter Q-School had him swinging against the grain. He had little rest and minimal time to scout the tournament’s two courses, and he had to shake off the excitement and prepare himself mentally for a four-day, 72-hole event that promised 16 cards for the Canadian PGA Tour.
“I’ve been preparing to do well, get a tour card, and win somewhere since I’ve been alive,” Baldwin said. “I’ve been preparing to compete well my entire life.”
One incredible journey later, Baldwin got his coveted card.
The former Laconia resident, Gilford High School student-athlete, and New Hampton School grad earned full status on the Canadian Tour earlier this month, taking 11th place in the rain-shortened Flordia Winter Q-School.
The tournament, originally scheduled for four rounds, was called after 36 holes due to a driving rain that left its two golf courses unplayable. Play for Thursday and Friday were canceled as a result, leaving Baldwin, after a strong second round, in the top 16. He earned non-exempt status for the 2010 season.
“It’s a whole range of emotions at different times,” he said, “but that initial reaction… it was kind of relief, just because it was grueling waiting around for two days.
“As I started driving away, it was slow elation. Really, it kicked in on that next day when I was driving home, how all those factors kind of aligned at the right time.”
It involved much more than a timely rainstorm.
Baldwin was home in New Orleans two days before the tournament’s opening round, when he contacted the Canadian Tour office to check for withdraws from the Florida Q-School. The response was immediate:
“Yes we have,” Baldwin remembers the conversation going, “but can you get here by tomorrow?”
Sure, it was possible.
Baldwin quickly called his golf coach, former Notre Dame skipper John Jasinski, to discuss the idea of playing. Jasinski didn’t hesitate with his response, feeling all along that Baldwin’s game fit well with the courses on the Canadian circuit.
Jasinski was so sure he supplied the near $4,000 needed to make the spur-of-the-moment trip happen. Moments later, Baldwin was packed and on the road.
“I guess he just threw caution to the wind, which is unlike Mark,” Mark’s mother, Marie Anne Baldwin, said. “He’s a planner. Everything goes into processes. But he decided he was going to do it — and off he went.”
Off on an exciting trip that left no time to spare. Baldwin got to Hernando Oaks in time for a quick practice round. He was able to walk nine holes of Southern Hills Plantation, the tournament’s second course, before daylight cut him short.
Given all the chaos, Baldwin was ready for some early adversity when play started just hours later. It’s a good thing, since some poor initial shots led to a triple bogey on his very first hole.
“I didn’t feel intimidated by that,” he said of the rocky start. “Just like we had to jump in the car, strap on the seat belt and go — I had to be prepared for some inconsistencies, strap on the seat belt, and go.”
And as his mother said, off he went.
Baldwin steadied and closed the first round with birdies on two of the final three holes. He rode the momentum into Wednesday’s play, birdieing four of his final six holes to put himself “on the bubble” for one of the 16 qualifying spots. Inclement weather helped keep that bubble from bursting, and after rounds of 74 and 69, he was 1-under par and in possession of a pro card.
“Our excitement for Mark is it’s another step,” Marie Anne Baldwin said. “He’s worked so hard to get where he is. We’re so excited that this is another success in his belt.”
And an experience that, if anything, tested his mental toughness to the core.
“I really think that will be a defining moment I can look back on,” Baldwin said. “When things get trying.”
Baldwin’s first two Canadian Tour events will come in April, starting in Mazitlan, Mexico, with the Corona Mexican PGA Championship. Then, he’ll head to Puerto Vallarta for the Riviera Niyarit Classic.
Seems miles from when he was hitting balls for Gilford High at Pheasant Ridge and putting the greens at the Laconia Country Club.
As a freshman at Gilford in 1998, Baldwin finished runner-up in the Class M-S Individual State championships, later avenging the loss with an individual state title his sophomore year. In 2000, he transferred to New Hampton and continued his mastery, winning consecutive NH prep school championships.
In 2001, Baldwin learned he could hang with the best junior players in the world. He competed at scenic Torrey Pines in San Diego, Calif., and finished seventh overall in the Junior World Golf Championships. The winner, California’s own Anthony Kim, just happens to be the 26th ranked player in the world in the latest Associated Press rankings.
On he went to Notre Dame, which brought him in on a full scholarship. He nailed down the lowest individual competitive score in Irish history (63), was named All Big East three consecutive times, and was a Big East Conference champion from 2004-06.
Now, after years of professional play that includes a stint with the Korean Tour, the 26 year old is hoping to use the Canadian Tour as a springboard into a full-time gig with the PGA, a path golf stars like world No. 2 Steve Stricker, No. 44 Mike Weir, Arron Oberholser and Will MacKenzie have taken. The Canadian Tour includes opportunities to play for spots in the Nationwide Wayne Gretzky Invitational and the PGA’s Canadian Open, and as a member of the International Federation of PGA Tours, it allows players to accrue points to achieve a world ranking.
All because he decided to pick up the phone one Sunday afternoon.
“Sometimes in life, but almost always in golf, acting on your first instinct pays off,” Baldwin recently posted on his blog. “These bets always make a great story.”
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