THERES no place like home – though the links at Royal County Down rarely make anyone feel welcome, no matter how familiar the face.
Simon Thornton knows it better than most, of course. From Brighouse just outside Huddersfield, a quirk of fate, one that would change the course of his personal and professional life, first brought him to Newcastle 26 years ago and he hasn’t looked back since.
“I didn’t get the grades I wanted at A-level to do sport science, so I had to do golf and leisure management.
“For part of that we had to do a placement, I wrote to the top 20 golf courses in the world and Newcastle was the highest ranked that had a place…”
That was the summer of 1998.
Yet, even at that stage, his exposure to the sport was limited. Bits of pitch and putt on holiday, but little else. Cricket, rugby, those were the staples growing up until the golf bug took hold in later teenage years.
And then, in what felt like the blink of an eye, Thornton had married a girl from Castlewellan, Ciara Lennon, Newcastle was home, and he was at the start of something that was never on the cards.
“I knew I was going to do sport in some shape or form, and I don’t mean teach it or be on the periphery – I wanted to do it,” said the 47-year-old.
“I was a latecomer, definitely, but I think not playing any junior golf actually helped me because then I could get better much quicker once I got into it.
“I didn’t turn pro until 24, 25, and then didn’t go up the tours until 2010 – that was my first year on the main tour.”
During those early days Thornton also worked at the shop in Royal County Down, after professional Kevan Whitson asked if he wanted to get his handicap down while undertaking his PGA training, with a view to management.
At that time, in the early Noughties, Newcastle was regularly on high alert as the great and the good of the golfing world pitched up at Royal County Down, usually in the weeks leading into The Open Championship.
There could be no more perfect preparation for any links outing than here.
And so, just as staff at Smyth’s newsagents – owned by Hugh Smyth, one of the top golfers the town has ever produced – became used to seeing stars arrive early to grab the morning papers, it became commonplace for Thornton too.
Tiger Woods, of course, was the biggest name of them all. Any time a helicopter would land at the Slieve Donard Hotel, talk swirled around that the game’s greatest had arrived, ready for some fine-tuning ahead of his latest Major assault.
“I was in the shop when Tiger, [Nick] Faldo, Ernie Els, Mark O’Meara, all those ones came over. Helicopters coming in are two a penny no but it was great then to have the best golfer in the world in the town.
“It’s funny, I was on the putting green when Tiger walked through the Slieve to the first tee, and I just remember saying to somebody ‘imagine walking round there and just knowing you’re the best person on the planet at this thing’. It was phenomenal.
“I was totally starstruck; not so much with anybody else, but certainly him. He was different league.”
After earning his card for the Challenge Tour, Thornton spent six years travelling the length and breadth of Europe, his biggest moment coming in 2013 when he won the St-Omer Open in France.
Eventually, though, the novelty began to wear off; life on the road not exactly full of the glamour many might expect.
And so he stopped, instead taking up a post as resident professional at the Tulfarris Hotel and golf complex in Wicklow, before being appointed Spa golf club’s PGA professional last year.
But, despite undergoing surgery on both feet seven years ago, slowing him down and costing distance and strength, Thornton has found a way to make it work – and earlier this month showed he can still mix it at the British Masters.
While emerging star Tom McKibbin failed to make the cut at the Belfry, Thornton emerged as the unlikely story from an Irish perspective, play all four days before finishing up in 62nd – an experience made all the more memorable by the presence of golf-mad son Ryan for part of the week.
“It was tiring, to be fair. When you’re playing week in, week out you’re not as tired mentally because you’re a bit more used to it – I’m not used to playing four round on-the-trot any more, so I was happy.
“Making the cut is like winning the event, for me. It’s nothing to do with the financial, it’s just the playing side of things. When you get out of the loop, any errant shot can cost you dearly.
“Plus age, distance aren’t in my favour any more, it’s with the young bucks, that’s the way the game has evolved, so there’s a few obstacles I have to overcome. But it was nice to play my own game and hit it half decent – for Ryan to be there too, it was a really good week.
“This last few years since I finished playing on tour and got used to that sort of life, the prospect of going back to play senior tour is really appealing now. It’s a bit like ‘maybe I can compete’… it’s in the back of my mind.”
And Ryan is part of the reason Thornton is so excited about competing at the Irish Open in Newcastle this week, having originally found himself in a catch 22 situation.
Back in March he sealed his spot on the Great Britain and Ireland PGA Cup side, and faced a big decision as the competitions collide on the schedule. However, with Ryan and big sister Katie too young to remember much about the last Irish Open in Newcastle nine years ago, this was an opportunity he wasn’t about to pass up.
“Ryan’s always been a good little sportperson, a cross-country champion, plays football with what is now Newcastle Town FC, Gaelic with Bryansford and loves it… I never pushed golf at all, it has just come to him the last 18 months but he’s playing off scratch already.
“It’s up to him now how far he wants to go in it, I just want him to enjoy it and see where it takes him. Obviously he’s still developing but he’s got a short game to die for – his chipping is far better than mine. I missed a green during the week there and I wished Ryan could’ve come and played it for me!
“But that’s a big reason for me playing because they don’t really remember 2015… we’ve got a great picture, the only picture in the house to do with golf, and it’s myself, Rory McIlroy and the two kids in the car park in 2015.
“They don’t remember anything to do with it, so that’s why it’s so special now – not so much for me playing, but for them to have a memory of ‘oh, this is what dad used to do and this is what it was like’.
“To have it in their home town, with all their friends around, that’s pretty cool.”