FROM ASDA TO AUGUSTA – THE ANDY SULLIVAN STORY

Just a few years ago, Andy was stacking shelves at Asda in his hometown of Nuneaton whilst trying to become a professional golfer. Tomorrow he tees it up in the biggest tournament of his career at Augusta National when he plays in his first ever Masters tournament.

Who is Andy Sullivan?

Andy won titles across the globe in a stellar amateur career, including in Argentina, Australia and at the Scottish Amateur Open Stroke Play Championship and then turned professional in 2011 after representing Great Britain and Ireland in the Walker Cup at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club, where he won both his foursomes matches. At the end of that year he earned a debut campaign on the European Tour by taking the third card at the Qualifying School Final Stage, having successfully negotiated the Second Stage the week before.

He will remember 2014 for the hole-in-one at the KLM Open which won him a trip to space (unfortunately, he doesn’t like flying so we dont know how he will fare heading into outer space!), and his rise to the top level of the game was equally meteoric.

Andy pushed Rory McIlroy all the way in the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai in 2015, but ultimately came up one stroke shy of the World Number Three. Despite settling for second spot, the performance capped a magnificent season, during which he won his first three European Tour titles,  triumphing twice in as many months in Johannesburg, first capturing the South African Open Championship, where he beat Charl Schwartzel in a play-off by holing a ten-foot birdie putt after a sublime approach from the rough, he then added the Jo’burg Open eight weeks later, and in October romped to a nine stroke victory in the Portugal Masters, equaling the lowest total score of the season at 261.