Dubai: Joel Sjoholm says he needs to re-awaken his nasty side if he wants to get back into the European Tour by finishing inside the top 15 on the Challenge Tour this season.
The 32-year-old Chilean-born Swede was in the European Tour for three seasons, from 2011 to 2013, but then lost his card and slipped back down to the second tier.
Having gone from selling chocolate in the off-season to make enough money to survive to being a missed phone call away from quitting golf for a career in marketing, he now stands on the brink of a return to golf’s top flight and is ranked 19th in the Challenge Tour rankings after his first win came in Italy in July.
A key ally in that victory was anger, a feeling he had taught himself to repress in order to be a professional, but now he admits he needs to release the beast if he wants to make the most of this second chance, with only four events left this season — two in China, before Ras Al Khaimah and Oman.
“I worked hard to get away from my fiery side when I was younger because the people around me told me I would never turn pro unless I worked on it,” said Sjoholm. “But in working on it I became less confident. I wanted to be remembered as a nice guy. And I was always worried about bringing sponsors down with my actions.
“But in doing that I think I did something wrong. It’s probably better to be remembered as the guy who can play golf and be a bit cocky than the guy who’s lost in his own game and nice about it.”
Looking back to his victory in Sardinia, where he played the last two rounds against eventual joint runners-up Neil Bradley and Chase Koepka, he said: “When I won in Italy I wasn’t trying to win, I was trying to destroy the guy I was playing against because he was saying a lot of weird stuff.
“If I had finished seventh and he had finished eighth I would have been happy,” he added, without identifying the antagonist. “I didn’t care anymore. All I wanted to do was destroy him.
“That’s when I knew what I had been waiting for. And who I actually am came out. It was a game changer for me and now I have to get back into it. I can’t walk around being angry with people without them having done anything, so I have to find a solution.
“I’m happy that day he was acting the way he did. He was impolite and I usually would let people mistreat me because I don’t want to say stupid stuff. But these last few years I’ve been so far down, and now I’m trying to rise up again and if anyone gets in my way they are going to have trouble with me. I’m done with letting people feel good about themselves at my expense. Before I was OK with it because life was good but professionally these last two-three years have been really bad and now, I’m done with having people stepping on me.
“Instead of always thinking about being nice, I’m going to be myself this time. Whatever happens now it’s all or nothing. So far I’m in a good position to retain my European Tour card but I’m only half way. I believe I’m on a good path and for the last two-three years I haven’t been, but every week I’m getting closer to coming back to where I want to be.”
The penultimate round of the Challenge Tour comes to Ras Al Khaimah’s Al Hamra course this month from October 25-28.
