Insider: Porter finding consistency in game, life

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Porter's best finish this season is a T30 at the Pacific Rubiales Bogota Open.

Ewan Porter finally has a home address.

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That wasn't the case for the better part of the last two years when Porter, a 28-year-old Australian who plays on the Nationwide Tour, was trying to decide if he and his girlfriend, Annabel Rolley, would stay in the United States. The Australian couple nearly went back to their homeland before this season, but an opportunity for Rolley came that she couldn't pass up.

Rolley, who is a teaching pro, got an offer to work at Donald Trump's National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.

She took the offer, and now the couple has settled down.

"It's been great for Annabel because we were kind of set on going back to Australia," said Porter, who will defend his title this week at the South Georgia Classic at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club in Valdosta, Ga.

Rolley was going to work as a reporter for Fox Sports in Australia and Porter was going to play on the OneAsia Tour. But that all changed when Rolley took the job at National Golf Club.

Porter is hoping that having stability and a place to call home will strengthen his game.

One thing he will have to get used to, though, is not having Rolley around at every tournament. The couple traveled together last season to every tournament when Porter managed to win his second career Nationwide Tour title and wound up finishing 54th on the money list.

After Porter won the South Georgia Classic last April he struggled for the rest of the season.

"I just pressed so much and tried to make things happen," he said. "It wasn't the way to go about it, but I learned from that. I think that's the big thing about the Nationwide Tour, the more you learn the more you will be prepared when you get to the PGA TOUR."

Porter said it was a struggle last season after the victory.

"It was very hard for Annabel to watch and I always try to be analytical with everything when I should have just played better golf," Porter said.

Porter and Rolley made traveling the Nationwide Tour last season look easy, but they both admit it was tough, especially when the missed cuts started to mount.

Before this season they traveled to Asia for five weeks, then went to Australia, spent two weeks in Los Angeles and then Porter played in Panama and Bogotá in February as the Nationwide Tour season got started.

Porter also said that after Rolley landed the teaching job, she had to fly back and forth to Australia twice trying to secure a work visa. "That took a long time but she finally was granted one," Porter said.

"We were very much done with America," Rolley said. "With Ewan missing all those cuts last season we had our bags packed and were ready to go back to Australia. Suddenly I get this e-mail about a job offer and when we saw it was near New York City we both got excited."

This season Porter is fighting a lingering back injury, but hopes that being back at a course where he has had success will help. So far in four tournaments in 2011 he has made one cut and is 95th on the money list. He had to withdraw in the first round of the Fresh Express Classic at TPC Stonebrae because of his back, but says it's doing much better.

"I'm feeling very good right now," he said.

One of the benefits of Rolley's new job is Porter has been granted practice privileges at National Golf Club when he's not playing on the Nationwide Tour.

"It's a great place and that should really help my game," Porter said. "While the weather hasn't been all that great up there yet, once it gets warmer I can't wait to get my game in better shape."

Porter has watched some of his fellow Aussies graduate to the PGA TOUR after working on their games on the Nationwide Tour. He says it's about time he takes that next step.

"My goals are to get to the PGA TOUR and as time goes by, I'll be ready," Porter said.

He admits that even if he would have gotten on the PGA TOUR after 2008 or after last season, he probably wouldn't have been ready for the bigger challenge.

"When I do make it to the PGA TOUR I want to make sure I'm ready and that's what the Nationwide Tour prepares you for," Porter said.

One of Porter's biggest problems is consistency. In his 84 Nationwide Tour tournaments he's made just 21 cuts. If he can somehow make more cuts and be around on the weekends he would give himself a better chance of finishing inside the top 25 on the money list.

"I think this is a wonderful opportunity this season with us being more stable and Annabel enjoying what she's doing," Porter said. "I'm looking forward to playing well and I have to start putting it together this week."

With Rolley pursuing her dream she hopes that Porter can also find the consistency he's been searching for. She admits that her traveling with him all of last season might have taken a toll on Porter.

"I was always there if he wanted to talk about his game or even if he didn't," she said. "But now I think with him kind of on his own I hope that he won't feel the pressure as much because I knew how he felt when he was struggling."

Rolley says that watching Porter win last year at the South Georgia Classic was great.

"That was so much fun and a lot of people got behind him and supported him," she said. "I hope he can duplicate that success this time around."

John Dell has covered golf for the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina for the last 17 years. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR. You can reach him at johndell@triad.rr.com.