Broken dreams and silver linings

There’s a song by the Traveling Wilbury’s band that goes something like this … it’s all right, we’re going to the end of the line.

It’s probably not a song 24-year-old golfer Graham Fabricius of Port Shepstone Country Club has ever heard (his dad Ivan may have) but in some ways, it applies to his golfing career at the moment.

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He went off to the Sunshine Tour’s Qualifying School recently and failed to make the grade.

He knew it would be incredibly tough but needed to give it a go, to get it out of his system.

“I needed to do it, to see what it was like. I enjoyed it and it was a good test,” he said.

But now it’s a time for reflection.

In his late teens, Graham spent several months in hospital battling meningitis.

When he was eventually discharged, physically he was fine, but in terms of his cognitive ability, he’d lost his mathematical ability.

“I just could not remember it. I’d study it and the next day it’d be a blank.”

This put the brakes on his study plans, and he needed something new to do.

One option was to join the family charter fishing business.

Instead, he chose golf. His grandfather had been a keen golfer and there were a few old clubs – that probably should have been in a museum somewhere – lying around the house.

Graham’s father, nicknamed Pop Eye due to his resemblance to the bearded, pipe-smoking sailor, suggested he join the Pro-Vision club.

This comprised a group of guys who had become too old to throw themselves around the volleyball courts anymore and so opted to try something else, like golf.

They welcomed Graham with open arms and saw his handicap drop from 24 to scratch in a few short years.

They never quite got his name right either, calling him Fabregas after the football player Cesc.

Graham worked harder than most pros, hitting balls and playing every day.

He once played four rounds in one day, on foot, pushing his own cart.

His ability on and around the greens has been his strength as he does not possess a powerful physique or the desire to smash it 320 metres.

That’s not strictly true – he’d love to launch it out there over 300m like any other golfer.

But he’s smart enough to realise that the best results are achieved working within your limits and playing according to your strengths.

He’s been nicknamed G-Short by his teammates. “My short game starts on the tee,” he says with a laugh.

However, just when Graham was being chosen for the KZN country districts team, another problem cropped up – Scheuerman’s disease, a hereditary condition with which he had lived most of his life but learned to manage.

Basically, it’s a spine curvature issue and at times it caused him pain but he just battled through.

“It’s sore if I rest, sore if I play, so I might as well play,” he said.

Ironically, the pain seems to have abated now that he’s playing less.

Graham recently married his teenage sweetheart Evelyn.

While golf may be something he enjoys, there’s not much doubt as to who the love of his life is.

How can there be any doubt when her name is tattooed on his arm… the last thing he looks at before hitting a shot.

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The pro dream is probably over for Graham (for now anyway) but a new chapter waits to be written in his remarkable life.

He has made noises about perhaps quitting the game, or at least tournament golf.

Hopefully, this will not be the case as he has been an integral part of the Southern KwaZulu-Natal golf set up for the past few seasons.

He’ll have a chance to see where his game is at when the Southern KZN Closed takes place at San Lameer CC this Sunday (13th).

Graham has won it twice before, but this time Gavin Sole will be defending his title at a course he loves, having recently won the San Lameer Open for the ninth time.

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