To Stephen Ames, golf is still a game, even on the high-pressure, high-stakes PGA Tour.

Yet, Ames, a business administration major in college, knows only too well that professional golf is also big business.

In a telephone interview from a recent Tour stop in New Orleans, Ames pitches more than the game.

The 39-year-old Calgarian plays up his recent endorsement switch from Callaway to Nike clubs, stresses the importance of his longtime relationship with the Calgary-based sponsor Pengrowth Energy Trust Fund and expresses a fondness for the business of golf.

© Stan Badz photos/PGA TOUR
Calgary golfer Stephen Ames uses his business savvy in sponsorship deals.

Considering his sheer love of the game and the monetary rewards (he won $460,000 US in the first four months of this year), don’t look for Ames to retire from the Tour any time soon.

But once he does take a new lease on life, the Trinidad native will be in the enviable position of cashing in on his name and his game. 1. How does a kid from Trinidad make it in big-time golf?

“Lots of practice. Determination was the most important thing I had going for me. No one encouraged me really, but no one really discouraged me either. For me, the encouragement came from within. I had the opportunity of playing a lot of sports. I played badminton, squash, cricket, soccer and swam and played tennis competitively. A lot of my friends that I played tennis with didn’t want to play tennis with me anymore, so they started playing golf. In between the tennis courts and my home, there was a golf course, so I was walking by one day and thought I’d try it. And, just like that, I was just hooked, and at 13 I gave up tennis.”

2. What was the catalyst that drove you to succeed in golf?

“The game did it to me. I think it was a love of the game, but I think it was more the love of being able to control the golf ball. It was the feel of hitting a solid shot. In my first round of golf, I shot 125 and that was the last time I shot over 100. My next round was 85.”

3. Have you been able to channel the lessons from your business administration classes in college to your pro career?



“I have an agent (IMG International) handle most of my business affairs but, yes, I’ve been able use it a lot in the general business side of golf, with sponsorship deals and things like that. I’ve recently struck a deal with Nike after several years with Callaway Golf.”

4. Why did you change from Callaway to Nike equipment?

“Nike just happened to be there at a time when Callaway was looking for something that I didn’t want. Nike is only three years into the golf business and they had something that I liked. I liked the contract they gave me. It was not so much the money aspect of it, but more the term of the contract. I’ve got a three-year contract and Callaway only wanted to give me a one-year contract. The numbers (value of the endorsement) are personal.”

5. What has your relationship with Nike been like for your game?

“I feel good swinging their clubs, and the good thing about Nike is that I’ll be getting all the good stuff from them in terms of their golf technology. They’re going to be bringing equipment out to better the game and better you as a golfer. They’ve got new stuff coming out just about every week, which is nice. To my eye, they tend to want to stay more to the old traditional look (of club), which is what I like. For the better golfer or the player that plays often, it’s that traditional look of Nike that everybody likes, I think . . . That’s my perspective, anyway.”

6. How is your endorsement with Calgary’s Pengrowth Energy Trust working out?

“It’s a deal where they have their name on my clothing so, whenever I’m on television, they get the name out there, which is more important now that they’re also listed on the New York Stock Exchange (PGH-NYSE) as well as the TSX (PGF.UN-TSX). My contract runs through to 2006 and I own the stock and my two sons own the stock.”

7. How have you managed to protect your earnings from the bear market?

“(Laughing) Yeah, right. I think everybody has lost a little bit and I’ve lost a little bit. I do my investing through Investors Group and they’ve done very well for me. Considering how the market has done, I’ve done remarkably well. I think the only safe thing these days is cash.”

8. How are you at personally managing your money?

“I’ve always been the kind of person who doesn’t buy things unless I’ve got the money in the bank, even in those days when money was tight. I’d rather pay cash than put something on a credit card. I didn’t get married before I had a house over my head, that sort of thing. I’m pretty conservative in that way.”

9. How big a part of your career has your wife Jodi been?

“Until this year, Jodi has been by my side every week for 12 years. She caddied for me for two years and then we got married and had kids. The family travelled with me until this year when Justin was eligible for kindergarten. My time with my family is shared quite evenly, even now. In my schedule, I don’t play for more than three (consecutive) weeks and then I come home for one or two weeks.”

10. What’s your proudest moment in golf?

“It was when I finished second at TPC (a runner-up finish at The Players Championship has been his highest placing in six years on the PGA Tour) and my boys were there waiting for me to come off. That was my proudest moment.”

11. What must you achieve before you retire?

“It’s self-fulfillment more than anything else. Self-fulfillment would be a couple of wins, the opportunity of playing in major tournaments more often and those kinds of things. I’d like to win one of those (majors) like Mike (Weir) has. The opportunity to win those comes from playing in them, which I haven’t been doing that often. Last year was my first big year, having played in three of them (majors). Unfortunately, the weather was the worst they’ve ever had for all four majors last year. Those kind of things happen, you know. To me, it’s a game where you try and better yourself, not so much golf-swing-wise, but more yourself as a person. That’s the form of fulfillment I think of.”

12. How do you think your golf experience has helped you in terms of personal development?

“It has made me appreciate what I have, compared to what everybody else has to go through.”

“I mean, this is my job. It’s a rough job, isn’t it? Waking up every day and having to work an 8-to-4 job is a bit different from my job. It’s not that difficult a life on the tour, but it does take a certain kind of person. You have to be the kind of person who doesn’t mind doing things by himself for four or five hours a day.”

13. Do you think many professional athletes lose their perspective of the game and take it far too seriously?

“You know, that influence comes from people, not anything else. That’s how I see it. Tiger (Woods) was influenced that way. Tiger was influenced to win. His dad pushed him that way and that’s the reason he is the way he is. My mom and dad didn’t push me to win. They pushed me to find something that I enjoyed.”

14. Do you think that’s the biggest difference between you and Tiger?

“It probably is. Without a doubt, I’d say that’s probably the biggest difference between us. There are people who enjoy winning and have grown up always wanting to win. You’re going to get more losers than winners in this game. This game has more downs than it has ups. In the case of Tiger, his dad has always pushed him to be a winner, to think of himself as a champion, do things the way he does them now and hence that’s the way he is now. But not everybody’s dad is like that.”

15. Would you trade places with Tiger?

“Probably for a year. That’s about it. I think there’s more to life than doing what he’s doing. I admire the guy for what he has achieved as a golfer at his age and what he has achieved as a person (Ames says he was misquoted in the past on disparaging comments attributed to him about Woods). There are certain things in him that I’d like to achieve and that’s something I’m working on right now.”

16. What do you need to work at in the future to become more successful on the Tour?

“It’s always the mind part of the game. It’s the attitude, how you walk up to the ball, the attitude that you’re going to have over the ball, those kinds of things. That doesn’t come so much with maturity. I think it comes with a form of learning how to do it. I also work out more now and the level of my game has been elevated as a result. Last week, I thought I played exceptionally well and hit the ball really good, but I didn’t make a thing (he missed the cut) so the expenses kind of went into the water. You’ve got to be very optimistic. Because you’ve had a bad week doesn’t mean anything at all. You’ve got to take the positive out of every week and work it out every week. I have no expectations (in his next tournament). Absolutely none.”

17. Have you reached your peak as a golfer?

“Funny enough, I don’t think I have. You never know when that will happen. Ben Hogan (his idol) reached his peak at 41. Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods reached it at 22 or 23. You don’t know. Look at Freddie Couples now, at 44 or 45. Look at Jay Haas, as an example. At 49, he’s having a phenomenal year.”

18. Who’s the golfer that you most admire and respect today?

“It would have to be Tiger. A lot of great things are coming out of him. Mike (Weir) is also a great guy. He’s very open, says ‘Hi’ to everybody and he puts a lot of effort into the game. He takes it (the game) to heart, but he doesn’t show it. It was phenomenal to see him win the Masters and great for Canada, too.”

19. How long will you stay on the Tour?

“I’ll probably play until I get tired of the game. Eventually you get tired of it or you find another love. I do have another love.”

20. What is your other love?

“The teaching part of golf. I teach a lot of kids in Calgary and it’s important to me to be a good role model to kids. They’re the ones watching you on TV, aren’t they? They’re the ones who are going to emulate you in terms of what you do after a good shot or a bad shot. I’d like to run and/or own a couple of golf courses in Canada and Calgary. My business aspect of it would be to try and open an academy where I could help a lot of juniors and seniors learn the game. I think it’s a perfect scenario with the weather in Calgary, where you’ve got about four or five months of bad weather where you can’t play golf. But you can work on your golf swing in the off-season, and then not worry about that when you get on the golf course.”

IN PROFILE: Stephen Ames
* Born/raised/age: San Fernando, Trinidad; 39.
* Residence: Calgary.
* Height/weight: 6'1", 165 pounds.
* Title: Pro golfer.
* Family: Wife Jodi, sons Ryan, 3, and Justin, 6.
* Education: Boca Raton College (Florida, golf scholarship), business administration.
* Career: Ames has played the PGA Tour since 1997. His best finish on the PGA Tour was second at The Players Championship in 2002 and he ended the year with a career high of $1,278,037 in earnings to place 46th on the money list.
* Earnings: 2003: $459,987 (58th). Career: $3,997,946.
* Claim to fame: Ames is the first golfer from Trinidad and Tobago to play on the PGA Tour.
* Sponsors: Nike, Pengrowth Energy Trust Fund.
* Boyhood Idol: Ben Hogan.
* Passions: Reading, movies, teaching golf.
* PGA website: www.pgagolf.com