01성지에서 되찾은 자신감과 깊어진 골프관
올리버 윌슨이 골프의 성지 세인트앤드루스로 돌아와 자신의 프로 통산 첫 승이었던 알프레드 던힐 링크스 챔피언십 우승 당시를 회상했다. 오랜 시간 시련을 극복하고 거둔 감격스러운 성과였던 만큼, 그는 이곳을 찾을 때마다 남다른 감회를 느낀다고 소회를 밝혔다.
윌슨은 과거 DP월드투어에서 수차례 준우승에 머물며 지독한 우승 가뭄을 겪었으나, 2014년 알프레드 던힐 링크스 챔피언십에서 마침내 첫 정상을 차지하며 길었던 잔혹사에 마침표를 찍었다. 이 승리는 그의 커리어에 결정적인 전환점이 되었다.
시간이 흘러 다시 선 세인트앤드루스에서 윌슨은 골프를 대하는 자신의 태도와 심경이 어떻게 변화했는지 되돌아봤다. 과거의 압박감에서 벗어나 경기를 대하는 성숙해진 관점을 가지게 된 그는 이번 대회에서도 자신만의 흐름을 이어가겠다는 뜻을 전했다.
02Original (English) — DP World Tour
As Oliver Wilson makes his 19th start at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, we sat down with the former champion to reflect on his career so far, his newer roles in broadcasting and coaching, and looking ahead as his current priorities shift away from playing full time.
It's been 12 years since Oliver Wilson struggled for words on the 18th green of the Old Course at the 2014 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
He’d two-putted for par to secure a maiden victory at the most unexpected time, marking a significant end to a difficult chapter in his career in the most emotional way. It felt like the missing piece of a career that had already included a lot of amateur success, nine runner-up finishes, a Ryder Cup (2008), two Seve Trophies (2007, 2009), a Royal Trophy (2009) and appearances in every Major Championship.
Despite all that success, when Wilson arrived in St Andrews that week, he found himself far removed from the trajectory where he’d once reached the top 35 in the Official World Golf Ranking. After struggling with his game and then illness, Wilson had lost his DP World Tour card at the end of 2011, and was playing on the then-named Challenge Tour searching for answers.
Coming into the week, his most recent result had been a tie for 47th on what is now the HotelPlanner Tour in Kazakhstan, following three consecutive missed cuts. He’d accepted an invitation to the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship largely because it guaranteed him three rounds rather than two.
"I was close to giving up," Wilson says.
"I was playing so bad. I can't tell you how bad I was playing that year. 2013 was really bad. 2014 was a little bit better, but I'd had enough. I’d made the decision to come here because I was guaranteed to play three rounds as opposed to two rounds on the Challenge Tour, just to get ready for Q School.
“I played the Ryder Cup in 08. I had my best year ever in 09. But there was something in my swing that I just couldn't get past. I didn't feel like I could go out and win a tournament on a Sunday.
“Then I got ill and I didn't realise. I had some stomach issues and I was really tired all the time. During that time, I'm playing and not playing great because I was tired. And then I made some bad decisions, changing coaches, trying to figure it all out. That was a catalyst for when things really went bad.
“It's amazing how quickly you can go from top 50 in the world, feeling like you're invincible and who knows how far you can go, to suddenly being on the Challenge Tour with no team around you, no support system, and feeling really lonely. Suddenly you're pulling a trolley round in the Austrian Alps and it's like, ‘What has happened?”
Yet there was a pivotal moment in Kazakhstan, where Wilson took the advice of his caddie and sought out swing help from Tour winner Robert Rock, sending him an email on the Thursday night after a disappointing opening round.
"I didn't have anything to lose," he says. "So I got the e-mail back, it was a long one. I read it and there were a couple of things that just made sense. I got excited and went to the range all morning.
"Then I teed off in the afternoon, holed my second shot on the first hole, hit it to two feet on the second. I was like, 'We might be on to something'.
“I’ve still got the email."
What followed remains one of the defining weeks of his career.
"I worked so hard. I hit thousands of golf balls in the two weeks before it. And there was something that was meant to be. I played so good from nowhere.”
A course record at Carnoustie on Thursday set the tone, before Wilson carried a three-shot lead into the final round at St Andrews. While he made the turn in one-over, an impressive back-nine led to his crowning moment, two-putting for par as Tommy Fleetwood was unable to force a play-off.
"I was very, very nervous, but I'll never forget the shots I hit down the stretch," he says.
"I had a driver off the deck on 14 to get it on the green, and then 16 I hit four-iron to three feet. I remember coming up 17 telling myself, you don't get many chances to win and you don't get many chances to win at St Andrews, so you have to take it. You cannot let this slip. And I managed to get over the line."
What happened afterwards remains just as vivid.
"When I holed out on 18, I couldn't speak. I didn't know my wife had flown up. I'd told her not to come because I thought it was bad karma flying up on a Sunday. But I'd holed out, walked off the green and she was there. It was pretty special to share that with her.
"And I'll never forget standing on the back of the steps behind the 18th for the presentation. To stand there and look back down the Old Course with the fairway full of spectators is incredible. That's a vision I'll never forget."
It wasn’t long after that that Wilson called it a career-saving win, though he had to exercise plenty of patience over the next few years to wait for another. His other DP World Tour victory, which came eight years later at the 2022 Made in Himmerland, is something he describes very differently.
“I was very comfortable when I won in Denmark, which was surprising,” he says. “But yeah, it was fun. I enjoyed Denmark. I didn't really enjoy this win. It was too stressful. And I didn't get to walk up 18 knowing that I'd won. It was down to the putt on the last. Whereas in Denmark, once I got it on the green, I felt pretty good. Two putts from 15 feet. But the shot, the tee shot I hit down 18 in Denmark, I'll never forget. So it just made it more fun. Holing a long put on 17, tee shot on 18, on probably the toughest hole on Tour. That was a fun win. It was more enjoyable and to get two wins is a big deal over one. It still felt like I should have won more in my career, but there was two pretty special wins.”
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As we sit overlooking the site of his first win and talk about his 22-year-career, there are naturally plenty of highlights that stand out from a professional career spanning more than two decades. The Ryder Cup, of which he was part in 2008, remains one of them.
"It's one of those things that can never be taken away from you," he says. "I earned that spot. I didn't get a pick. I earned my place. It didn't go how I wanted it to, but it's still incredibly special."
He still recalls defeating Anthony Kim and Phil Mickelson alongside Henrik Stenson, along with the satisfaction of securing his first Ryder Cup point.
"To get a point on the board in my first game in that style was special," he says. “It's a lifelong dream to qualify, but then it starts over because then it's about getting a point on the board."
With all of those highs came the inevitable lows. The period between his two wins in Scotland and Denmark experienced both, and Wilson is very open about “mistakes” that he feels he’s made.
But listening to him reflect on his career, one thing becomes clear: much of it has been shaped by curiosity. A deep thinker and natural tinkerer, he was always searching for improvements, tweaks and solutions. Looking back now, he believes some of his struggles came from placing too much faith in outside voices rather than trusting his own judgement, laughing now about the time a tip he spotted on social media prompted an impromptu experiment on the golf course.
“When I was on tour a few years back, I had a massive cull on Instagram,” he said. “I had to stop following any golf instructor. I was out in the Middle East I think a few years back that I took it something to the course and it felt amazing on the range and it was not amazing after a few holes. It was windy, it was like ‘that was not a good idea’.”
But as his career developed, so did that ability to trust his instincts. In 2018, that resulted in two wins on the HotelPlanner Tour, at the Swedish Challenge in August and less than two months later at the Monaghan Irish Challenge. It also led him to playing driver off the deck for a while.
“I made so many mistakes, but I've also made a lot of good decisions,” he adds. “I tend to focus on the mistakes a little bit too much in the down years. But there's been a lot of good stuff and a lot of good tournaments where I've played fantastic, got into contention, done some special things to make a cut, get a sneaky top ten, sneak a top five, like that kind of stuff. And then I guess when I was struggling in 2018, I was really struggling with the driver. I'd pretty much had the driver yips and I figured out a plan to… the rest of my game was good. So I started hitting driver off the deck and that was just to get it in play. And I had four top fives that year doing it. I figured out a way of making it work.”
Wilson has made a career out of figuring out a way of making it work, and this week, he returns to the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at another turning point in his career.
His Made in Himmerland win was four years ago, and after losing his card at the end of 2025 and missing out at Qualifying School, Wilson hasn’t played a professional event since this time last year.
What a week…absolutely loved being part of the @5liveSport team for @theopen again. Absolute pros! Over a hundred holes walked and watched some incredible golf along the way. That finish from Foxy was special! Four birdies in the last 6, what a way to make your dreams come… pic.twitter.com/ULJoz8yje5
Instead, he has spent much of the last year building his own coaching platform while also establishing himself as a broadcaster, roles which have allowed him to stay connected to the game while stepping away from full-time competition. His curiosity and experience is one reason coaching has become such a natural fit.
“I'm enjoying looking at future things and coaching and broadcasting, which has been the two main things this year,” he said.
“It's been interesting the coaching because I've been relating to amateurs more. And then my tour studio, I want to bring everything that I've learned to people. I'll be trying to launch things over the next month to try and just get information that I've learned out to help simplify it for people. I've made a ton of mistakes during my career, but I think I know I can help people avoid those mistakes and simplify things for other people.
“And from a broadcasting point of view it's been really interesting because the last probably two years, I've watched Rory and Scottie up close, Bryson, John Ram, all of those guys up really close at the Majors, the Ryder Cup, and other tournaments. It's interesting watching how they develop in rounds. And it's like, yes, they all are very special and they can all hit certain shots that not everyone can hit, but the way they put the rounds together, it's nothing that we don't already know. It's just tidier, a little bit better in certain areas. And it's definitely broken down some preconceived ideas that I've always had with my game. There's so many different ways to do it.
“It’s also been fun to understand how big golf is. I certainly had never appreciated the gravity or the coverage that it had and the amount of effort, time and money that goes into putting a golf tournament on. It definitely makes you look at it in a different perspective.”
A quick look what I’ve been working on with my short game recently.The feeling is to stay more stacked on my left side and more level in my shoulders. This allows my right hand to sit slightly more neutral on top, which in turn helps more rotation in the club going back. It… pic.twitter.com/xTqx065DSz
His changing relationship with the game has also been shaped by a desire to spend more time with his family.
"What I've realised over the last few years is what my motivations are," he says. “My drive for playing and doing anything I do is to spend more time with my family. I've spent a long time away travelling. I'm fed up with being jet-lagged. I hate it."
Wilson is no longer chasing a full schedule. His priorities have shifted towards spending more time with his family while balancing ambitions in coaching with his broadcasting work.
That does not mean there is no plan for playing golf. Wilson speaks openly about a four-year timeline that leads towards senior golf. He has little interest in returning to Q School or chasing a full playing schedule, but he is equally clear that he wants to continue improving.
"I guess I would say it's about four years long at the moment," he says. "I've just turned 46. Seniors starts at 50. If I was working with someone on a four-year plan, four years is an insane amount of time. How good could I get in four years?
"My plan is to continue with the coaching, continue with the broadcasting and keep my game going as well. I want to keep it as sharp as I can over that time."
That competitive edge is still obvious. Although Wilson has not played competitively since this event last year, he talks enthusiastically about preparing for the week, from performance drills and speed training to learning how to hit the shots required on links courses.
"My swing feels as good as it ever has," he says. "I've hardly played this year, but when I have played, I've played really well.
"I've enjoyed getting ready for this tournament because I've been swinging it very nicely."
Twelve years ago, when Wilson arrived in St Andrews hoping simply to find something positive in his game, he left with the trophy. Now he returns at another significant point in his career. His priorities have shifted. The schedule looks different. Coaching and broadcasting occupy much of his time, while a long-term goal of senior golf sits on the horizon.
But sitting overlooking the 18th hole where he claimed his maiden DP World Tour title, it’s obvious his passion for the game has not gone away. Neither, it seems, has the competitor