Chandler points to good times as new flock lie in wait

by John Huggan

Your starter for ten: how many Englishmen finished in the top-ten at the recent Masters Tournament? Come on, come on: Four you say? Wrong.

The correct response is actually five: Danny Willett, Lee Westwood, Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose…and Chubby Chandler who, as agent for the first three named, actually occupied first, second and seventh. Not a bad few days for the head man at International Sports Management, a former European Tour pro who managed only one victory – the 1985 Sao Paulo International – in his 15-year playing career.

“It seemed to me that this Masters was the first Major where nobody missed Tiger,” says Chandler. “The buzz was about three young players. And they were all in the mix for a long time. Rory (McIlroy) was up there with Jordan (Spieth) then Jason (Day) appeared later. But the fact that they all featured kept the buzz going.

“It really was a great week in so many ways, not least for us as a company. But it wasn’t about Danny. It was huge for Lee, too. The best thing for him was that he came out of it thinking it was a great week, not that it was another near-miss. He was so positive about his play and that he is now that much closer to another Ryder Cup. And let’s not forget young Matt. Augusta was another step along the road for him being the next Danny Willett. Add all that up and it was a great week for us at ISM.”

That used to be the norm for Chandler, of course. Not so very long ago, 2011 to be precise, ISM clients won the first three Majors of the season. Going into the US PGA Championship, the so-called ‘Chubby Slam’ was very much on.

Thereafter, however, Chandler’s empire went into something of a decline. Trusted lieutenants and former tour pros Stuart Cage and Ian Garbutt departed, along with a number of clients, including McIlroy. Suddenly, ISM was an acronym for ‘In Something of a Malaise’. Crisis would be too strong a word, but there was certainly cause for something more than mild concern.

“Losing players is part of business life,” says Chandler, who has resumed his almost-constant presence on tour. “I’m fairly phlegmatic when it comes to that. We had three years where everybody who walked in won a Major. Then we had six months where it seemed like every phone call was telling me another guy had left. But being a golfer, I understood. You get good bounces and bad bounces. And over time they tend to even out.

“So yes, we have lost a few good players in the last few years. David Howell, Chris Wood, Matthew Baldwin, Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace. But even a year ago I was telling people not to worry: Danny and Matt are going to be top players and so will be our Lee, and Darren (Clarke) going forward. And that’s how it has turned out. It was really important for us to get Fitz. It came just at the right time. It made a bit of a statement.”

That it did. These days Chandler and ISM are very much on the up, which is no real surprise. Always one of the shrewdest observers in the game, the 63-year-old former British Youths champion has, since re-assuming a more hands-on role with his client base, overseen a quiet renaissance in the company’s fortunes. He certainly knows his golf.

“Augusta National was obviously set up to be more difficult because they didn’t want 18-under-par winning like it did last year,” says Chandler. “Then this young English lad appeared – not quite from nowhere, but the fringes. The great thing was that Danny’s game got better as the week went on. He was a bit short of a gallop when he arrived. The baby arriving one week earlier meant he didn’t work as hard as he normally does. His game actually gathered momentum as the event progressed. On the Friday he did well to get round in the score he did, given how he played.

“I wasn’t surprised to see Danny win. I’d been saying he would win one of the next six Majors for the last few months. Now I think he’ll win one of the next three. He’s got a game that is suited to every course. He slides the ball left-to-right and he’s won at Augusta – that tells you everything. He’s got good nerve, good desire and tremendous belief.”

Still, for all Chandler’s obvious pleasure at Willett’s victory, he was understandably just as chuffed for Westwood. With Darren Clarke, the 23-time European Tour winner has been the long-term rock on which ISM has been built.­

“Lee looked on second place as a completely positive thing,” says Chandler. “We were smart enough to get him out of Augusta on Sunday night though. He didn’t need to be there watching Danny celebrate.

He got home and sent me a selfie – which he does about three times a week – on which he looked really happy. I asked him if that was correct. And he said he was, for the first time in maybe two years. That said a lot to me. We all know Lee can play, but we also know that getting divorced is a tricky thing for anyone.

“So it was great to see him play so well, not least for the Ryder Cup implications. Lee will at least be close to qualifying now. But we shouldn’t be that surprised. This is a guy who arrived on the back of five top-11 finishes at Augusta in the last six years. He plays really well there. Yes, he was a bit rusty. But he went there with a bit of game in the locker.

“It was a great thing that Danny and Lee played with each other on the last day. It helped both of them. What I noticed was how much support they got from the gallery. A lot of Brits go to the Masters these days and most of them seemed to be following Danny and Lee. So they were getting as much if not more support than any of the Americans. Plus, the caddies get on with each other and with the other’s player. That made a difference. The whole thing was very comfortable for all of them.”

Speaking of which, Chandler is hopeful that the sight and sound of Willett’s victory will prove inspirational to the growing band of young European players with Major aspirations. It has happened before. When a 22-year old Seve Ballesteros won the Open Championship at Royal Lytham he set off a string of European victories at the highest level of the game. Armed with the knowledge that they could beat the great Spaniard – at least some of the time – the likes of Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle, Ian Woosnam and Bernhard Langer were soon enough Grand Slam champions, too.

So it is that the likes of Fitzpatrick, Chris Wood, Andy Sullivan, Bernd Weisberger, Thorbjorn Olesen and Thomas Pieters will surely have gained confidence from Willett’s win. Especially Fitzpatrick.

“I wasn’t at all surprised to see Matt do well,” says Chandler. “We had almost expected that he might struggle in the first few months of this year. He’s not a big fan of the grasses in Florida and Malaysia. And many of the PGA Tour courses early in the season are for the ‘bombers’.

“But I think he will do well in all four Majors this year. The harder the course and the harder the set-up, the better he is. Having said that, I wasn’t quite thinking he’d be seventh. Somewhere in the top-20 was more realistic.

“The great thing about him is that every day at a Major he learns something. He played with Rory on the Tuesday – a great learning day. He’s astute in that he has picked out role models to follow. You can figure out who they are when you see whom he practises with. But his biggest role model is Danny Willett. I guarantee Matt will be picking Danny’s brain about how it all felt down the stretch and stuff like that.”

So the future looks bright for Chandler and ISM. Which is not to say he is taking anything for granted. The mistakes of the past will not be repeated.

“The great thing about ISM right now is that we have really nice people who play well,” says Chandler. “And when someone like Danny does what he does it puts the spotlight on us. People look at what we have done to bring him through and that is good for our business.

“We recently launched something called the ‘Class of 16’. Five of our young pros will benefit from a pot of sponsorship from five or six companies. The players get funding and they pay 25 per cent of their winnings into the pot until they reach breakeven. So they can’t lose. But the whole idea is to produce another Willett.”

Tagged Chubby Chandler, Danny Willett, Lee Westwood, Matt Fitzpatrick