Not everyone celebrates turning 50, but for Ryan Helminen the milestone birthday couldn’t have come at a more opportunistic time.
The Appleton native and Menasha resident is playing in the U.S. Senior Open this week at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colorado, just a few weeks after becoming old enough to play on golf’s Champions Tour.
Helminen, a Wisconsin Golf Hall of Fame member, turned 50 on May 29 and five days later shot a 1-under-par 69 at the Final Qualifier at Oconomowoc Golf Club to earn his spot in the major championship.
It will be the first time Helminen tees it up in a professional major since he played in the PGA Championship three consecutive years from 2014 to 2016, including the 2015 major at Whistling Straits.
“I can’t believe it’s been almost 10 years already since I did that,” Helminen said. “It seems like I was out here with these guys yesterday. A lot has changed in my life and everything, but I feel really good and, you know, I have a different approach now. It’s not life or death to be out here. Everybody out here is thrilled to be out here.
“Not everybody can play a professional sport in their 50s. It’s not like any other sport. I think we’re all just very blessed that we’re able to do what we love and be able to play at this level this late, as far as our athletic life.”
Helminen, a longtime instructor at Ridgeway Country Club in Neenah, has remained a fixture on the Wisconsin golf tournament circuit and continues to enjoy great success in those events, but he has mostly skipped playing on the national level in recent years.
His daughter, Aliisa, is a rising golf star who will be a senior this fall at Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Faribault, Minnesota, and recently committed to play Division I golf at the University of St. Thomas. His son, Finn, is one of the top young hockey players in the nation and plays AAA hockey for a team based in Chicago.
Working on his golf game took a back seat for Helminen while helping his kids pursue their dreams, and he was perfectly fine with that.
There was also the realization that being in his late 40s and trying to compete against the likes of Rory McIlroy or Scottie Scheffler might not be realistic anymore.
But now that he’s 50, another door to the golf world has opened.
“Somewhere in there you just can’t compete with the young guys, so I really wasn’t that enthused about playing a whole lot,” he said. “But with my kids being older now and they like golf and me turning 50, I put more time into the game again and started to play better and, you know, I’ve got things to look forward to now where I think I could be competitive as opposed to trying to play with the younger guys.”
Helminen will be in the first group off the No. 1 tee June 26 at 8 a.m. CST, playing with American Matt Schalk and Canadian amateur Dave Bunker.
He said his ball is flying about 13% farther than usual in the mountain air, so getting his yardages locked in has been the priority for him and his caddie this week, longtime friend Mike Coulthard of Neenah.
With the tournament being a USGA event the rough is thick and hitting fairways will be at a premium, which plays into Helminen’s strength as a good driver of the ball.
That, combined with him being likely the youngest player in the field, has Helminen confident he can make a good showing this week.
“I just want to play my game,” he said. “I know if I can play my game and play at the level that I know I can possibly play, I think I have a very good chance to be right in there and be competitive. I’m probably the youngest guy in the field. I feel like I can hit it further and hit it just as well as anybody. Obviously, I don’t have the experience that these guys do that are playing it week in and week out, but as far as the intimidation factor of trying to play with young guys that are bombing it 340 and guys that are at the prime or peak of their career, there’s none of those guys out here.”
Helminen has no idea what the future holds as far as playing in future Champions Tour events, but if he learned anything from missing the cut in each of his three trips to the PGA Championship, it’s that success is all about timing.
“The key to being out here is to play well at the right time,” he said. “There’s just so many guys that would love to be out here. There’s just not a lot of spots. So when you do get the opportunity to get out here, you know you’ve got to make the best of it.
“I just want to take it one tournament at a time and if it’s going well and it’s working out, great. If it’s one-and-done, I guess that’s the way it is. But it’s not going to be for a lack of effort.”
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Ryan Helminen has new perspective on golf as he tees it up in U.S. Senior Open
Reporting by Mike Sherry, Appleton Post-Crescent / Appleton Post-Crescent
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
