When Golf Australia magazine last caught up with Michael Hendry, it was at The Australian in 2023, following the opening round of the Australian Open.
The two-over round he carded that day was pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of his previous 18 months. He sat down with this writer and was open, honest and at times confronting about what the future might hold for him.
He told the story of his Leukemia diagnosis. How it completely changed the course of his life, gave him a new outlook on what is truly important and most impressively, how he wasn’t going to let this cruel and unfair illness dictate to him ... he was going to dictate to it.
Fast forward to today - to Hendry sitting down with GA Magazine after a disappointing one-over, second round of the Japan-Australasia Championship at Royal Auckland and Grange Golf Club.
It will be enough for the Aucklander to play the weekend, and we certainly aren’t deliberately making a habit of nabbing him for a chat following frustrating rounds.
As Hendry told us in December 2023, he doesn’t sweat the small stuff, and that philosophy hasn’t changed. His health, however, has. He’s in the clear, doing great and still has goals and desires to keep improving and playing.
“The health’s fine, mate,” Hendry tells GA.
“I got the all clear two years post-chemo last October; with zero residual disease detectable, which pretty much means I’m in the same boat as everyone else again, which is good.
“That’s all gone. It’s been a long ride back, though. It wasn’t just the six months of chemo; it was two years of drugs and stuff like that.
“It was difficult, but I feel like physically I’m coming out pretty close to where I was previously.”
Such an incredible mentality of a top-class athlete shouldn’t be surprising, but the way Hendry speaks of his recovery, what he did, committing to the gym while he was undertaking chemotherapy, it is a completely different type of mental strength; ultra impressive, and no doubt was huge in helping him make the recovery he has.
He spoke about dictating terms, and that is exactly what he did.
“I think I did that really well personally [dictating the terms]. I was in the gym right the way through the whole chemo process. I was pushing hard to make sure I could live life the way I wanted to, whether that ended up being a long life or a short time.
“I definitely felt like I achieved that goal. Thankfully, I’m coming out the other side of it and shouldn’t have any more issues."
What does the future hold? Well, that is something Hendry is constantly in limbo about. On one hand, he is in the top 0.1 per cent of golfers on the planet, and that drive and desire to improve and play on the biggest stages doesn’t just disappear; that mentality got him to this position, and it is still there. On the other hand, he has two daughters, seven and 11. Being away from them is something Hendry admits is becoming increasingly harder.
“It really is difficult. My girls are getting to an age now where I feel like I need to be home more,” he admits.
“Obviously, the scare that I had puts more of an emphasis on how finite things are. They are my priority, and I want to spend as much time with them as possible.
"So being on the road as much as I am is really challenging, and that’s something I’d like to be able to pull back from a little bit.
"But I still have goals I want to achieve. This is a cutthroat sport. It’s not something where you can just say, 'Oh, I’ll play 10 events a year and hope that I keep my card,' because that’s just not the reality.
"Not all of us are Tiger Woods. If you want to keep your job, you have to keep playing. It’s a tough balance and one that I suppose I’m struggling with more and more in terms of the family side of things."
It is a constant battle for Hendry, and slowing down is something he is pondering. Calling it a “grey area”. He genuinely is torn. The fact that U.S Champions Tour spots have been all but taken off the table for international players might help fast-track that call; only time will tell.
“My goal is always just to try to get better at golf. I’m constantly trying to improve and push myself to get better.
“If I can do that, I feel like I’ll remain competitive even as I get older. The young guys keep getting better. I actually feel like I’m a better player now than I was 10 or 15 years ago, but the body doesn’t always want to cooperate,” he laughs.
“I’m definitely in the twilight of my career. I had desires to try to get onto the U.S. Champions Tour, but that opportunity’s been taken away from international players.
“We’ll see. I still have goals to get better at golf, but in terms of long-term career goals, it’s a bit of a grey area.”
Hendry has long been an ambassador for golf in New Zealand. He sings the praises of the Charles Tour and loves the fact that high-quality pro golf is back in Auckland.
“I was in the gym right the way through the whole chemo process. I was pushing hard to make sure I could live life the way I wanted to, whether that ended up being a long life or a short time." - Michael Hendry.
“It’s been bloody good. I get to spend the week at home in my own bed, which is nice, because you get to play a tour event without being away from your family.
“It’s on such a good golf course, too. I haven’t had a very good relationship with the golf course today. But I’ve done well enough to make the weekend, and hopefully I can put together a couple of good rounds and make a good showing.”
These three weeks of golf in New Zealand have been huge for the landscape of the professional game in the country. You only have to get out on the course to see the excitement; people are taking days off work here at RAGGC to catch some golf in the sun.
This scribe saw a few young chaps in school uniform watching on from behind the ropes; skipping a few classes to watch some phenomenal golf never hurt anyone.
What we are seeing at RAGGC and beyond reflects what has been happening in New Zealand domestically since 2008.
“I think it’s a continuation of what’s been happening for a while. The Charles Tour has proven successful with young guys coming through, and now there are so many young Kiwis having success around the world," Hendry says.
“Kiwis on the Aussie Tour over the last 10 years have been really strong. I wouldn’t say dominant, necessarily, but for such a small country and a small percentage of the players on that tour, the Kiwi boys are doing really well.
“I think getting high-level, world-class golf back into this region is the icing on the cake of all the development that’s happened over the last 15 years.”
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