PAR-CEL FORCE
BMW PGA Championship leader in frame for £1.15million pay day is a former Amazon driver on £15-per-hour
The golf star leads ahead of Rory McIlroy
MATTHEW BALDWIN used to deliver parcels in an Amazon truck but now leads at the BMW PGA Championship in what could be a Hollywood-style comeback story.
Baldwin, 38, has come a long way since earning £15-an-hour as a package delivery driver in Warrington and is now eyeing a whopping £1.15million pay day.
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Almost three years ago, the golfer spent the winter months working for Amazon after another hapless Challenge Tour season left him struggling to pay his mortgage.
The Southport star considered retirement on numerous occasions since losing his DP World Tour card in 2016.
However, his unexpected stint driving a van taught him that the fire still burns.
Baldwin told : "I had three or four months working at Amazon driving a van before the Challenge Tour season started in 2022.
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“I did it four or five days a week, practised a little bit while I could, but mainly I was driving the van and delivering parcels.
"I learned a lot from that. I learned that there are other things that I could do in life but I also learned that I really wanted to play golf."
Baldwin doesn't look back at his brief spell at Amazon as a difficult time.
Instead he remembers those days with a smile, especially the funny ones.
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Baldwin added: “I remember pulling up to a block of flats, I jumped out the van, got in the back and all of a sudden I felt like I was moving and I’m like, ‘Oh no, I forgot to put the handbrake on’.
“I ran out the back, ran around the side, yanked the handbrake up, but it still wouldn’t stop. I yanked it more, it eventually stopped a few inches short of a blue Fiesta.
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"There was a woman I was delivering a parcel to who watched the whole thing and she said, ‘I couldn’t get my phone out quick enough to film it'.”
But all that is now in the past as Baldwin takes a two-shot lead into the third round at the BMW PGA Championship, with Rory McIlroy four shots off the pace.
And the Brit is enjoying every minute of his game that he knew he still had in him when he was driving the Amazon van.
Baldwin said: "I’m incredibly proud of how I’ve played so far. My golf’s been strong for a while.
"I have not always shown it with the results. I am not going to turn around and say it is not unexpected, but I know it has been in me and it has come out so far this week.”
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