One Round Away
About 6 weeks ago, I teed off in my first professional event. The Clovernook Open is a very well-run mini tour event outside of Cincinnati. From the tournament sponsors to the volunteers, they made all players feel very welcome. I played very solid golf throughout the three days, finishing 10 under on a golf course that had fun risk-reward opportunities, and yielded plenty of birdies down its finishing stretch.
My time at Clovernook served as a great welcome to professional golf. Paired with two gracious players the first couple of rounds, the week was filled with great vibes and good company.
Since my successful experience at the Clovernook Open, the last month of golf has been a little rockier. I went out to Phoenix in hopes of securing PGA Tour Americas status for the summer. I was unsuccessful, finishing 3 strokes behind a top 25 finish, which would have given me conditional status up in Canada.
After a couple of weeks off of competition after my trip to Arizona, I played in a Korn Ferry Tour Monday qualifier in St Louis. A closing birdie on the par five 18th led to a signed scorecard of 70, 5 shots off from qualifying for the event. Two days later, I drove out to the Quad Cities, home of the John Deere Classic.
With my mom accompanying me on this trip, vibes were high and my game felt solid! An eagle on my second hole of the pre-qualifier started the day off right, but a cold putter and some missed opportunities with scoring clubs held me back from a low round. I settled for 3 under 69 on a very getable golf course, resulting in a missed cut by one.
So, what have I learned in the last month? Well, for starters, I have the game not only to compete, but to thrive. I tend to whitewash most things in my life, but I truly believe when I am at my best, I am extremely hard to beat. Second, my resilience is being tested and I am becoming stronger by the day. It stinks missing cuts. It stinks looking back at a round seeing shots left out on the course. Yet with each shot not capitalized on, there is that much room for improvement.
Over the last month, I have been really proud with how I have practiced. I have handled most of my days like a “professional,” planning and executing with great intention. I have also been busy caddying and building relationships in between the long practice days. I am excited to keep the grind going!
With 120 guys showing up for 4 spots at most of these qualifiers, it's a tough challenge, but doable.
Remember the gracious playing partners at the Clovernook Open? Well, one of them was named Nick Beinz. If the name sounds familiar, there may be a reason. Nick probably doesn’t remember too much about our time together at the Clovernook Open, but I certainly do. As someone who had just turned pro, Nick was helpful in answering my questions about the landscape of professional golf, sharing his experience so far, and much more. He was a pleasure to play with and I was impressed with his game.
As I opened Twitter to check on the golf world a few days ago, I saw his name trending. After getting through the Rocket Mortgage Classic pre-qualifier, he shot 65 in the Monday qualifier. In a situation he had never experienced before, Nick downed 3 beers as he waited to see if there was going to be a playoff. And of course there was.
With the famous twitter account Monday Q Info documenting the entire story, I saw Nick survived the playoff (slightly buzzed), and qualified for his first TOUR sanctioned event in Detroit. Although he didn't make the cut, he gained thousands of fans, acquired some much-needed sponsors, and, I’m sure, had the week of his life.
It is because of stories like Nick’s, and countless others, why so many play these Monday qualifiers and, quite frankly, continue to “chase the dream.”
You are truly just one or two rounds away from changing your life. And, therefore, so am I.
