There are many young players making their marks on the PGA Tour.
One major contributing factor is that the players coming out of college today are much better prepared to hit the ground running. The learning curve is much shorter as they have already experienced a lot of top-notch competition and some even played in several PGA Tour events as an amateur.
Last week we saw three such players. University of Georgia graduate Davis Thompson ran away with the John Deere Classic with a record-breaking score of 28-under par. The 25-year-old Thompson joined the tour last year and his win came in only his 63rd tour event. With his limited experience one might think that he would have folded in the last round. Instead he shot a 6-under 29 on the front nine to cruise to victory.
Behind Thompson were a couple of other impressive performances. Tied for second place were Florida State player Luke Clanton and PGA Tour University graduate Michael Thorbjornsen, who was a member of the Stanford golf team. They both finished at 24 under-par.
Clanton is still an amateur and finished 10th the week before at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. He is the first amateur to finish consecutive events in the top 10 since Billy Joe Patton way back in 1958!
This was Thorbjornsen’s third professional event after leading the PGA Tour University rankings earning him a PGA Tour card. The PGA Tour University is a program designed to identify the best college golfers and provide them playing opportunities on the tours operated under the PGA Tour umbrella. The top-ranked senior earns a PGA Tour card. Thorbjornsen is also the 2018 U.S. Junior Amateur champion, having defeated Akshay Bhatia in the finals that year. Bhatia is another great young player who bypassed college and now has two wins on tour.
Earlier this year we saw amateur Nick Dunlap win the American Express Desert Classic. Since the win came with a two-year tour exemption, Dunlap made the tough decision to turn professional. If Clanton keeps up his performance he may end up facing the same difficult decision.
DRIVE, CHIP AND PUTT
If you follow golf then you may have seen the Drive, Chip and Putt finals on television the Sunday before the Masters. Last week I had an opportunity to volunteer at one of the regional qualifiers that was being conducted at Stony Creek in Noblesville. More than 150 kids signed up for the event where they earned points based on three drives, three chips and three putts.
There are six qualifying events in Indiana with only one still open to apply for. It is July 23 at Otter Creek in Columbus. Qualifiers advance from the local qualifying to subregional and then regional qualifying for a chance to be one of 10 players in boys and girls age groups to advance to the national finals.
If you have a boy or girl interested in golf, sign them up on the Drive, Chip and Putt website. The event is free and each participant receives a nice package with a divot-fixer and ball marker. Maybe this is your chance to visit Augusta National.
BOB SIMMONS
You may recall the series of articles I did in 2018 describing the history of all the local golf courses. In advance of the series of articles I was contacted by Bob Simmons’ daughter Cinda Rutherford. She provided me information she had gathered about the courses that Simmons designed or built beyond the local Green Acres course. This year, Rutherford provided me access to additional information that enabled me to conduct further research and compile a more complete listing of his courses. That listing is over 75 entries long.
I will try to include short segments on Simmons in future articles this year. I have already sent in nominations for Simmons to the Indiana Golf Hall of Fame and the Howard County Hall of Legends. I also plan to submit a nomination for the Howard County Sports Hall of Fame. Simmons is deserving of each of these honors and I hope to see him in each in the next few years.
I will leave you with one Simmons story that Indiana Golf Hall of Famer Skip Runnels told me this year. When the Richmond Elks was determining who to award their course design and construction contract to, it came down to Simmons and Pete Dye. Runnels had heard, and later verified, that “Simmons got the job because he had a better reputation.” This was 1965, only a year after Dye did Crooked Stick.
In all fairness, this was early in Dye’s career and Simmons gained a lot of experience while building Dick Wilson-designed courses before going out on his own. Wilson and Robert Trent Jones were the two major golf architects at the time.
Until next time, have more fun playing more golf!
