Two weeks before the Veritex Bank Championship on KFT, Spencer Levin didn’t really have a job. The man with 360 combined starts between the PGA and Korn Ferry Tours, and 147 made cuts on the PGA Tour, didn’t have exempt status and a regular place to compete.
Levin had been playing well back home and decided to make the trip to Dallas to visit a friend and play a Monday qualifier. It was one of the best decisions of Levin’s career, as he made it through the qualifier, and put together three impressive rounds of 66, 68 and 67. Levin entered the final round six-strokes behind leader, Brett Drewitt. When Levin woke up on the final day he wasn’t thinking about winning.
It happened fast on Sunday - eight birdies, no bogeys. Levin breathed a sigh of relief when he realized he’d won and his phone flooded with messages.
“I had over 300 text messages,” he says. “All my boys on Tour texted me. Levin retreated with his friends back to their house where he quietly celebrated. It’s been over 10 years since he’s had a cigarette, and two since he’s had a drink.
“I’m like the soberist guy you know these days,” Levin says. “I drank some ‘non-alchs’ and they drank for me. It was just a fun night. Telling old stories…it was a fun night.”
Levin says everything aligned in a mystical way he’d only heard other players talk about. “It was a magical week, man. It really was.”
4. Ryan Gerard Makes the Cut at Honda Classic
Ryan Gerard, 24, missed earning guaranteed starts at the final stage of 2022 KFT Q-school, by one stroke. Fortunately, he got into the first four events of the season – some at the last minute as an alternate – and finished T-3 in Bogata, Colombia, in the fourth event of the season. He took soaring confidence into the Monday qualifier of the Honda Classic, which ended in Gerard surviving a 5-for-3 playoff, concluding Tuesday morning.
“I got through that playoff Tuesday morning,” Gerard says. “Booked it to the golf course, tried to get a practice round in there, had a bit of a breather on Wednesday, played good for four rounds, and then Sunday night came and it was a whirlwind. It was really cool. My phone was just broken with how many people had been blowing it up.”
Gerard shot 10-under across four rounds at the formidable PGA National Members Club, finishing 4th, collecting $411,600, and nearly gaining Special Temporary Membership for the remainder of the PGA Tour season. Gerard backed up his finish at Honda with a T-11 in Puerto Rico the following week, and officially earned Special Temporary Membership at the Valero Texas Open one month later.
“There’s a level of focus you’ve got to turn on in the moments where, you know, your legs are shaking but your hands are steady over the putter,” Gerard says. “Or your heart is beating pretty quick and the wall on the 15th at the Bear Trap is all you can see.”
Gerard played 22 events on the PGA Tour last year and earned nearly $1 million. Stories like Gerard’s are why so many players show up at Monday qualifiers hoping to achieve their dreams.
3. Tom Whitney Is Flying High
U.S. Air Force veteran Tom Whitney is the father of four, and has been chasing the PGA Tour for nine years. After battling across various personal and professional fronts, Whitney finally earned his PGA Tour card this year.
Whitney chose to go to the Air Force Academy because of his older brother, Bob, who also played high-level, competitive golf. The two were teammates on the Air Force golf team for two years before Bob graduated and became an intelligence officer. Bob was also a family man, and caddied for Tom when his schedule allowed.
Bob, who was Tom’s biggest fan and best friend, struggled with depression. He wasn’t able to overcome it and in 2020, Bob committed suicide.
Tom chose to keep Bob close, marking his ball on tournament greens with Bob’s dog tags from the Air Force, and keeping his favorite memories of Bob in focus.
Whitney has relied on serious reinforcements from his wife, Jess, and her family, to help manage a difficult schedule. All the time on the road wore on Whitney. Last off-season, Whitney invested in a launch monitor, and hit balls into a net in his home so he could be closer to his family while he practiced.
The Whitney family was rewarded for their resilience and patience: Whitney accumulated six top-10s this season, including a runner-up and third place, and finished in the top-30 on the season-long KFT points list.
The family will begin 2024 in January at the Sony Open on the PGA Tour.
2. 25 Years Led To the Shot of Michael Wright’s Life
“We’re aiming this 10 feet right of the flag,” Wright remembers his caddie Guy Elliot saying. “If I hit it in the water it’s goodnight – we’re going home.”
Photo from Australian PGA
Wright, 49, from Brisbane, Australia, was in a four-way tie for second, one shot off the lead and one shot from dropping outside the top five – the number of players who would secure status on the Champions Tour for 2024. After 25 years of battling to keep his dream alive on poorly funded tours around the globe, he was staring at the biggest opportunity of his career.
Wright had never secured full status on any tour through Q-school. 25 years of frugality and playing his best when times were toughest, kept him going. He remembered years when his family had walked to the store to get milk because they couldn’t afford to put fuel in the car.
But Wright was a wedge away from changing all that. It was a frightening shot given the circumstances – 122 yards from a pin that was tucked four paces from water. Wright’s ball resting on bare desert. With the ball back in his stance, Wright made clean contact and looked up.
“It’s got eyes for the flag only,” Wright says. “It takes one bounce and disappears. It was a shock, and we went nuts. It was two weeks of emotion built up that just exploded. That one moment was just incredible.”
The hole-out celebration by Wright and Elliot was electric. Their feet barely touched the ground as they joyfully floated to the green, reveling in the greatest shot of Wright’s life. Wright snatched his ball out of the hole, hugged Elliot, and signed his card in a dreamlike state.
After a quarter century of struggle, Wright is savoring the moment and ready to work harder than ever. He’ll turn 50 in February and play as a rookie on the Champions Tour.
1. Hayden Springer Moves Fans To Tears
Hayden and Emma Springer lost their three-year-old daughter, Sage, to Trisomy18 last month, before Springer’s inspired performance at Q-school. It is by far the most poignant and remarkable golf story of the year.
Two weeks before the Veritex Bank Championship on KFT, Spencer Levin didn’t really have a job. The man with 360 combined starts between the PGA and Korn Ferry Tours, and 147 made cuts on the PGA Tour, didn’t have exempt status and a regular place to compete.
Levin had been playing well back home and decided to make the trip to Dallas to visit a friend and play a Monday qualifier. It was one of the best decisions of Levin’s career, as he made it through the qualifier, and put together three impressive rounds of 66, 68 and 67. Levin entered the final round six-strokes behind leader, Brett Drewitt. When Levin woke up on the final day he wasn’t thinking about winning.
It happened fast on Sunday - eight birdies, no bogeys. Levin breathed a sigh of relief when he realized he’d won and his phone flooded with messages.
“I had over 300 text messages,” he says. “All my boys on Tour texted me. Levin retreated with his friends back to their house where he quietly celebrated. It’s been over 10 years since he’s had a cigarette, and two since he’s had a drink.
“I’m like the soberist guy you know these days,” Levin says. “I drank some ‘non-alchs’ and they drank for me. It was just a fun night. Telling old stories…it was a fun night.”
Levin says everything aligned in a mystical way he’d only heard other players talk about. “It was a magical week, man. It really was.”
4. Ryan Gerard Makes the Cut at Honda Classic
Ryan Gerard, 24, missed earning guaranteed starts at the final stage of 2022 KFT Q-school, by one stroke. Fortunately, he got into the first four events of the season – some at the last minute as an alternate – and finished T-3 in Bogata, Colombia, in the fourth event of the season. He took soaring confidence into the Monday qualifier of the Honda Classic, which ended in Gerard surviving a 5-for-3 playoff, concluding Tuesday morning.
“I got through that playoff Tuesday morning,” Gerard says. “Booked it to the golf course, tried to get a practice round in there, had a bit of a breather on Wednesday, played good for four rounds, and then Sunday night came and it was a whirlwind. It was really cool. My phone was just broken with how many people had been blowing it up.”
Gerard shot 10-under across four rounds at the formidable PGA National Members Club, finishing 4th, collecting $411,600, and nearly gaining Special Temporary Membership for the remainder of the PGA Tour season. Gerard backed up his finish at Honda with a T-11 in Puerto Rico the following week, and officially earned Special Temporary Membership at the Valero Texas Open one month later.
“There’s a level of focus you’ve got to turn on in the moments where, you know, your legs are shaking but your hands are steady over the putter,” Gerard says. “Or your heart is beating pretty quick and the wall on the 15th at the Bear Trap is all you can see.”
Gerard played 22 events on the PGA Tour last year and earned nearly $1 million. Stories like Gerard’s are why so many players show up at Monday qualifiers hoping to achieve their dreams.
3. Tom Whitney Is Flying High
U.S. Air Force veteran Tom Whitney is the father of four, and has been chasing the PGA Tour for nine years. After battling across various personal and professional fronts, Whitney finally earned his PGA Tour card this year.
Whitney chose to go to the Air Force Academy because of his older brother, Bob, who also played high-level, competitive golf. The two were teammates on the Air Force golf team for two years before Bob graduated and became an intelligence officer. Bob was also a family man, and caddied for Tom when his schedule allowed.
Bob, who was Tom’s biggest fan and best friend, struggled with depression. He wasn’t able to overcome it and in 2020, Bob committed suicide.
Tom chose to keep Bob close, marking his ball on tournament greens with Bob’s dog tags from the Air Force, and keeping his favorite memories of Bob in focus.
Whitney has relied on serious reinforcements from his wife, Jess, and her family, to help manage a difficult schedule. All the time on the road wore on Whitney. Last off-season, Whitney invested in a launch monitor, and hit balls into a net in his home so he could be closer to his family while he practiced.
The Whitney family was rewarded for their resilience and patience: Whitney accumulated six top-10s this season, including a runner-up and third place, and finished in the top-30 on the season-long KFT points list.
The family will begin 2024 in January at the Sony Open on the PGA Tour.
2. 25 Years Led To the Shot of Michael Wright’s Life
“We’re aiming this 10 feet right of the flag,” Wright remembers his caddie Guy Elliot saying. “If I hit it in the water it’s goodnight – we’re going home.”
Photo from Australian PGA
Wright, 49, from Brisbane, Australia, was in a four-way tie for second, one shot off the lead and one shot from dropping outside the top five – the number of players who would secure status on the Champions Tour for 2024. After 25 years of battling to keep his dream alive on poorly funded tours around the globe, he was staring at the biggest opportunity of his career.
Wright had never secured full status on any tour through Q-school. 25 years of frugality and playing his best when times were toughest, kept him going. He remembered years when his family had walked to the store to get milk because they couldn’t afford to put fuel in the car.
But Wright was a wedge away from changing all that. It was a frightening shot given the circumstances – 122 yards from a pin that was tucked four paces from water. Wright’s ball resting on bare desert. With the ball back in his stance, Wright made clean contact and looked up.
“It’s got eyes for the flag only,” Wright says. “It takes one bounce and disappears. It was a shock, and we went nuts. It was two weeks of emotion built up that just exploded. That one moment was just incredible.”
The hole-out celebration by Wright and Elliot was electric. Their feet barely touched the ground as they joyfully floated to the green, reveling in the greatest shot of Wright’s life. Wright snatched his ball out of the hole, hugged Elliot, and signed his card in a dreamlike state.
After a quarter century of struggle, Wright is savoring the moment and ready to work harder than ever. He’ll turn 50 in February and play as a rookie on the Champions Tour.
1. Hayden Springer Moves Fans To Tears
Hayden and Emma Springer lost their three-year-old daughter, Sage, to Trisomy18 last month, before Springer’s inspired performance at Q-school. It is by far the most poignant and remarkable golf story of the year.
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