Fledgling golf pros chase their dreams at Uplands tourney
The dream chasers have arrived at Uplands.
There is plenty of hope for potential glory, both immediate this week and in terms of longterm career, as fledgling pro golfers prepare for Thursday’s opening round of the Bayview Place DC Bank Open presented by the Times Colonist.
Will Griffin of Lufkin, Texas, made his pro debut last week at the Freedom 55 Financial Open at Point Grey in Vancouver, the previous Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada tournament.
“I’m going to ride it as long as I can. The PGA Tour is the goal for a lot of the guys starting out here.”
You don’t have to tell Griffin where it can lead. The economics major was a redshirt freshman the same year a playing freshman by the name of Jordan Spieth led the University of Texas Longhorns to the 2015 NCAA championship.
“It’s a little harder to get hold of him now,” chuckled Griffin, when asked if they still keep in touch.
Griffin’s own route to the pro game is more modest and takes him through the Mackenzie TourPGA Tour Canada, which in a baseball analogy, has been described as the Double-A level to the Triple-A Web.com Tour and, of course, the major-league PGA Tour. But you can get there from here, as attested by PGA Tour veterans such as Steve Stricker, Craig Parry, Stuart Appleby, Ken Duke, Kirk Triplett, Chris DiMarco and Scott McCarron, among others, who have come out of the Canadian Tour to amass a combined 112 PGA Tour titles and more than $400 million US in earnings. The 2017 Bayview Place Open-champion Max Rottluff of Dusseldorf, Germany, out of NCAA Arizona State, is on the right trajectory and is now on the Web.com Tour.
But it was a rude welcome to the pro game for Griffin as he missed the cut last weekend at Point Grey. Nobody said this was going to be easy or quick.
“It was a rough week,” he admitted.
“I’m looking for a better week here on the Island.”
The Island was indeed kinder to Griffin last month when he showed his emerging talent by placing third at the final Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada qualifying tournament at Crown Isle in Courtenay, shooting torrid rounds of 65 and 66 to go with a 73. He clearly does not mind the cooler spring/summer temperatures on the Island than he is used to at home.
“It’s getting hot down in Texas, and I love the weather here,” he said.
“I would say my ideal playing temperature is actually between 55 and 62 degrees Fahrenheit.”
His finish at Crown Isle guaranteed Griffin entry into the first eight stops of the 2018 Mackenzie Tour. The rest of the season schedule is up to how well he does on those eight opportunities.
He is on a steep learning curve as a rookie in the pro game but has picked things up quickly.
“I was a bit too conservative and played it safe last week at Point Grey,” he said.
“I found you need to be more aggressive and assertive in the pro game.”
You have to push it, without making miscues.
“The pros limit their mistakes,” said Griffin.
“I have to be more aggressive, but also more precise and accurate.”
Griffin shot 66 in the Pro-Am on Tuesday and believes Uplands is the perfect sort of straight-forward track on which to push the envelope in his second career pro start.
“I like this course and I can play well on it,” he said, after Tuesday’s impressive Pro-Am round. “You can be aggressive on it.” Spoken like a guy who knows what it’s going to take to make it as a pro golfer.
Griffin will tee off Thursday in the 156-golfer field at 12:30 p.m. in a group with fellow-American Jarrett Swan and Swede Mathias Dahl.
The 36th Victoria pro tournament tees off at 7:30 a.m. Thursday with a group that includes Canadian James Seymour and Americans Carson Jacobs and Daniel Hudson. The final group Thursday — Kevin Carrigan of Royal Colwood, fellow-Canadian Taylor Pendrith and American Joe Cooper — goes at 2:30 p.m.