After winning the 2015 Rookie of the Year, Jupiter pro is ready for his fifirst PGA Tour win.
WEST PALM BEACH — Jupiter PGA Tour pro Daniel Berger isn’t close to being satisfified after earning Rookie of the Year honors and being the only fifirstyear player to make it through the FedEx Cup playoffffs to the Tour Championship this past year.
“I’m better this year than I was last year, and I hope I’ll be better next year than I am this year,” Berger said Monday before participating in the annual Golf with the Big Dogs at Trump International Golf Club. “I just want to keep getting better every year.”
Berger, 22, introduced himself to Palm Beach County golf fans last February when he reached a playoffff at the Honda Classic before losing to threetime major champion Padraig Harrington. By the time the season ended last month, he had another runner-up fifinish (this time to Jason Day in the BMW Championship) and six top10s, had climbed to 50th in the world rankings, and earned more than $3 million.
All that was left was a phone call from PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem to inform him he had won the rookie honor and that Jordan Spieth had been voted Player of the Year.
“It’s a great honor, especially in that it’s voted upon by your peers,” he said. “The rookie class of 2015 was pretty solid, so (even) to be nominated out of that group is pretty special.”
His accomplishments qualifified him to play in all the majors in 2016 as well as the World Golf Championships events, the fifirst of which was held last month in China. The $8.5 million purse and world ranking points on the line convinced him it was time for his fifirst trip to the Far East, where he also played an event in Malaysia.
It wasn’t that great,” he said. “It was just ugly. It was dark and gray. The course was nice, and the people were cool. But it was just dreary. Every day there was cloud cover and you were just kind of depressed almost. I was pretty excited to get back home.”
Berger still managed an 11th-place fifinish and has two top-25 fifinishes in three events on the 2015-16 schedule. He has another month before resuming his season at the Sony Open in Hawaii in mid-January, then plans to play Phoenix and Torrey Pines before coming home for the Honda Classic in late February, followed by the WGC-Cadillac at Doral the following week.
He said he’s in a better position to capture his fifirst PGA Tour win than he was at this time last year.
“Mentally, I’m better,” he said. “I’ve got a better understanding of the game, I’m better at traveling, better at eating, physically stronger. In every aspect, I’m stronger, for sure.”
Berger was one of 18 pros to participate in Monday’s event as Big Dog Ranch looked to raise funds for its new $3 million cage-free facility in Loxahatchee Groves that is on track to open next summer. Marketing Director Emily DiSalvo said the new facility is expected to house 500 dogs, twice the current number.
Royal Palm Beach defensive back/wide receiver Da’Von Brown will stay close to home to play college football.
The three-star recruit has committed to Florida Atlantic, Wildcats assistant coach Elton Gilkes confifirmed Monday.
Brown, ranked No. 10 on PBgametime’s 2016 Big Board, holds offffffffffffers from South Alabama, Cincinnati, Colorado State and South Florida, among others.
“We are extremely proud of Da’Von,” Gilkes said. “We knew he had tremendous abilit y as a sophomore, and with all of his hard work, determination, and commitment, he became not only a great player, but matured into a wonderful young man along the way.”
Brown fifinished with more than 600 yards of offffffffffffense and six touchdowns this season. On defense, he recorded 77 tackles with two interceptions. Both were returned for touchdowns.
He joins Oxbridge Academy junior defensive back Traivon Leonard, who committed to the Owls Dec. 2, and American Heritage senior linebacker Lawrence Graham, who announced his commitment to FAU in June.