My dad was a social golfer who shot in the 80s. He took me to the range when I was 2, but I got serious about baseball, basketball and football before I got serious about golf. I broke my wrist playing football, so I quit. I got tennis elbow in my throwing arm, so I couldn’t pitch anymore. I’m really flatfooted, so all the running in basketball had me limping at the end of every practice. I love competing, so I turned to golf as my outlet. It seemed like the only sport my body would handle.
I joined the high school golf team and shot 106 in my first tournament. I didn’t realize how bad that was. I got a job cleaning carts at Rock Creek Golf Club, a private Nicklaus course in Gordonville, Tex. I’d practice before or after shifts, taking one of those huge 300-ball buckets to a corner of the range. I’d choose a flag and try to hit it.
My sophomore year, I started shooting in the 80s. Soon, I was shooting in the 70s. Senior year, I lost our district championships by a shot, shooting 76 with 41 putts.
I never played in big amateur tournaments or AJGA events. We didn’t have the money. Spending $400 to finish 15th behind a bunch of kids who’d been taking lessons since they were 8 didn’t make sense. I knew D-I wouldn’t happen. I sent my stats to coaches at schools where I could get in-state tuition. That meant Texas and schools within a certain distance of the Texas border.
Photograph by Jeff Wilson
Southeastern Oklahoma State had a solid DII golf program and offered me a scholarship. I did a lot of gate drills to clean up my putting, and we went to nationals my sophomore year. My junior year, I had a freak accident at a casino with my teammates. No, I wasn’t drinking. We were playing that game where you punch the bag as hard as you can. I hit it at a weird angle and broke my wrist.
I couldn’t play for months. I went to class, did my schoolwork and watched Netflix, but all I could think about was how badly I wanted to get a club in my hands and start grinding. I won three times the next season and five the following. I graduated with a degree in business in 2019 knowing I wanted to play professional golf.
I played in some state opens but started feeling a lot of pain in my left thumb. I got scans and the diagnosis was trigger thumb, which is tendon irritation that can lock the finger in one position. I got steroid shots and wore a splint. I continued working at Rock Creek as an assistant pro for money, but I was miserable. My pro career felt over.
I changed my grip from overlap to interlock. Finally, after about eight months, I could play. I got my game in shape, and played in All Pro Tour events. In college, you shoot two or three under, and you place pretty well. On the APT, do that and you’re barely making cuts. I learned to go deep more consistently. I got comfortable making the turn at five under. I went from thinking, Oh, my gosh, it’s happening, I could shoot nine under today! to thinking, I’m 100-percent doing this today.
I played Korn Ferry Q School in 2021 and didn’t get through. A group of guys at Rock Creek sponsored me, which was incredible. One of my sponsors, Ron Johnston, is a CPA. He asked if I wanted to work in his office to make money in the off-season. I took my work on the road when the next season started. I can’t thank him enough. The paycheck helped me keep up with expenses while creating a backup career.
Right before Korn Ferry Q School in 2022, I developed arthritis in my pinkie, I think due to the new interlocking grip. That pinkie knuckle is still twice normal-size. I withdrew, didn’t get through again in 2023, wondered if it was time to quit and become a full-time accountant. My parents said, “You’re still young, you’ve got plenty of time to get better, you can still do it.”
In the middle of the 2024 season, I got through PGA Tour Americas Q School, earning status in Canada, a major confidence boost. That fall, I made it through the first stage of Korn Ferry Q School. Between rounds I worked my accounting job. It was nice to take my mind off golf. I started the second stage with the best round of my life, then followed it up with another 63 to lead by six. It probably wasn’t the right mindset, but going into that third round, I was just trying not to mess it up. Top 12, that’s all we have to do. I finished tied for seventh. That got me to the final stage, where I finished 26th, earning a spot in the first 12 tournaments of the 2025 Korn Ferry season. My buddy who caddied for me cried.
Right now, I still have two jobs: golf and accounting. My golf winnings and sponsors are funding my golf, and accounting pays for the rest of my life. I’m lucky to keep the two separate. My goal is to make golf my only job, get my investors their money back and be out here competing for as long as I possibly can. —With Keely Levins
