TOP GUN
Sky’s the limit as Walker Cup star Maverick sets sights on superstardom
MAVERICK McNEALY. With a name like that he’s got a head start already for superstar status.
But there’s more than just a distinctive name that sets the young American apart.
Yesterday he turned pro having put the crowning glory on an impressive amateur career with his starring role in the USA’s dominant Walker Cup triumph on Sunday.
He is by no means the first to have achieved the notable feat of winning all four of his matches – as McNealy and two of his team-mates did at Los Angeles Country Club – but what’s that old saying about judging a man by the company he keeps.
The last guys to do it were Rickie Fowler and Peter Uihlein in 2009 and 10 years before that Paul Casey and Luke Donald pulled off a perfect 4-0 too.
Yet it’s in the record he shares with another distinctive name – Tiger Woods – that has generated the most excitement about the 21-year-old Californian’s prospects.
Anyone who comes through the Stanford University golf team will inevitably live in the shadow of Tiger, its most successful alumni, but McNealy has the distinction of matching one of the great man’s achievements already.
His 11 wins on the collegiate circuit ties the record set by Woods and matched by current PGA Tour player Patrick Rodgers.
Another feather in the cap he shares with those two is the Haskins Award which is presented annually to the player of the year on the college circuit.
A former No.1 in the world amateur rankings he is tipped to make a big impact when he goes to PGA Tour qualifying school in the autumn.
Among the hundreds of other hopeful young pros teeing it up, he’ll stand out from the crowd again because McNealy’s background is different from your average golfer grafting a lifting on tour.
The son of a Silicone Valley billionaire who co-founded the computer giant Sun Microsystems, McNealy had to convince more than just himself that he has it in him to make a career of golf. Because given the choice between golf and making something of the Management Science and Engineering degree he just earned at Stanford, it was a tough call with his dad Scott posing him tough questions.
McNealy said: “My dad was probably the one I talked to the most. He’s the world’s best devil’s advocate.”
At a preliminary Team Maverick meeting inside the
Stanford clubhouse, McNealy gathered together his parents, swing coach Alex Murray and Stanford men’s golf coach Conrad Ray. It was there when he decided to chase his dream.
He added: “My dad proceeded to lay out every reason why I shouldn’t turn pro.
“He makes very convincing arguments so I walked out of that meeting with my world turned upside down thinking, ‘Oh my God, what just happened?’
“But the only thing he wanted me to do – he didn’t care which way I chose – he just wanted me to think fully and completely about it.”
Safe to say he has a good idea what he’s getting himself into, although any pro will say you can never fully understand the pressures of Tour life until you’ve served your apprenticeship in that rookie season.
How quickly we see him competing regularly on the main tour can never be predicted with 100 per cent certainty. But don’t be surprised to see Maverick flying high before long. Any fans of the movie Top Gun will appreciate that pun as they will if he gets paired with Retief Goosen in an event once he reached the big tour.
Maverick and Goose – what a double act.
My dad proceeded to lay out every reason why I shouldn”t turn pro McNEALY