Trio of local pros bring own stories & goals to Quail Hollow
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Every year, they have their own stories.
At the PGA Championship this week at Quail Hollow, the New York metro area will be represented by three club pros — Matt Dobyns, the head pro at Fresh Meadow on Long Island; Adam Rainaud, an assistant pro at Winged Foot; and Alex Beach, an assistant at Baltusrol — as 20 PGA professionals earned their way in.
Dobyns and Rainaud have played the PGA Championship before. This is the 39-year-old Dobyns’ third consecutive year and fourth overall. Rainaud, 31, played the 2015 PGA at Whistling Straits. For the 28-year-old Beach, this is his first taste of a major championship.
Do byns actually has some positive history at Quail Hollow, having played in the 2016 Wells Fargo there, making the cut and finishing tied for 53rd. Dobyns was given six PGA Tour exemptions for winning the PGA Professional National Championship, and Wells Fargo was one of the events he played.
“I made the cut there, so naturally I go into the week pretty excited,’’ Dobyns told The Post. “If I can make the cut at a PGA Tour event and felt like I played well at the venue, why can’t I do it this week just because it’s called a di ffe rent tournament? I’m trying to manage those expectations in a major that it helps me play better.
“I’m looking forward to the week. I know the place, I know the lay of the land and I’ve done the major thing before.’’
What he hasn’t done, though, is make a cut in a major. He missed the cut at
last year’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol, missed it at the 2015 PGA, the 2014 U.S. Open and the 2012 PGA.
Unlike Dobyns, who’s been here and done this, the week will be a revelation to Beach. That Beach is even here is testament to his perseverance.
A year ago, at the PGA Professional at Turning Stone, Beach was hospitalized right before the tournament with a blood clot in his left leg. He was cleared by doctors to play, but the pain sabotaged his chances.
That came after Beach missed qualifying for the tournament by one shot in each of the previous three years. So that made qualifying this year even more special.
“To fight back and, 365 days later, play well and make it has been a humbling and exciting journey,’’ he said. “To make the PGA was certainly an exclamation point. It’s been a rollercoaster ride.’’
Rainaud, in his first year at Winged Foot, said, “If I made the cut and was the low PGA professional on Sunday, it would be the best week of my life.’’
He preferred not to think of the more realistic alternative.
“In my head, I have to think that if I hit every shot perfectly, then I can win,’’ he said. “You’ve got to go in with that attitude. Even though the odds of me winning are one-in-a-million, I have to believe in myself.’’