Pro career follows Stanford degree
Maverick McNealy bought dinner for his parents Tuesday night. That counted as a first, but it makes sense in the wake of the big endorsement deals he signed this week.
McNealy, one of the nation’s top college golfers at Stanford and the world’s top-ranked amateur for a long stretch, will make his professional debut Thursday in the Safeway Open. He resisted the temptation to turn pro after a breakout sophomore season, waiting two years to earn his degree and complete his college eligibility.
Even then, McNealy contemplated a career in business rather than golf. Now he’s ready to tangle with PGA Tour pros, convinced he made the right decision in staying at Stanford for four years.
“I think the best thing I ever did for a professional career was stay amateur and finish my degree,” McNealy said Wednesday at Silverado. “My freshman year, I never thought I would be good enough to play professional golf.
“It wasn’t until sometime this year that I decided this is what I wanted to do for a living, and so I started preparing for that.”
One reason McNealy might be better prepared for a pro career: the lessons he learned after an extended bout with adrenal fatigue as a Stanford junior in 2015-16. His dad, Scott McNealy (co-founder of Sun Microsystems), traced the illness to Maverick’s jam-packed schedule.
That will help shape how the younger McNealy structures his life.
“He was just doing too much,” Scott McNealy said. “You can get that just taking the Management, Science and Engineering degree at Stanford, but then playing every (college golf ) event, traveling and doing lots of tour events.
“Plus, there was the selfimposed pressure of leading the team and being the No. 1 amateur. He learned from that. He knows what he needs to do to take care of his body and mind, to balance his life a little bit. It was a learning experience. He’s much stronger now.”
Maverick McNealy, who turns 22 next month, spent one last summer as an amateur, capped by an unbeaten performance in leading the U.S. to victory in the Walker Cup. He also moved to the Las Vegas area, his first foray outside the Bay Area (he grew up in Portola Valley).
McNealy has lined up six sponsor exemptions on the PGA Tour, including the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February. He also plans to play in the second stage of Qualifying School in November, hoping to earn full-time privileges on next year’s Web.com Tour.
“I almost feel like I’m starting college all over again,” he said. “I’m going to have a lot of opportunities, but it’s hard to have any expectations because I really don’t know how I’ll do.”