Travelers’ Monday qualifier a reminder of grind pros face
ELLINGTON — Chip McDaniel shot a final-round 79 Sunday, pocketed $21,224 for his week’s work at the U.S. Open, packed his clubs, packed his bags, packed his dreams and headed for the realities of golf.
The Travelers’ charter from the West Coast?
“No, I took a JetBlue redeye to Boston and drove two hours to here,” McDaniel said Monday at Ellington Ridge. “Got off the plane at 5 a.m., got in the car, stopped at McDonald’s, warmed up.”
He teed off at No. 10 at 9:17 a.m. for the start of the Travelers Championship open qualifier. His exhausting day would end with a smile and the No. 1 Monday qualifying story of the year on the PGA Tour.
But first things first. What did you order at McDonald’s? “Big Breakfast,” McDaniel said. If you’re keeping score at home, that would be a warm biscuit, fluffy scrambled eggs, savory hot
sausage, crispy golden hash browns and a 5-under round.
Yes, it took five hours of sleep on his flight, a Big Breakfast and an even bigger playoff of three holes and nine players fighting for three remaining spots. Yet here was Chip McDaniel of Manchester, Kentucky, finding himself in his sixth PGA Tour event this week at TPC River Highlands alongside the marquee names he saw at Pebble Beach. Only those guys didn’t need to make a detour to Ellington Ridge. Ever been to River Highlands? “First time to Connecticut,” McDaniel said.
There is something raw and real about the Monday qualifier. There are local guys and there are names familiar to more dedicated golf fans. There are young guys on the way up and older guys fighting the decline. Nearly 60 guys on this day all clawing for four qualifying spots, all clawing to keep their golfing dreams alive. All of them have their stories.
Not long after 1 p.m., here was Brian Davis, the 44-year-old Englishman living in Florida, in the parking lot packing his clubs into his trunk.
How did it go?
“Not good,” Davis said.
Davis has won $13.7 million in his career. He has had his share of success, five seconds, 28 Top Tens, finished tied for fourth at the 2012 Travelers. He has had a couple of international victories and once climbed as high as 45th in the World Rankings. What Davis hasn’t had is a PGA Tour win. He has had 365 starts, the longest drought of all active players.
“Monday is nothing like a Tour event,” Davis said. “It’s completely the opposite. It’s an 18-hole shootout. You’ve got to go out and go really low. If you don’t have a fast start on the front nine, you’re pretty much done.”
Davis was even through nine. Like he said, he was pretty much done. He finished 1-over 73.
Davis, ranked 2,066 in the world, has played in a handful of qualifiers this year. He did qualify for the U.S. Open out of the Dallas sectional, but missed the cut at Pebble. He has made one cut in six starts, winning $10,500 when he finished 42nd at the Puerto Rico Open.
There are so many professional golfers, terrific players, that their names and careers morph into a mishmash. You forget the man. You forget the moment. This is a man whose son Oliver was born with severe kidney problems and his infant daughter Madeline’s lungs collapsed. They are healthy now and his wife is Julie, the daughter of Ray Clemence, the former goalkeeping star for Liverpool, are thankful.
This is man who got into a playoff against Jim Furyk at the 2010 Verizon Heritage. He felt he had brushed a loose reed on his backswing in a marshy hazard, alerted officials, essentially calling a twostroke penalty on himself. There was wind. Reeds were blowing. Eventually slowmotion replay confirmed Davis was correct. Davis said he couldn’t live with himself if he had cheated. He was widely applauded. Everyone agreed karma would repay him. Not yet.
“My back is bothering me a bit at the moment,” said Davis, who has overcome skin cancer and had two disks in his neck repaired in 2017. “I’m going to take a few days off, get some treatment and probably go next Monday in Detroit (at the Rocket Morgtage Classic).
“I’ve played Travelers a bunch of times. It’s a great tournament, revamped the course, the range, the clubhouse, Travelers does a fantastic job. Huge crowds, among the biggest. Definitely up there among the best events.”
Davis closed his trunk and pulled out his keys. He will not get his chance at start 366 and the chance to end the longest drought among the PGA Tour’s active players.
Arjun Atwal knows qualifiers, too. At the 2010 Wyndham Championship, he became the first Monday qualifier to win a PGA Tour event since Fred Wadsworth did it at the 1986 Southern. He became the first Indian-born player to win a title.
On Monday, Atwal was 4-under with three holes to play. He had two bogeys and a 2-under wasn’t good enough.
“Monday qualifiers are tough, you’ve got to shoot low, you can’t treat it like the first round of a regular tournament and work your way into it,” Atwal said. “You can’t make any mistakes. I don’t like the format actually.”
Atwal has 11 Top Tens on the PGA Tour, 10 international victories and a best of 13th at Cromwell in 2004. He also has dropped to 909th in the World Rankings with a best of 70th at the Puerto Rico Open and $6,060 this year.
“This game is such no one plays really good for a long time,” Atwal said. “You go through your struggles. I’m kind of getting up there in age at 46. Four more years to the senior tour. I’m trying to keep in touch with the game that when I do turn 50 I’ll be ready.
“Absolutely, I think I can win again. I just lost two years ago in a playoff at a European event. I’m not hitting it short. I’m keeping up with all the kids I play with and I still have my nerve. The day I feel like I can’t win is the day I’ll quit.
Atwal says he love the Travelers, loves the course, especially the last four holes. “It’s so much fun,” he said.
It is fun he will not be having this week. Fun, McDaniel will have after a good night’s sleep.
“I was feeling fine early today and got a little tired in the middle,” said McDaniel, who did eagle No. 13. “I took a knee and had to regroup myself on 17.”
He got up and drained a 60-foot birdie that got him into the playoff. On the third playoff hole, with four players still left, McDaniel’s tee shot landed in a fairway bunker. He slipped in the sand, chunked his pitching wedge. He looked to be done. That’s when veteran Steve Allan, who had the best drive, had a terrible second shot and bogeyed. McDaniel recovered for a par.
Allan, with his family surrounding him and arm around his son, walked quietly off the course. It was a stark reminder. This is real life, men trying to live a dream.
McDaniel said he’ll play 18 holes at TPC River Highlands and likely rest on Wednesday. He had a tie for fifth at Corales Puntacana Championship this year and career winnings just under $160,000. As he noted on Twitter, he hasn’t come out of nowhere. He has worked his rear end off. Still, he is one hell of a Monday story.
“I haven’t had a chance to really think about anything that has happened, which is probably a good thing,” said McDaniel, who graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2018. “I’m running on adrenalin. This shows how hard golf really is, how much of a grind it all is.”
Note to PGA Tour events: This guy deserves some sponsor’s exemptions.