On Grand Strand Golf: Area touring pros making decisions on 2016 and their careers

While some touring pros from the Grand Strand are trying to reach the Web.com Tour through its qualifying tournament and others are opting to forgo Q-School this year, Ricky McDonald of Pawleys Island is changing careers.

Patrick Lundy of Little River and Coastal Carolina graduate Charlie Winegardner advanced to the second stage of Q-School last week, and Tyler Light of Little River attempts to get through the first stage this week.

Zack Byrd of Murrells Inlet and Thaddeus Wier III of Myrtle Beach are among the pros who are saving the $4,500 or more – depending on the registration date – for entry into the first stage of Q-School.

Meanwhile, McDonald, who turns 25 in January, is putting his playing career at least on hold, and possibly behind him, and is moving back to the Seattle area to renew his pursuit of a finance degree.

McDonald moved to the area from the Seattle suburbs early in 2013 to aid his pursuit of a pro golf career. He has resided at True Blue Golf Club, worked with instructor Mel Sole, held a membership at Wachesaw Plantation Club, and had a financial backer for the past two years.

He played predominantly on the eGolf Tour based in Charlotte, N.C., in 2013 and has been a member of the Mackenzie Tour - PGA Tour Canada for the past two years.

“I’ve been here three years, gave it a good shot and had the support of Wachesaw Plantation, so I had all the tools,” McDonald said. “It just wasn’t meant to be for me, which is okay. I’m happy and I’ve accepted it and I’m pleased to start the next chapter of my life.”

McDonald finished 12th on the 2014 PGA Tour Canada money list but he made less than $4,000 in eight events in 2015 with five missed cuts and a tie for 17th his only top-40 finish.

“It wasn’t the season I was looking for this year, but the caliber of player definitely improved from 2014. It’s getting harder and harder to make money on those tours and move up to the next level,” McDonald said. “I want to finish up my college education before I figure anything else out, and I wanted to make sure I have my options open as I get older.”

McDonald said he has about two years remaining for a finance degree and will be attending Bellevue College outside Seattle while working maintenance full time at a private golf club. He may transfer to a larger school after one year.

He’s not ruling out a return to pro golf, but … “I don’t want to say no, just because I don’t know exactly what the future holds, but it’s looking like I’ll be stepping away from the game professionally and it’s not likely I’ll step back into it,” McDonald said. “With the other guys getting better, taking time off will put me further behind.”

Lundy advanced through the first stage of Q-School last week at Grasslands Golf & Country Club, tying for 13th with a 13-under 275. The top 23 players and ties advanced.

Lundy opened with a 9-under 63 with four consecutive birdies and two closing birdies to share the first-round lead and followed it up with rounds of 73, 67 and 72.

He earned less than $6,000 on the Swing Thought Tour Pro Series and played sporadically on the eGolf Tour and other tours, and had six weeks out of competition prior to the first stage.

“It’s been such a rough year so the last thing you expect is to get in the biggest part of the season and light it up,” Lundy said. “I absolutely think I can get my card now. I had a lot of nerves out there … and handled the nerves well so I have a lot of confidence going into second stage.”

The Q-School appearance is Lundy’s sixth, and he reached the final stage once prior to undergoing shoulder surgery three years ago. He plans to play in a couple Swing Thought Carolina Series events and a GPro Tour event in North Carolina to stay sharp before second stage.

In his six weeks out of competition, Lundy has worked on different aspects of his game with swing instructor Alasdair Dyer of Barefoot Resort, sports psychologist Steven Yellin based at the Leadbetter Academy in Orlando, and Strand physical therapist and physical trainer David Haught.

“I’ve been doing a lot of work on my body, working out, and working on the mental game,” said Lundy, who added that he feels better physically than at any point since the surgery.

“Really in the past six weeks is the first time I’ve felt 100 percent physically probably since I turned professional, and it’s a lot easier to shoot a lower score when you’re not worried about your body on the golf course,” Lundy said. “You can just let it roll.”

Winegardner, a 2013 CCU graduate from Lothian, Md., advanced through the first stage last week by tying for third at ArborLinks in Nebraska City, Neb., with a 15-under 273 with rounds of 66, 70, 70 and 67. The top 24 and ties advanced.

As a PGA Tour Canada member this year, Winegardner made three of nine cuts without a top-40 finish, and tied for 27th two weeks ago in a GPro event with an 82-72–154. He found his game in Nebraska.

Light, a native of Massillon, Ohio, who moved to Little River in July 2014, is entered in the first stage at Lantana Golf Club outside Dallas from Tuesday through Friday.

His roommate, Ben Smith, a former teammate at Malone University in Canton, Ohio, made it through Q-School pre-qualifying and will play the first stage this week at The Club at Irish Creek in Kannapolis, N.C.

In Canada this year, Light made three cuts in 11 events with a top finish of 20th.

He made a late decision to enter Q-School in early September and requested the ArborLinks site because it has bentgrass greens, which he has been putting on in Canada, and is a big, open and long course, which he believes favors his game. The Texas course was his “fourth or fifth option.”

“I wasn’t sure how Canada was going to go and wasn’t sure money-wise if I was going to be able to cover it,” Light said. A donor – the husband of the Malone volleyball coach who also played golf at the school for Light’s coach, Ken Hyland – paid half of the Q-School entry fee. “He kind of reached out to me out of nowhere,” Light said.

Light has spent the past two weeks on the Strand and regularly used the simulator at the Barefoot Resort Callaway Performance Center, where Smith works, for an hour or two per day during heavy rains and flooding.

“We didn’t want to be on it much, but it was just nice to get in some swings,” Light said.

Light also regularly saw Dyer, his swing coach, for a week and put into play at a recent GPro event an adjusted move in his swing. “It was good practice for the Q-School,” Light said. “I just have to trust it and work on it a little more.”

Second stage player assignments will be announced Oct. 27. Five sites are hosting play between Nov. 10-20. Players who get through the second stage into the final stage will have at least conditional status on the Web.com Tour.

Byrd, a 2009 Coastal Carolina graduate, did not enter Q-School for the first time in seven years. He reached the final stage in 2011 and 2014 but did not finish high enough to earn any significant Web.com Tour status.

Byrd and his wife, Ali, who teaches at the Steve Dresser Golf Academy at True Blue, are expecting their first child in early December.

“The $5,000 [Q-School entry] needs to go somewhere else right now,” Byrd said. “The baby is due during the final stage, which is a big deal. I don’t want to miss the birth. Then the money, that $5,000 can go toward helping out financially. The baby is the main factor, and because of the baby the money is tight.”

In Canada, Byrd made four of 11 cuts with a tie for eighth his top finish and one of his two top-25 finishes. In the second half of the season, Byrd missed three cuts by one or two strokes and was at least 2-under par through 36 holes in each of those events.

“I played a lot better in Canada than I scored,” said Byrd, who finished second in a recent GPro event. “I only played bad two weeks and just never got it going. I’m not playing bad. It’s frustrating I’m not going to Q-School but life happens and you have to deal with it.”

This fall and winter, Byrd intends to play GPro Tour and Swing Thought Carolina Series events, as well as the Magnolia Open in Wilmington.

He also plans to enter a pre-qualifier and hopefully advance to Monday qualifying for the PGA Tour’s $5.6 million McGladrey Classic in Sea Island, Ga., which will be played Oct. 23-26. He has a discounted $250 qualifier entry fee because of his 2015 PGA Tour Canada status.

If area tournaments aren’t lucrative enough, Byrd will consider getting a part-time job for the winter. He hopes to return to PGA Tour Canada next year and will have to enter one of three Mackenzie Tour Q-Schools in April and May in either Florida, California or British Columbia, Canada.

Byrd said he recognizes he made tactical errors that he intends to correct the second time around – namely trying to keep up with the tour’s many longer hitters, particularly on par-5s.

“I got to see the courses and made my mistakes this year,” Byrd said. “I learned very quickly that I don’t hit it far enough. … I didn’t play to my strengths, which are my wedges.”

Byrd had a financial backer in 2014 that he doesn’t expect to be supporting him this year, so he’s seeking financial sponsors and has a sense of urgency because of the coming baby and his age, 29.

“I want to give it at least Canada Q-School and Web.com Q-School next year,” Byrd said. “I need to do it right one time rather than cutting corners like I’ve done every year. I can’t do it forever.”

Thaddeus Wier III of Myrtle Beach didn’t finish the Mackenzie Tour season after missing his first seven cuts and shooting rounds of 79 and 78 in his final event in late July, and is skipping the Web.com Q-School.

He is playing in Swing Thought Carolina Series events this winter, including this past week’s season-opening event at Monroe (N.C.) Country Club, where he shot a 4-over 148 to tie for 19th.

Wier intends to enter the PGA Tour LatinoAmerica Q-School in January, likely at U.S. site from Jan. 12-15 at Sun N’ Lake Golf Club in Sebring, Fla. There are also Q-Schools later in January in Mexico, Colombia and Argentina.

Yoshio Yamamoto of Myrtle Beach is not entered in Q-School, but recently won a 36-hole qualifier in Mexico to earn a spot in the PGA Tour’s $6.2 million OHL Classic at Mayakoba from Nov. 12-15 at El Camaleon Golf Club in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

He has several PGA Tour LatinoAmerica events he can enter through November, and has recently been playing on the Mexico Golf Tour, recording four consecutive top-11 finishes in events since early September that have featured a minimum of 50 players.

The Mexico native is likely to return to the LatinoAmerica Tour in 2016, according to his swing coach, Scott Shobe of the Greg Norman Champions Academy at Barefoot Resort.

Yamamoto made two of three cuts on both the Web.com Tour and LatinoAmerica tour this year, earning $14,644 on the Web.com with a top-25 finish and $2,153 in Latin America.

Roberto Diaz of Myrtle Beach has significant conditional status on the 2016 Web.com Tour based on his finish of 82nd on the regular season money list with $57,011. But he is exempt into the final stage of Q-School from Dec. 10-13 at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and will likely attempt to improve upon his status there.

Diaz won a Mexico Golf Tour event by a stroke with a 17-under 196 on Oct. 4 with rounds of 68, 62 and 66, and Yamamoto finished fourth at 8-under 205. Diaz plans to play in a couple upcoming LatinoAmerica events.

Yamamoto and Diaz will be competing as a two-player tandem in the inaugural Bridgestone Americas Golf Cup in Mexico from Oct. 22-25 that Tiger Woods had committed to play with Matt Kuchar before his latest surgery.

J.P. Solis of Myrtle Beach, who like Diaz is a Mexico native, Shobe student and alum of USC Aiken, has made four of 12 cuts on the 2015 LatinoAmerica tour and earned about $5,000. He is not entered in Q-School and will likely attempt to return to Latin America in 2016, according to Shobe.

Amateur Tee Opperman of Pawleys Island was among 87 players entered in the Web.com Q-School pre-qualifying site at Wilderness Ridge Golf Club in Lincoln, Neb., and was unable to finish inside the top 39 to advance. Opperman tied for 54th with a 10-over 75-75-73–223. Pre-qualifying registration costs between $2,700 and $3,500.

Opperman, 34, who works at Akers Discount Golf in Murrells Inlet, qualified for the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship and missed the cut to match play on Oct. 4 by four strokes with a 10-over 153 at John’s Island Club in Vero Beach, Fla.

Opperman is one of 24 golfers representing the Carolinas in the 70th Captain’s Putter Matches, set for Friday and Saturday at Old Town Club in Winston-Salem, N.C. The players are the top point-earners in the Carolinas men’s and senior men’s amateur player rankings and past champions and they’ll face their Virginias counterparts.

Friday play consists of four-ball and foursome matches followed by final-day singles matches. Nine players return from last year’s Carolinas team, which lost by one point.

Tour graduates

Players entered in Q-School aspire to eventually join the 50 golfers who earned PGA Tour status at the conclusion of the four-event Web.com Tour Finals on Oct. 4.

The Finals featured the top-75 regular season money winners off the Web.com Tour and Nos. 126-200 from the PGA Tour’s FedExCup points list.

Among those earning 2016 PGA Tour status are three former Clemson Tigers.

Greenville native Lucas Glover, 35, whose three PGA Tour victories include the 2009 U.S. Open and 2011 Wells Fargo Championship, dropped into the Finals after finishing 147th in FedExCup points and earning $515,000 in 26 PGA Tour events.

He played his way back onto the PGA Tour with a finish of 28th over the four-event Finals.

Fellow Clemson alums Sam Saunders, the grandson of Arnold Palmer, and Kyle Stanley also dropped into the Finals from the 2015 PGA Tour and finished 12th and 22nd, respectively.

Glover and Saunders are entered in this week’s 2015-16 season-opening $6 million Frys.com Open in California.

This story was originally published October 12, 2015 at 5:39 PM with the headline "On Grand Strand Golf: Area touring pros making decisions on 2016 and their careers."