This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.
By now, many of us have heard about the hardship and tragedy that followed Nate Lashley throughout his golf career. His runaway win on Sunday at the inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic was a real feel-good story.
Not to play Can You Top This, but another remarkable development unfolded at the European Tour event in Spain, where South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout won in a romp. Wait till you hear his story. But first, Lashley.
The Nebraska native was a six-shot winner in only his 33rd PGA Tour event. The fact that he didn't play in his 33rd Tour event until he was 36 years old makes it even more remarkable. There have been large chunks of Lashley's life where he was playing golf poorly or not at all. It's completely understandable when you know that when he was a junior in college his parents and girlfriend died in a plane crash flying home from watching him play.
If you look at Lashley's page at OWGR.com, you'll see that he played the Korn Ferry Tour in 2006. And then … he played two more tournaments over the next nine years. He sold real estate. Then he went to the Latinoamerica Tour. He finally reached the PGA Tour two years ago, a 34-year-old rookie. But it hadn't been going great. Heck, Lashley couldn't even get into the Rocket Mortgage Classic, failing in Monday qualifying. But on Wednesday afternoon, less than 24 hours before the start of the tournament, a spot opened up
By now, many of us have heard about the hardship and tragedy that followed Nate Lashley throughout his golf career. His runaway win on Sunday at the inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic was a real feel-good story.
Not to play Can You Top This, but another remarkable development unfolded at the European Tour event in Spain, where South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout won in a romp. Wait till you hear his story. But first, Lashley.
The Nebraska native was a six-shot winner in only his 33rd PGA Tour event. The fact that he didn't play in his 33rd Tour event until he was 36 years old makes it even more remarkable. There have been large chunks of Lashley's life where he was playing golf poorly or not at all. It's completely understandable when you know that when he was a junior in college his parents and girlfriend died in a plane crash flying home from watching him play.
If you look at Lashley's page at OWGR.com, you'll see that he played the Korn Ferry Tour in 2006. And then … he played two more tournaments over the next nine years. He sold real estate. Then he went to the Latinoamerica Tour. He finally reached the PGA Tour two years ago, a 34-year-old rookie. But it hadn't been going great. Heck, Lashley couldn't even get into the Rocket Mortgage Classic, failing in Monday qualifying. But on Wednesday afternoon, less than 24 hours before the start of the tournament, a spot opened up for the third alternate.
Ranked 353rd in the world, Lashley opened with a 63, shot another on Saturday and finished with a whopping 25-under-par total. The tournament was a blowout.
(We'll say this just because this is a fantasy site, not that it's important in the scheme of things: No DFS gamers could play Lashley, even if they wanted to, because he entered the tournament so late. How weird is that?)
Lashley had not been a bad player this season. He was 132nd in the point standings. We even had recommended him in a couple of tournaments, at Pebble (T45) and Canada (MC).
But we had no idea of all that he had endured.
"I've been through a lot," Lashley told reporters in Detroit. "It took a lot of years for me to get over my parents' death, for sure. It was mentally holding me back for a long time."
Let's move on to the European Tour, where the 25-year-old Bezuidenhout matched Lashley by winning the Andalucía Masters by six strokes over a quintet of golfers, including Jon Rahm. Hollywood may want to take note of the South African's story:
Bezuidenhout accidentally drank rat poison at age two and almost died. He was diagnosed with anxiety at four, and from there he became a stutterer. So he kept to himself and was afraid to talk with people. Bezuidenhout turned to golf and became good at it. But he was so good that he won tournaments and, uh oh, had to speak publicly. That was hard. So he took medication to help him. But five years ago at the British Amateur at Royal Portrush, Bezuidenhout failed a drug test. He was suspended for two years, though it was reduced upon appeal once they learned why he was taking the meds. Still, people called him a cheater. In his first tournament back on a mini tour in South Africa, Bezuidenhout won it by seven shots. He soon was rookie of the year on the Sunshine Tour and quickly made it to the European Tour.
Unlike Lashley, Bezuidenhout had some really good results previously, including tying for third just last week in Munich.
Lashley is now ranked 101st, Bezuidenhout 140th. Both are heading to the Open Championship. For the young South African, who knows what will come over him when he returns to Royal Portrush, where his golf career took an enormous detour.
We have no idea how either golfer will do in their first major, though it appears the future is far brighter for the up-and-coming Bezuidenhout.
But for now, for just a few minutes, forget about golf results and fantasy winnings and just relish in the human side of sports.
MONDAY BACKSPIN
Doc Redman
The former No. 1 amateur has struggled since turning pro, so much so that he wasn't even playing on the Korn Ferry Tour — he was stuck in Canada. But Redman got a sponsor invite to Detroit, finished solo second and suddenly the future is brighter. He was offered, and accepted, special temporary PGA Tour membership. He'll also be heading to the Open Championship, along with Spain's Adri Arnaus and Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera, who gained entry via the Euro event.
Patrick Reed
We'd been noting that Reed had been showing signs of getting better. It didn't really translate on the leaderboard until he came to Detroit, where he tied for fifth, his first top-10 since last fall. This was clearly a weak field, so we guess we should temper expectations for Reed for now. But Reed had a lot better week than this next guy.
Dustin Johnson
In his first 11 tournaments of the season, Johnson never went more than one event without a top-10. Now, he's gone three. Johnson did not contend at the Canadian Open (T20), the U.S. Open (T35) and now the Rocket. Only this time, he missed the cut for first time this season. Johnson was putting poorly in the prior two events – and he's a much better putter than given credit for – but his whole game was a mess at Detroit. Peaks and valleys are a part of PGA Tour life. But for Johnson less often than most guys. He's got some work to do before his next start at the Open Championship.
Cameron Champ
The darling of the fall season collapsed once the calendar flipped to 2019. The fields were better, the courses harder. In his 10 most recent events before Detroit, Champ made only two cuts. So opening 66-65 to put himself in the final group on Saturday was quite a turn of events. Champ couldn't sustain it, ballooning to a 75 on Saturday and winding up tied for 46th. On this very easy course in such a weak field, it was hard to learn anything about Champ.
Smylie Kaufman
The biggest takeaway is, Kaufman finally got a check, his first in 17 months, since 2018 at La Quinta. So after making the cut with a 69-70 at Detroit, nothing else really mattered, not even blowing up to an 80 on Saturday. Kaufman nicely closed with a 69, but it's far too soon to know what happens next for him.
Gary Woodland, Chez Reavie
Coming off two life-altering wins – Woodland's first major and Reavie's first victory in 11 years – they really were in no position to compete. And they both missed the cut. It's really hard to resume "normal" Tour life after such a big moment, but the only way to do so is to get back out and play, and probably have a bad week or two.
Zack Sucher, Chip McDaniel
The clock struck 12 for the feel-good stories of the Travelers Championship. Sucher and McDaniel both missed the Detroit cut by a whopping five strokes. Unfortunately for them, that's probably more the norm than last week was.
Viktor Hovland, Matthew Wolff, Justin Suh, Zach Bauchou, Kristoffer Ventura
It's still early in the professional lives of the Class of '19, but it sure seems as if Hovland is the valedictorian. The former world No. 1 amateur delivered another stellar showing, zooming up the Sunday leaderboard with a 8-under 64 to tie for 13th Wolff, Suh and Bauchou missed the cut. It was the pro debut for Bauchou, the college teammate of Hovland and Wolff. But wait, there's even one more ex-Oklahoma State Cowboy: Ventura won the Utah Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour, so we might be seeing more of him soon, too.
