Rookie to professional

All distinguished golfers agree that the Web.com Tour provides an incomparable experience for aspiring PGA TOUR members to learn how to be a true professional, both on and off the course. Kelly Kraft admits that he thought too highly of his golf game upon turning professional in 2012. He had produced an illustrious amateur career that included a victory at the 2011 U.S. Amateur, and he had made the cut in the 2012 Masters. But the Texas native quickly learned that professional golf was not easy. He fell short of the PGA TOUR at Q-School that fall, and spent the past three seasons honing his game on the Web.com Tour. Kraft earned his PGA TOUR card for the first time via the 2015 Web.com Tour Regular Season, finishing No. 7 on the money list. As he navigates his rookie campaign on TOUR, he’s confident that his time spent on the Web.com Tour will serve him well. “I was shooting really good scores in college and amateur golf, but the courses are just way harder in professional golf,” Kraft said during the Web.com Tour Championship. “It’s all kind of a learning process. I feel like it has maybe taken me a little longer than most people to learn at every level, but I feel like I’ve gotten better at every level.” Kraft’s sentiments reflect the essence of the Web.com Tour as the path for the game’s next generation of rising stars. The Web.com Tour reached 400 alumni victories on TOUR with Brandt Snedeker’s triumph at the 2015 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, and the number continues to grow. Aside from a competitive standpoint, the Web.com Tour prepares players for all aspects of life as a professional golfer—travel, media and sponsor obligations, pro-ams and other details.  Of the 50 players to earn their PGA TOUR cards via this year’s Web.com Tour Regular Season and Finals, 18 will be TOUR rookies in 2015-16. They’re ready to make an impact. “It starts with the way they run their tournaments,” said Patton Kizzire, who led the cumulative Web.com Tour Regular Season and Finals money list and will be a TOUR rookie. “It’s a great stepping stone … really good venues, and it feels like a PGA TOUR event. The level of competition is really high. I’ve learned a lot this year.” Kizzire recorded a season-high 12 top-10 finishes in 23 Web.com Tour starts in 2015, as he assumed the money lead midway through the season and kept the pedal down, earning victories at the Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank and News Sentinel Open presented by Pilot. The 29-year-old Auburn alum has taken some time to find his way as a professional, but his performance throughout the Web.com Tour season indicates that he’s ready to make an impact on the grandest stage. Kizzire earned a Web.com Tour card straight out of college in the fall of 2008, but his status was limited and he failed to make a cut in four starts in 2009. He spent a few years on the mini-tours, struggling to excel at Q-School, but found a boost in his game when he moved to Sea Island, Ga., in early 2012, and gained the mentorship of established TOUR pros such as Davis Love III, Zach Johnson and Matt Kuchar. “Q-School is a tough hurdle to get over,” Kizzire said. “But I feel like in any sport, those hurdles, you can keep bumping into them … but you’ve finally got to figure out how to jump over them.” Kizzire successfully navigated Q-School last December, and he hasn’t looked back. Other rising stars to earn their TOUR cards for the first time include Kraft, Michael Kim, Smylie Kaufman and Harold Varner III. Kim attended the University of California-Berkeley, winning the Haskins Award for national player of the year in the 2012-13 season—and then earning low amateur honors at the 2013 U.S. Open. After earning his Web.com Tour card for the 2014 season, Kim fell short of a TOUR card but made amends this past season when he finished No. 18 on the Regular Season money list. Kaufman, a Louisiana State product, is known for his power. The Alabama native entered the 2015 Web.com Tour season with conditional status but quickly changed the complexion of his season with three consecutive top-five finishes in the spring, including a victory at the United Leasing Championship presented by PTI. Kaufman cruised to a seventh-place finish on the Regular Season money list, and immediately made his mark on the PGA TOUR, following a T10 in the season-opening Frys.com Open with a victory at the 2015 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas. The most dramatic of the 25 cards awarded through the Regular Season went to Harold Varner III, who finished his final round at the WinCo Foods Portland Open presented by Kraft Heinz squarely on the bubble. The final group consisted of Dicky Pride and Tim Herron: If Pride won, Varner would earn his card; if Herron won, Varner was out. Pride won, and Varner became the first African-American to earn a TOUR card via the Web.com Tour. “I’m going to enjoy the moment,” Varner said when the result became final. “I’m going to catch a flight, I’m going to hug my mom and dad tomorrow, and I’m sure they’ll cry. I’ll try my best not to.” -- Twenty-five players earned their TOUR cards via the Web.com Tour Finals, a four-event series including the top 75 players on the Web.com Tour Regular Season money list and Nos. 126-200 on the FedExCup standings, as well as non-members who earned enough equivalent points to finish 126-200 in FedExCup points. (Web.com Tour Nos. 1-25 had already earned their cards via the Regular Season money list and were playing to improve their priority ranking.) Notables to earn their TOUR cards via the Web.com Tour Finals included 2009 U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover, Guinness World Record holder Rhein Gibson (lowest round: 55), and Anirban Lahiri, the first player to represent India at The Presidents Cup in October. The feel-good story of the Finals was Massachusetts native Rob Oppenheim, who finished No. 26 on the Regular Season money list but earned the 25th Finals card in dramatic fashion on Sunday of the Web.com Tour Championship by nudging Eric Axley by $101. “The golf gods and me? We’re all square,” Oppenheim said.