Player Highlights
The reality of a victory in a reality TV competition is that there’s a limit to what it can do for one’s career. No doubt Richy Werenski’s name recognition is greater than what it’d be if he hadn’t won Golf Channel’s “Big Break: The Palm Beaches, Florida,” which aired in 2015. And, no doubt, the spoils of that victory over a 12-man field were nothing to sneeze at. The $80,000 in cash and prizes the Bluffton, S.C., resident received provided much-needed financial cushioning as he played in his first Web.com Tour season last year. Ditto for the perk that exempted him into the 2015 Barbasol Championship in Opelika, Ala., which allowed him to test his game on the PGA TOUR for the first time. (Werenski acquitted himself well there. He made the cut, finished T72 and pocketed $6,825). Perhaps more significant for the former Georgia Tech golfer’s development has been his week-in, week-out play on the Web.com Tour. Last season, as a rookie, Werenski played solidly in stretches. Although he never finished higher than a T11 at the Rex Hospital Open, he made 14 of 20 cuts, including seven in a row to end the regular season. After retaining his exempt status at last year’s Q-School—a final-round 78 dropped him to T34 after an impressive 68-69-68 start—Werenski bounced back from a missed cut in the season-opener in Panama with T2 at the Club Colombia Championship. The $61,600 check he took home was less than his Big Break take, but it provided a glimpse of how good he might become.
