PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Spencer Levin planned on sleeping on a college buddy’s couch for one night ahead of the Monday qualifier for the Korn Ferry Tour’s Veritex Bank Championship in April, and if he didn’t make it, he’d fly home. He ended up sleeping on the couch all week, not only qualifying by sinking a decisive birdie putt on the final hole but winning the tournament six days later for his first victory in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event after 17 years and 10 months of trying.
It might be the most under-appreciated victory of 2023 – his first since 2008 on the Canadian Tour, not long after Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines on one leg and back when Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” was the No. 1 song on the charts and Swede sensation Ludvig Aberg was all of eight years old.
Levin, 39, began the final round in Dallas trailing leader Brett Drewitt by six shots. He caught the Aussie on the 71st hole, then birdied the last for a 63 at Texas Rangers Golf Club – and a four-round total of 20-under par.
“I didn’t think I was going to win the tournament until I did,” Levin said.
What a long, strange trip it had been to the winner’s circle. Levin already was the definition of cocky growing up in Sacramento and his confidence grew during the summer of 2004, when he finished second in the Pacific Coast Amateur (losing in a playoff); tied for 13th place at the U.S. Open (the best finish by an amateur in 33 years) at Shinnecock Hills; reached the third round of the U.S. Amateur at Winged Foot; and won the California Amateur, Scratch Players Amateur, and Porter Cup. Greatness was predicted for him.
While his pro career never reached those lofty heights, he’s earned close to $10 million over 17 seasons and climbed to 60th in the Official World Golf Ranking in early 2012. He came close to winning a handful of times, most notably losing a playoff against Johnson Wagner at the 2011 Mayakoba Golf Classic. Levin averaged 28 starts a year, making 139 cuts, but when he lost his card after the 2016-17 season, he took the demotion hard. He made only five cuts in 22 starts and lost his exempt status. His playing opportunities were few and far between over the ensuing four seasons, dwindling to zero Korn Ferry starts in 2021 and ’22.
By his own count, Levin fell one shot short in at least five KFT Monday qualifiers in 2022, as well as a spot in the U.S. Open by a single stroke. A bogey on the 72nd hole at Final Stage of the KFT Qualifying Tournament deprived him of guaranteed starts in the first eight events this year.
Yet he never wavered in his belief that he could still compete with the best in the world even if his reality had become “Just trying to find a place to play and get into tournaments,” he said.
“He never, ever thought it (pro golf career) was done,” Don Levin, Spencer’s father, swing coach, and confidante told NCGA Golf Magazine in its fall 2023 issue. “He never entertained the thought of that.”
Levin’s victory in April secured him a KFT card for 2024. However, he was unable to remain in the top 30 on the season-long money list and earn an automatic promotion to the PGA Tour, so he’s back at the final stage of Q-School this week chasing a top-5 finish (and ties), which is what it will take to be awarded a Tour card.
“Once you’ve had a taste of it, you want to keep doing it,” he said of playing on the PGA Tour again.
But Levin isn’t the same cocky kid with the visor, popped collar and dangling cigarette who first took the golf world by storm. He crushed out his last cigarette in 2017, the day after his paternal grandfather died of emphysema. In February of 2021, he “took a break” from alcohol. One week turned into two, and two weeks has turned into more than two years.
“It was just something I did to improve my life,” he said. “I was at home, I didn’t really have a tour to play on, and I thought, well, how can I just try to at least improve myself.”
He’s filled the void by hitting the gym regularly, which he had never done before. He’s also prioritized family – he’s the father of three. He’d like to earn his card this week – he’ll play two rounds each at TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley and Sawgrass Country Club – and have another shot at the big time and some unfinished business trying to win. He’s planning to putt conventionally at Q-School with an old Odyssey putter, a grip he began practicing with last month after his wacky Happy Gilmore style of holding the putter much like one would grip a hockey stick cooled off.
Levin’s got nothing to lose and everything to gain and the perspective of a grizzled veteran.
“When I was 23-24, my whole career and life hinged on this week,” Levin said. “I still want to make it, don’t get me wrong, but it’s no longer life or death.”