Tag: Hayden Springer

4th of July fireworks: Hayden Springer shoots 59 to grab the lead at John Deere Classic

“It’s like something you dream of, right?”

The fireworks started early for Hayden Springer on the 4th of July.

The PGA Tour rookie shot 27 on the front nine, pitched in for eagle at 17 and made birdie at the last to shoot 59 at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois, in the first round of the John Deere Classic. He became the first player in Tour history to play his final two holes in 3-under par en route to a sub-60, the second player in three weeks to shoot 59 on Tour and the 13th different player to shoot a sub-60 round in Tour history.

“It’s like something you dream of, right?” Springer said, noting he was still shaking during his post-round interview. “We all want to go out and shoot 59. You don’t ever really — I don’t know how many chances I’ll ever get at doing that again.To pull it off and hole that shot on 17 and give myself a putt at it and make the putt on 18 was pretty special.”

Springer, 28, shot two strokes better than Sami Valimaki, who finished with a trio of birdies, and three better than Harry Hall, who shot a bogey-free 63. Preferred lies were in effect on Thursday due to wet conditions at TPC Deere Run and conditions were ideal for low scoring at a course that has a reputation for being a birdie-fest.

Springer went out in 27 on the front nine, including a stretch where he made a 13-foot eagle at the second and four straight birdies.

“It just seemed like I made every putt I looked at on the front nine,” said Springer, who took just 21 putts in all and holed 112 feet, 6 inches of putts.

When his 20-foot birdie putt from the fringe dropped at No. 6, he said he started to think this had the makings of a special round.

“That putt going in was kind of the trigger of, OK, like we might be able to go super low,” he said.

But Springer, who added birdies at Nos. 8 and 9 to post the lowest front nine in tournament history at TPC Deere Run, cooled off with pars on the first five holes on the back nine, including having to work hard to do so on Nos. 12 and 14 to keep his card clean. He tacked on another birdie at 15, but it was the hole out from 55 yards in the left rough at 17 for his second eagle of the day that got the juices flowing for Springer.

“It landed right where we were looking, just short left, and happened to go in,” he said. “I didn’t ever think I would make that shot really, but it kind of changed the momentum to actually be able to go shoot 59. I immediately knew, OK, now I have a chance.”

He stuck his approach at 18 to 13 feet and poured in the putt to post 12-under 59 and join an exclusive club — though its membership has been growing. Cameron Young shot 59 in the third round of the Travelers Championship two weeks ago and 11 of the 59s or better have come since 2010. Springer merely tied the course record because 5,110 days ago Paul Goydos shot 59 at TPC Deere Run in the first round of the 2010 John Deere Classic. TPC Deere Run became the third course to surrender to sub-60s, joining TPC River Highlands (Jim Furyk’s 58 and Young’s 59) and The Old White TPC (Stuart Appleby and Kevin Chappell).

In November, Springer and his wife endured the death of their three-year-old daughter, Sage, to a rare genetic disorder. In the midst of grieving, Springer earned the last of five cards available at PGA Tour Q-School to make it to the big leagues for the first time. His rookie season has had its pitfalls. Springer had missed six straight cuts before finishing T-10 last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and entered the week ranked No. 127 in the FedEx Cup point standings. Asked to name what’s been the difference in his game of late, he credited Rosey Bartlett, who has coached him since he was six years old at his home club, Trophy Club Country Club, near Dallas.

“I took a little break from her for a couple years and then before last week, these last six tournaments missing those cuts I felt like I needed to get something going,” he said, noting it was mostly related to his setup. “She straightened me out a little bit and helped me get back to some feels that worked in the past. You know, so that’s made a little bit of a difference.”

This Byron Nelson High grad fueled his dream of playing the PGA Tour at the Byron Nelson. Now he’s teeing it up this week

Hayden Springer remembers coming to his hometown PGA Tour event from as early as age 5 for practice round days.

McKINNEY, Texas – Hayden Springer remembers coming to his hometown PGA Tour event from as early as age 5 for practice round days on Tuesday and Wednesday with an empty hat and having his dad shove him towards the pros to ask for autographs, telling him, “Don’t be afraid.”

“And I would leave and my hat would be covered in autographs from everybody,” said Springer.

That tournament, now known as the CJ Cup Byron Nelson and held at TPC Craig Ranch, was an annual rite of passage for Springer. He figures he attended the event for seven or eight years in a row and later served as a volunteer with his high school golf teammates from none other than Byron Nelson High School, where Nelson’s widow, Peggy, kept tabs on the team and showed Springer the Masters medal of one of the all-time greats. (Springer also noted that his mother and Peggy still keep in touch via email.) This week Springer, a 27-year-old rookie on the Tour, is set to play the tournament that meant so much to him during his youth for the first time.

CJ CUP: Photos | Thursday tee times, TV | Yardage book

“It’s special for me now to get to be playing in this event,” he said. “This was a dream that was in my head to play professional golf, to do it at the highest level. Definitely being able to get up close and just kind of be able to interact, even if it’s just getting an autograph, you know, it definitely helped to fuel that dream.”

Springer recalled following Tim Herron, a favorite of his father’s, having Corey Pavin jog over to sign for him the year Springer had fractured his ankle and hobbled his way, and watching past major winners Sergio Garcia and Vijay Singh groove their swing on the range.

Springer’s journey to being a card-carrying member of the Tour like Nelson, who won five majors during his Hall of Fame career, has had its share of twists and turns. In November, Springer and his wife endured the death of their three-year-old daughter, Sage, to a rare genetic disorder. Earlier that summer, Springer, who played his college golf at TCU, was having another pedestrian season on PGA Tour Canada. He ranked No. 51 in the season-long standings with three events left before running off with two closing wins.

Hayden Springer watches his second shot on the 18th fairway of the PGA West Pete Dye Stadium Course during the first round of The American Express in La Quinta, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024.

“If I don’t make that putt to make the cut in Wichita, I wasn’t even in any Canada events, right? Thinking about it, maybe I wouldn’t even have been able to play any events in Canada and maybe I’m starting at first stage of Q-School this past year. That’s a pretty tough spot to be in,” he said.

Instead, he won the Order of Merit, which earned him a spot in the final stage of PGA Tour Q-School. It also happened to be the return of five cards being up for grabs to jump straight to the big leagues. Springer hung on to finish fifth and make his dream come true.

As a rookie, Springer has made five cuts in nine starts and ranks No. 127 in the FedEx Cup point standings. His iron play was dialed in during the Puerto Rico Open and he posted four rounds in the 60s and finished T-3, his best result to date.

“There is such a fine line in terms of playing well and then not playing well,” he said.

This week, the pride of Byron Nelson High School will have a large contingent of supporters in his gallery. He grew up playing at Victory Golf Club, about 40 minutes away, and he expects members from the club and friends from high school to come out to watch him. He’s played at TPC Craig Ranch a handful of times dating to junior golf days and made a few trips this year knowing that this date with destiny would soon come to fruition at the tournament that fueled his dream.

“It’s kind of a cool story to have played at Byron Nelson High School and now to be playing in this event,” he said.

Lord Byron would be proud.

Meet the five golfers who earned their 2024 PGA Tour tour cards at Q-School

The final stage of the 2023 PGA Tour Q-School marks the first time since 2012 there were tour cards on the line.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Emma Springer held 1-year-old daughter Annie aloft as if she was Simba in “The Lion King,” smiled and said, “Baby, we’re celebrating tonight and you have no idea why!”

The reason is quite simple: husband Hayden Springer is PGA Tour bound for the first time. The 26-year-old, who played on PGA Tour Canada this season, shot 1-under 69 at Dye’s Valley at TPC Sawgrass on Monday. That was good enough to finish at 8-under 272 and T-4 and earn one of five PGA Tour cards for the 2024 season.

After a decade of solely awarding varying levels of Korn Ferry Tour membership, final stage of the 2023 PGA Tour Q-School marks the first time since 2012 there were tour cards on the line. The next 40 finishers and ties are exempt for multiple reshuffles of the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour season, guaranteeing them between eight to 12 starts depending on their finish. The next 20 finishers and ties earned exempt status for the Latin America Swing of the 2024 PGA Tour Americas season in addition to conditional Korn Ferry Tour status. All remaining finishers outside the aforementioned categories earned conditional Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Americas membership for 2024.

Springer entered the week with full Korn Ferry Tour status after topping the 2023 PGA Tour Canada’s season-long Fortinet Cup, but he’s skipping straight to the big leagues along with Mexico’s Raul Pereda, Trace Crowe, Blaine Hale Jr., and medalist Harrison Endycott.

Springer’s story was all the more remarkable because just over a month ago, on Nov. 13, his oldest daughter, Sage, died at age 3. She was prenatally diagnosed with Trisomy 18, a developmental disorder stemming from an extra chromosome.

Springer said he thought of Sage several times during the final round.

“It’s happy thoughts,” he said. “It’s kind of one of those things that I think about her, and I just think about her smile. Like that’s the thing that I can just close my eyes and think about her smiling, and it’s kind of a grounding, kind of gets you back to neutral.”

Springer’s wife was greenside at 18 with Annie in her stroller but when she started crying, Emma wheeled her away. Hayden’s dad took over so Emma, who played on the women’s team at Texas Tech, could witness him seal the deal with a 2-putt par at 18.  Three front-nine birdies lifted Springer into solid position to finish in the top 5. But he made bogeys at Nos. 11 and 12 to move into shakier ground. A birdie at the par-3 14th gave him a cushio again.

“Bouncing back and making birdie there definitely kind of got me back into it, got me back on the right track,” he said.

But he drove into the water at 17 and made bogey, which meant he needed to avoid the water off the tee at 18. As his father put it, “Can you make it any harder?”

“I’ve worked essentially my whole life to get into this position, and you dream about it,” said Springer, who began playing U.S. Kids events at age 8. “It’s like you don’t know exactly when that day will come, but today is the day.”

Here’s the story of the four other newly minted PGA Tour members.