There was no hiding Trey Winstead’s droop.
He was noticeably heavier, had misplaced vital flexibility, and he couldn’t preserve his driver on the planet – all penalties of a reckless quest so as to add just a few yards. The again half of his LSU profession was a nightmare, with the ultimate blow coming on the 2022 NCAA Stockton Regional, the place Winstead was subbed out after two rounds by his personal dad. Set to show skilled that summer season, Winstead, embarrassed and stripped of confidence, thought to himself, Gee, I’m wondering how it will end up?
To reply that query, fantastically.
The 25-year-old rookie enters this week’s Korn Ferry Tour Championship sitting No. 32 in factors, lower than 62 factors and one robust week away from incomes certainly one of 30 accessible PGA Tour playing cards. Slimmer and extra exact, Winstead has turned a evident weak point into his best energy, as he ranks twentieth on the tour in driving accuracy. And personally, Winstead grew to become engaged final Friday, is about to marry his fiancée, Audrey, on Dec. 20, and has been afforded extra time on the highway together with his dad and lifelong teacher, Chuck, who due to well being causes stepped down final 12 months after practically 20 years main the LSU males’s golf program.
“I’m simply very blessed and excited to be within the place I’m in,” Winstead stated. “My life couldn’t actually get higher than it’s proper now. Something that occurs this week is simply icing on the cake.”
Danny Walker is aware of what the depths of this sport can appear like, too. Following a standout profession at Virginia, the place he amassed 12 top-10s, Walker rapidly skilled success as a professional, capturing medalist honors on the remaining stage of Korn Ferry Tour Q-College in 2018. However Walker’s debut season was a catastrophe, as he missed 13 of twenty-two cuts, posted just one top-10 end and earned a measly $44,566. He obtained into simply 4 occasions the following season – and that was the tour’s pandemic-lengthened tremendous season – and couldn’t even garner a single begin on the Forme Tour, 2021’s PGA Tour Canada substitute. By that winter, Walker, an economics main who was a credit score or two wanting an astronomy minor, was eyeing a profession change and located himself making use of for a part-time job at Bahama Breeze, ready tables and peddling coconut shrimp.
He didn’t final three weeks earlier than diving again into the pro-golf waters.
“I knew if I hated it that will be an indication to return to golf, and to be truthful, I didn’t hate it, however I additionally didn’t prefer it,” Walker stated. “After that, I made positive I used to be extra dedicated than I had ever been.”
