How Tiger Woods Did Good Last Week

Tiger Woods did good last week as the host of the Quicken Loans National tournament.  He handed out sponsor’s exemptions for the event to two guys that could have life changing consequences for them.

A Life Changer for Billy Hurley III

One of the exemptions went to be the eventual winner Billy Hurley III who was ranked 607th in the World Rankings, but because of his local connections being an Annapolis graduate, he got in.  He managed to hold off World Golf Hall of Famers Vijay Singh and Ernie Els by shooting a 69 in the final round to win by three shots.  He gave the impression he had been in that situation before.

Considering that he had failed to break into the top forty in his last eleven events and was discussing retiring with his wife that is pretty impressive.  He is now looking at a two year exemption on the Tour, invitations to the Open Championship and The Masters, and a winner’s check for $1.2 million.  Obviously life changing and he gets to enjoy things like this.

A Life Changer for Jon Rahm

 
While his situation is a little different than Hurley’s it will still have a huge impact.  He is reigning Pacific-12 champion and the only amateur to make the cut in the US Open.  This exemption gave him his first experience as a professional.  He seemed to handle it pretty well with a tied for 3rd finish which gets him into the The Open also.  This tied for 3rd finish is one better than what Bryson Dechambeau managed in his professional debut.

I really enjoyed his comment on how he deals with playing for money now:

“Money really shouldn’t make a difference, but just going back to the basics of golf is making the least amount of strokes possible.  If you make the least amount of strokes, you’re going to make the most amount of money.  It’s never been about the money for me.  Since I was a kid I had the dream to become a great player, and that’s the only thing I have in mind.  It’s never been about the money.”

I intend to keep an eye on this young man.

At any rate they both, especially Hurley, can thank the sponsor’s exemptions for potentially being a life changing event.  At times Tiger was out on the course with him. Tiger Woods did good.

Cover Photo via Flickr