PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Stories like Ryan Brehm’s are the reason we watch sports.
He’s as good a reason to watch this week’s Players Championship as the world’s top players in the field are.
Brehm, a 35-year-old journeyman golfer, struck gold last week in Puerto Rico. In one week, four rounds of golf changed his life.
Brehm entered the Puerto Rico Open, playing on a one-tournament minor medical extension, needing to win the tournament or finish alone in second to retain his PGA Tour status. With his wife Chelsey as his caddie, he won the tournament by six stokes after birdieing five of the first 11 holes.
The victory was a Hail Mary for Brehm, who was ranked No. 773 in the world. The tournament was like a one-week version of PGA Tour Qualifying School with only one player surviving and advancing.
Brehm, who took a three-shot lead into the final round, survived and advanced — straight to TPC Sawgrass for this week’s Players Championship, where he’ll tee it up alongside the best players in the world in golf’s strongest field.
Magical.
“It’s a surreal feeling,’’ Brehm said Wednesday morning, sitting in a chair on the lawn behind the 18th green at Sawgrass. “It’s hard to put into words.’’
He was given the one-tournament extension after he had to withdraw from the Zurich Classic last year because of COVID-19. Few have taken advantage of opportunity like he did.
How did he do it, dial his game in so beautifully with all that pressure?
“Well, I’m 35 years old, I’ve been playing for a really long time and I have enough experience to understand that you really had to have the mental discipline to focus on the task at hand,” Brehm said. “But sometimes that’s not enough.”
It was on Sunday.
What would he be doing this week had it not been for that victory?
“This week we’d be in Fort Myers picking up our truck and leaving Friday to go to Lafayette, Louisiana, from Fort Myers,’’ he said.
Lafayette is the next stop on the Korn Ferry Tour, where Brehm has been toiling, trying to play well enough to regain his PGA Tour status.
Asked what his stress level is like this week compared to last week, Brehm said, “Well, the stress level is much lower the excitement level is much higher.”
He recalled trying not to look at leaderboards in the final round Sunday until he peaked on No. 15.
“At that time I looked after the par 5 15th and saw it I think it was seven shots,” he said. “You still do the math. You’re still just have so much time to think about what can go wrong.”
Still, Brehm said he had a sense of calm all week at Puerto Rico.
“It felt like there was no pressure because it was win or go home,” he said. “And we had already resigned to the fact of we’re gonna play a full season on the Korn Ferry regardless.”
What will his nerves be like for Thursday’s opening round at Sawgrass?
“That’s a great question,” he said. “I don’t know if I can answer that right now. My guess is I’m going to be shaking like leaf on the first hole. This is the biggest stage. I played the golf course [Tuesday] and the difficulty level is as high as I’ve ever seen.
“So, there’s going to be a lot of different curveballs thrown at me this week. And you never know how you’re going to handle it.”
If he channels what he did in Puerto Rico, Brehm will be fine.
The win last week changed his life, giving him that precious PGA Tour card through 2024. Now it’s up him to retain it.
“I know enough to know that that 2 ¹/₂ years is going to go quickly and I need to use this to catapult me and not to allow myself to get complacent,” he said. “I’ve gotten my card. This is a third time I’ve gotten the card back. The first two times, I really wasn’t even close to keeping it.
“I think I’ve learned some things about what I need to do tactically to succeed [this time]. I need to avoid three-putting as much, to keep my driver and play better and manage the emotions and the pressure of trying to keep the card better.
“I think this win last week is going to make that a little bit easier for me, but those thoughts and emotions are still going to be there.”
