SecTion by Robert Kaufman Identical goals, yet different journeys. Two nationally acclaimed golfers who grew up on opposite sides of the country, then played their collegiate golf for opposing teams separated by the Opposing Fairways to the PGA Tour Max Homa and Cameron Wilson San Francisco Bay, will, if they continue on their path, find themselves competing on the same turf for many years to come. Cameron Wilson, a 21-year-old Connecticut native who just graduated from Stanford after winning the 2014 NCAA individual golf championship, and Max Homa, 23, who hails from Southern California but graduated from Cal where he won the same NCAA title in 2013, when his team was No. 1 in the nation, are now members of professional golf ’s fraternity and scheduled to tee it up at the PGA Tour’s 2014-15 season-opening event, Frys.com Open. As part of this transition from celebrated college careers, each is now gaining on-the-job training concerning the challenges of traveling from event to event singlehandedly, and discovering that the path to prominence on the pro circuit is a long way from the classroom. “The scheduling is tougher now, because even when we did play backto back events in college, we’d at least have a few days back at school to get organized,” says Homa, who, after completing his amateur career playing in 26 www. n A PAVA L L E Y L I F Emagaz ine .com the 2013 Walker Cup, fired four sub-70 rounds to earn a 9th-place finish and $135,000 in his pro debut at last year’s Frys.com Open. “Now, playing four-five weeks in a row in a different city or country has been challenging to adapt to. I feel like a fish out of water, but somehow you make it work.” After his breakout performance, Homa played another eight PGA Tour events, primarily on sponsor exemptions, until he made a career-changing decision earlier this year by joining the Web.com Tour (the PGA Tour’s developmental tour) full-time to work his way up the ladder. It proved to be a quick climb when he shot rounds of 68-65-70-63 (266) to win the Web.com BMW Charity Pro-Am this past May. He wasn’t handed keys to a new car, but playing alongside Janet Jones-Gretzky (wife of hockey’s “Great One”) on Sunday most likely assisted with the mental edge he needed to pocket a check for $117,000. Since then, Homa has been able to capitalize on that early success to earn enough official money (currently $190,302) to place him No. 16 on the Web.com Tour money list. Assuming he maintains a top-25 position upon the conclusion of the Web.com Tour Championship (September 18-21), he will earn his PGA Tour card for the 2014-15 season and not require any special invite to be part of the playing field in Napa. Max Homa Todd Drexler, SE Sports Media SpeciAl Frys.com Open PgA golf Tournament
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