Golfer’s missing clubs miraculously found on sale at a sporting goods store

A trip to Australia and the opportunity to represent one’s country aren’t the only perks for the participants in the Junior Presidents Cup. The 24 players on the U.S. and International teams get to interact with the elite players who will compete in this year’s Presidents Cup, set for December at Royal Melbourne. While many juniors will be meeting their heroes for the first time, Preston Summerhays is accustomed to being around the PGA TOUR’s best. That’s what happens when your father is a former TOUR player and successful swing coach. Preston, the reigning U.S. Junior Amateur champion, already knows several of the players who will compete for captains Ernie Els and Tiger Woods. Summerhays’ father, Boyd, was once the top-ranked junior in the country. He played college golf at Oklahoma State, where his teammates included Charles Howell III and Bo Van Pelt, and played 29 events on the PGA TOUR from 2004-06 before injuries ended his career. Now he is the instructor for Tony Finau, J.J. Spaun and Wyndham Clark. Golf success runs in the Summerhays’ genes. The family has featured multiple generations of successful players. Preston and his sister, Grace, who competed in this year’s U.S. Girls’ Junior, are continuing that tradition. Preston is waiting to see if the TOUR player with whom he has the closest relationship, Finau, also will be in Australia in December. Finau FaceTimed Preston shortly after that U.S. Junior. Am win. They’ve played hundreds of rounds together. Preston calls him “a great influenceâ€� on his career. “He cares about our family. He always wants to know how we’re doing, how we’re progressing,â€� Preston said. Finau wasn’t the only TOUR player to offer congratulations. Brooks Koepka sent a text to Boyd from The Open Championship. Rory McIlroy congratulated Preston before teeing off in the first round of a recent PGA TOUR event. Finau, who finished ninth in the final U.S. points standings, is a favorite to earn one of Woods’ four Presidents Cup captain’s picks next month (the top eight earned automatic spots on the roster). He bolstered his candidacy with a ninth-place finish at last week’s Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, where he led the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. He now has four top-10s in his last five TOUR starts. Finau is a strong candidate to get a pick because of his consistent play and strong ball-striking. He has 25 top-10 finishes in the previous three PGA TOUR seasons and has played in the past three TOUR Championships. His average FedExCup finish in those three seasons is 10.7. He finished in the top 25 in both Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green last season. Finau’s strong debut in international team competition also helps his candidacy. He was one of just four Americans with a winning record at last year’s Ryder Cup. He went 2-1 at Le Golf National, including a 6-and-4 win in his singles match with Tommy Fleetwood. If Finau is picked, it will mean double duty for Boyd Summerhays. He has been coaching Finau since 2014, after his own professional career came to an end. Finau graduated from the Korn Ferry Tour that year. He’s been on the PGA TOUR ever since, never finishing outside the top 50 in the FedExCup. “Boyd’s been a great mentor to me, he’s been a great teacher and he’s been a great friend,â€� Finau said. “We’ve been through a lot together. He’s helped me fine-tune my game, fine-tune my golf swing and fine-tune the mental side of my game. He’s been a huge part of what I’ve been able to accomplish.â€� Finau said his instructor’s son possesses “the confidence to be a champion.â€� “I’ve played a lot of rounds of golf with him, and to see him play, and to see kind of his swag, and taking his game to another level this summer has been a lot of fun to watch,â€� Finau said. Preston also plays with many of the TOUR players who live in his hometown of Scottsdale, Arizona. That experience has undoubtedly paid dividends. “Preston’s always known he is good because he’s been winning junior tournaments, but when he plays with TOUR players he also gets to see how far he has to go,â€� Boyd said. “He’s very confident in himself, but he still has the humility because he knows what he has to do better. … It gives him a clear picture of what he has to do.â€� Finau hails from Utah, as does the Summerhays family (though Boyd and his family have since moved to Arizona). The Summerhayses are a golf family, through and through. Boyd’s grandfather, Pres, was the head coach at the University of Utah. Boyd’s father, Lynn, was the captain of Utah’s golf team. Boyd’s uncle Bruce won on PGA TOUR Champions, and Bruce’s daughter, Carrie, played on the LPGA. Boyd’s younger brother, Daniel, has two runners-up on the PGA TOUR and now plays on the Korn Ferry Tour. Boyd encouraged Preston to play other sports, and not simply fall into the family’s preferred pursuit, but the pull toward golf was too strong. Preston’s first memory of the game is accompanying his father to the course with a loaf of bread to feed the ducks while his father practiced. Boyd’s playing career came to an end after playing several events on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada in 2012. Preston was 9 years old when caddied for his father in a tournament in Canada. “The bib was down to his knees,â€� Boyd said. Preston videoed Boyd’s rounds, starting his commentary of each shot with, “Here we are in Canada.â€� Preston has won the past two Utah Amateurs, becoming the first player to go back-to-back since his uncle, Daniel, in 2000-01. Preston was the youngest winner in the tournament’s history when he won in 2018. Preston also turned heads last year when he shot 65-60 to qualify for the U.S. Amateur; it was the lowest qualifying score for that championship since 2011. The Junior Presidents Cup is the next step in his promising career.

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CROMWELL, Conn. – Before there was Viktor Hovland, Matthew Wolff, Collin Morikawa, and Justin Suh with their high-profile layers of glitzy collegiate golf success, there was a 120-yard gap wedge shot from rough that cut through heavy air and came to rest 3 inches from the cup at the most crucial of times. It won the 2009 NCAA Championship. “That was the best experience. No one is going to top that, in my opinion,� said Bronson Burgoon, the man who produced that scintillating drama at The Inverness Club 10 years ago. All square in his match against Andrew Landry, but seemingly in a dire predicament at the 18th hole, Burgoon set up the improbable tap-in birdie to give Texas A&M the title with a 3-2 win over Arkansas. “Winning a national championship is one thing,� sad Burgoon. “But the way in which we did it was pretty cool.� It was the indelible memory of that shot that had Burgoon smiling, though truth be told, he was also quite pleased with a bogey-free, 6-under 64 at TPC River Highlands that got his Travelers Championship off to a rousing start. Tied with Ryan Armour for the best morning score at a cozy, 6,841-yard golf course saturated by rain, Burgoon appreciated that he stands in contrast to the hype and excitement that ushered that impressive quartet of collegiate stars into this week’s tournament. “They’re obviously world-class players,� said Burgoon. “But it is tough out here. If you don’t play good golf, you’re not going to do well. Plain and simple.� Burgoon can identify with the college joy that Hovland, Wolff, Morikawa and Suh are still riding, but his ride onto the PGA TOUR was nothing like theirs. Instead, Burgoon didn’t make it out onto the PGA TOUR until 2016 and he still is fighting to establish himself. It’s just his third full season out here and this week Burgoon is playing in just his 68th PGA TOUR tournament. At 32, he is still in search of answers. “It’s been a tough year for me,� said Burgoon, who did finish T-2 in Malaysia in the fall but has missed the cut in 10 of his 14 starts. “But it is what it is. You’ve got to pick yourself up and keep going.� Which Burgoon has seemingly done well on various occasions. He smiled and agreed with that assessment. “My whole golf career has been an uphill battle, honestly. I feel like I’ve made golf a little more complicated than it should be,� said Burgoon. “I’m trying to simply things and get my mind where I can compete. “One thing I can do is compete.� Those competitive embers will need to be stoked the next few days, because Burgoon has gotten off to a sizzling start at crunch time. Sitting 140th in the FedExCup standings late in the season, he knows he must make a push. It’s not getting any easier and youngsters like Hovland, Wolff, Morikawa and Suh are hungry to prove themselves, hardly in awe of the competition. It’s the nature of the business and it’s what Burgoon loves about professional golf. There is a camaraderie, yet it is a solitary pursuit, which is something these youngsters will soon realize. “Everybody’s out here doing what they need to do to try and get and better,� said Burgoon. “Nobody’s going to feel bad for you.� Certainly, Burgoon doesn’t feel bad for himself. Not when he embraces a college memory that will last a lifetime. And not when he points to “my wife (Katy) and my family, who do a very good job of keeping me grounded.� On this day, when finally for the first time since March he posted a red score in Round 1, Burgoon smiled and explained what his family’s support means to him. “There’s a life outside of professional golf scene. I try not to let golf rule my life.�

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