Wesley Bryan: From Trick Shots to Tour Wins

Wesley Bryan became famous for some of his ridiculous trick shots, but his biggest trick yet came when he won the RBC Heritage this week.

After making it through Q-School to qualify for a spot on the Web.com Tour, Bryan came out swinging during his first tour event, the Panama Claro Championship. Bryan fired a second round 65 to vault his way into contention for the weekend, and ended up finishing T7 while playing his final round with the eventual winner Ryan Armour. A missed cut at the CCC caused some doubt for fans, but Bryan promptly dispelled that doubt during his next start.

Wes opened the Louisiana open with two strong rounds of 66 and 65 to take the early lead of the tournament. A third round 71 dropped him one stroke off the pace after Saturday, but that didn’t matter to Bryan.  The final round was a battle, where at one point, Bryan was in a five-way tie at the top of the leaderboard. However, four birdies on the back nine helped him to break that tie and eventually capture the trophy. At the beginning of the season, Wes was quoted saying that “The ultimate goal is the PGA Tour”. His win vaulted him to third on the money list, and he was well on his way to achieving that goal.

Two starts later, he would secure his goal set this year. Coming off a T36 and a T6, Bryan had a lot of momentum going into the El Bosque Mexico Championship. A second round 63 helped him move to the top of the leaderboard, and a final round 67 helped him to secure his second win on tour, as well as his PGA Tour card for the 2017 season.

On the Web.com Tour, if a player wins three times during one season, they get an automatic promotion to the PGA Tour, and Bryan had a couple of close calls with that. At the Nashville Charity Open, a second round 76 took him well off the lead, though he battled back and finished T9. At the Lincoln Land Charity Championship, Bryan had the lead after the third round, thanks to rounds of 66, 65 and 63. However, a final round 70 just wasn’t quite enough for him to close out the win, and he finished a disappointing T2.

However, it did give him some momentum heading into the Digital Ally Open, where he was T3 going into the weekend. A third round 65 vaulted him all the way up to the top of the leaderboard, and a final round 67 wasn’t quite good enough to seal the deal, but it did get him into a three-way playoff with JT Poston and Grayson Murray. After matching pars on the first playoff hole, Wes stiffed it to three feet from 194 yards out, and made the putt to bring home the hardware and earn a spot on the PGA Tour for the rest of the 2016 season.

“If you had flashbacked nine months ago and told me I was going to be in this position, there is no chance I was going to believe you,” said Bryan after his battlefield promotion from the Web.com Tour. His stellar play earned him a spot on the PGA Tour, and it didn’t stop once he got promoted. His first start as a Tour member was at the John Deere Classic, where two strong rounds on Thursday and Friday moved him into contention for the weekend. His T8 finish would be bested earlier this season, with starts at the Genesis Open, Honda Classic and Valspar Open resulting in T4, T4 and T7 finishes, respectively. However, the best play of his season was still to come.

Flash forward to the final round of the RBC Heritage. A stretch of four birdies in a row on the front nine vaulted him onto the first page of the leaderboard. For a period of time, Ollie Schniederjans had the lead on the back nine, but after a birdie on 15, he grabbed the lead and never let go. After Luke Donald failed to birdie the 18th, a no frills two-putt was all it took for Wes to secure his first-ever tour win. In the media tower after his round, Jim Nantz asked Bryan how much of the nerves he felt throughout his round. Bryan’s priceless response was as follows: “Honestly, I wasn’t nervous at all, all day, and then No. 17, I got up and honestly I just threw up a little bit in my mouth”. However, despite the vomit, his first PGA Tour win in his home state of South Carolina is certainly one that he will savor for years to come.

Written by Paul Choma