Final summer season, Ben James was experiencing a few of his worst golf.
Now, he’s enjoying a few of his finest.
James gained the Valero Texas Collegiate on Monday, firing a closing 6-under 66 at TPC San Antonio to tie Auburn sophomore Josiah Gilbert at 12 beneath. James then topped Gilbert in a playoff to earn an exemption into subsequent 12 months’s Valero Texas Open.
James started the ultimate spherical trailing Gilbert by 5 photographs. He bogeyed his first gap of the day, too. However James then rattled off seven birdies in his final 13 holes, together with on the par-5 18th, the place James hit 3-wood from 260 yards to 10 ft and two-putted to pressure further holes.
Within the playoff, James hit a good higher shot – 3-wood from 267 yards to 7 ft – and his second two-putt on the final sealed his spot within the April 3-6 Tour occasion on the identical course. James already owns six Tour begins thus far, together with final week’s Procore Championship and this 12 months’s Rocket Mortgage Traditional, the place he made his first minimize (T-44).
James has been on a tear for the reason that finish of final summer season. After successful 5 occasions as a freshman, James went by a hunch that lasted a number of months, and he hit all-time low ultimately 12 months’s Western Newbie, the place he tied for 142nd. After that end, James retreated to a log cabin in Linville, North Carolina, a small resort neighborhood within the Blue Ridge Mountains. He was driving it unusually poor and placing extra stress on his shaky placing, however most significantly, he had misplaced some pleasure.
“Simply needed to isolate myself,” James stated, “and simply form of labored on my sport in peace, nobody to trouble me.”
Since that escape, James has dominated. He reached the quarterfinals ultimately 12 months’s U.S. Newbie at Cherry Hills earlier than serving to the U.S. win the Walker Cup in September and successful the South Seashore Worldwide Newbie final December. Throughout his sophomore season for the Cavaliers, he didn’t end worse than T-16, and he capped the marketing campaign with a runner-up on the NCAA Championship. He then certified for the U.S. Open, made the ultimate eight of the Western Newbie, reached match play on the U.S. Newbie after which opened his junior 12 months with a third-place exhibiting on the Inverness Intercollegiate.
James has an outdoor shot at a PGA Tour card subsequent summer season, too, as he at the moment sits at 11 PGA Tour College Accelerated factors. He will get a degree for each made minimize on Tour, and a further level for a Tour top-10. He can also earn three factors apiece for successful the NCAA particular person title, Haskins Award (nationwide school participant of the 12 months, voted on by gamers and coaches), Nicklaus Award (nationwide school participant of the 12 months, voted on by a committee) and Hogan Award (nationwide beginner participant of the 12 months, contains all outcomes and voted on by a committee).
Virginia, which captured the group title at Inverness, ended up T-3 with Auburn, 11 photographs again of Oklahoma, which beat runner-up Ole Miss by six photographs.
