NCAA Champ Braden Thornberry to make PGA debut this week
6/8/2017 | by Sam Dostaler of AmateurGolf.com
Braden Thornberry began his first round at 9:00 am off the 10th hole with Zack Sucher and Julian Etulain
MEMPHIS, TN (June 8, 2017) - Things just keep getting better for Braden Thornberry. With the thrill of his NCAA Individual Championship still lingering, Thornberry is now set to make his PGA Tour debut this week at the FedEx St. Jude Classic at TPC Southwind.
"I've been going out to TPC Southwind everyday and playing around. I'm not doing anything too technical, just playing [the course] a lot with different winds and stuff like that to make sure I have a good understanding of how it's going to play. It's been going well," said Thornberry via text message Sunday night.
When you consider the level at which Thornberry has played at over the last 15 months the statement, "It's been going well," couldn't be more of an understatement.
Thornberry, who just wrapped up his second year at Ole Miss, set the stage for his 2016-2017 season with his play during the spring of his freshman year. After three-times finishing tied for 20th or worse during four fall events, Thornberry found another gear in the spring as he led the Rebels in all but one tournament during the spring season while also winning twice.
Now full of confidence, Thornberry earned medalist honors at the 2016 U.S. Amateur and then proceeded to win four-times during the regular season of his sophomore season. His first win of the year came at the FAMC Intercollegiate At The Grove in September which he then followed up with back-to-back wins at the AutoTrader.com Collegiate Classic and Princevillle Warrior Makai Invitational late in the fall season. One more regular season win came in April at the Ryman Hospitality Intercollegiate before he won the NCAA Individual title for his fifth win of the year.
"Obviously after a win like [the NCAA Championship] you're going to be feeling really good about your game," Thornberry said. "But I'm trying to you kind of hit the reset button and work hard for this week."
In between all of his collegiate wins Thornberry won the prestigious Jones Cup in February and with the win he began to catch the attention of 2017 Walker Cup captain Spider Miller.
Thornberry announced his exemption into the FedEx St. Jude Classic in late April and with his first tee shot in a PGA Tour event just days away he is ready for everything that a week on the tour has to offer but he is most prepared to soak it all in.
"Just experience, obviously I'm hoping to play well, but more than anything I'm using this week as a learning experience for the future. The more events I can play as an amateur, the more I will be ready when I do make the jump to the professional level," said Thornberry.
-For more on Braden Thornberry from our AGC spotlight series click here.
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