Ben Kohles woke up six days ago in Greenville, SC with a dream.
In the next three days, he thought, he would have ample opportunity to see at least one of his golfing dreams come true. Perhaps with victory in that afternoon’s BMW Charity Pro-Am, where Kohles awoke to a healthy lead. But maybe with the US Open Final Qualifying in Maryland on Monday afternoon, where he was scheduled to play.
The storm that has followed for the past six days has seemed so completely disturbing, so amazing that Kohles never thought it would be possible to wake up less than seven days later. both of those dreams. And if that is true, it is impossible to believe that he saw this next weekend, when Kohles finds himself fighting for his first PGA Tour victory.
I mean, how did he see it coming? Six days ago, he was not in the field.
So what took Kohles from there to here, waking up Saturday morning T14 at the RBC Canadian Open? However, it all started on Sunday evening at the BMW Charity Pro-Am, where the latest sign of Kohles’ resurgence as a 35-year-old touring pro came in the form of a four-time victory. As Kohles gathered his hardware, the Korn Ferry Tour camera crew was in motion as he began to move: Literally running from the award ceremony to his car, where a 90-minute drive to Charlotte International Airport and a short flight to Washington-Reagan Airport awaited.
Kohles made his flight to Rockville, Maryland — the site of Monday’s final qualifying attempt — Sunday night. With the adrenaline still pumping, he caught a few hours of sleep. He woke up the next day before 6 to get to the golf course for his 8:32 am tee time, and soon after, began the day-long test of US Open Final Qualifying.
He may not have heard it, but Kohles’ game took him to Woodmont Country Club, where he shot 7 under in 36 holes to win the second of four US Open qualifiers. He walked into the scorer’s tent on the sidelines at Woodmont just after 7:30 p.m. — 11 hours after the start of his opening round — and made a quick phone call back home to share the good news: It was time to book Shinnecock’s trip.
“I feel like my head is still spinning,” he said. “The craziest 24 hours of my golf life.”
With his qualifying result settled, Kohles jumped into action again: This time he was flying from Maryland up to Toronto, where he was one of the alternates for the RBC Canadian Open.
“Obviously it’s not too far from next week when I go up here, so I thought I’d have a good chance to get in on Monday or Tuesday,” said Kohles. “No one really backed out.”
Finally, on Wednesday, the call came – Kohles was one of the final changers on the field at TPC Toronto. He picked up where he left off on Thursday, shooting an opening-round 67 to put himself in contention going into Friday. Then, his fatigue reached the second round of 71. On Saturday, however, Kohles locked in form – shooting a bogey-free, 5-birdie, third-round 65 to reach 7 under for the tournament, good for T14 as of this writing.
It was, not counting the practice rounds, Kohles for the sixth time competition cycle in the last six days. Five of them went under the category.
Time will tell if Kohles’ third-round effort was enough to put him in legitimate contention come Sunday afternoon in Toronto. But there is no doubt that he will be playing for big money when the balls hit the air.
Come Sunday evening, there might be a few minutes to reflect on all the good that has come into his life this truly brutal week. But they are not very many.
He will arrive in Shinnecock on Monday.
