PINEHURST, N.C. – Just a year ago, Brendon Todd was still working the margins of professional golf, bouncing between the Triple-A Web.com Tour and the major leagues.
Saturday, in second place at 4 under, he went off in the final twosome of the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, the only player close enough to Martin Kaymer to actually touch the German.
Kaymer and his utter dominance has been the driving the plot of this tournament. But his playing partner supplied a pretty intriguing sub-plot. Everyone loves a story of struggle and perseverance.
It seems to be coming easy for Kaymer this week. Nothing has come easy for Todd.
Todd was born in Pittsburgh, raised in North Carolina and has lived in Atlanta since leaving Georgia in 2007 as a four-time All American. His college career gave rise to high expectations, but the transition to the pro game was as uneven as the new waste areas at Pinehurst.
He won a Nationwide (now Web.com) event in ’08 and earned PGA Tour privileges the following season. But there he made only five of 21 cuts and his world ranking fell to No. 980. Back to the bushes he went, where in 2010 he didn’t make a cut in the Nationwide circuit, and only 10 of 24 cuts in 2011.
He earned back his PGA Tour card during the qualifying tournament for the 2012 season. Again he struggled, and was a year later cobbling a schedule together between tours.
Todd, now ranked 55th in the world, said he never reached the point of seriously pondering a real job during any of this. Finally, at last month’s Byron Nelson Classic, came his big break, when he shot a final-round 66 to win his first PGA Tour event by two strokes.
Playing in the final twosome Sunday in Texas, paired with another former major winner (Louis Ousthuizen), undoubtedly lent him some valuable experience for what awaited at Pinehurst.
Still, this is heady stuff. “I’ve definitely made an effort to pay attention to the fact that I’m playing in my first major in a place that I hold close to my heart here in Pinehurst,” Todd said. “But at the same time, I feel like I’ve gone about my business just like always.”
Outwardly, Todd has been among the most stoic of the Open players. He and Kaymer together make up a particularly stony twosome. “My caddie is a very excitable guy. I’m not. Fist pumping is not in my nature really, unless I’m under some kind of immense pressure and it comes out without my controlling it,” Todd said.
Golf fans trained their gaze on Kaymer Saturday to explore the limits of his incredible play. They also had the bonus opportunity to appreciate the sheer stubbornness of his playing partner.
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