Who is this sleepy-eyed unknown tied atop the leaderboard at the PGA Championship?
He's no duffer, he's Dufner, as in Jason, an Auburn grad (Class of 2000) who loves the Tigers. He loves them so much his goal each year has been to make enough money during the summer so he can take the rest of the fall off and follow the football team.
He shot 68 on Saturday, with four birdies and two bogeys, and was 7 under for the tournament. He hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation. If he can string together one more good round at the Atlanta Athletic Club, he will make enough money in earnings and endorsements to gold-plate the ailing oaks at Toomer's Corner.
"I've stayed in the Auburn area for the last 13 years," he said. "I've got a lot of ties there."
Auburn fans who walked with Dufner didn't know much about him, but they screamed "War Eagle" whenever he teed off and naturally found a way to bring things back to college football.
"We could have a national champ to go with the national champions," said Drew Nelson, a Tiger and Dufner fan.
Nelson belongs to the same club, Moores Mill, where Dufner plays. Nelson hasn't teed it up with him, but his son, Brett, 12, has hit near Jason at the driving range.
It seems odd, but Dufner might be the least known millionaire on the PGA Tour. He's never won a PGA event, yet has earned almost $1.7 million on the tour this year.
Dufner looks like Rory McIlroy because his hair flares out from his cap. He said he gets mistaken for the U.S. Open champ all the time, including signing a flag for a fan earlier this week and hearing "Thanks Rory" when he was done.
During college, Dufner hit golf balls at street lights 150 yards away at 2 a.m. He got a few. Sometimes he broke out his driver and tried to hit the engineering building at the end of the street. He later decided to do something besides "being a delinquent."
"When he gets on the golf course, he goes about his business," said Jimmy Green, Moores Mill director of golf, who has known Dufner for a dozen years.
People at the club root for Dufner, Green said, because he cares about people. Dufner created a "Birdies for ‘Bama" campaign earlier this year in which he pledged $100 per birdie and $500 per eagle to help victims of the tornadoes that ripped through Alabama earlier this year. He also mentors some of the young players at the club and practices there numerous times during the week.
Dufner was born in Cleveland and is a fan of the Indians. When he was 14, Dufner and his family moved to Fort Lauderdale, where Dufner picked up golf. He walked on to Auburn's golf team and became an All-America selection. His professional career started on the Golden Bear Tour in 2000. He moved up to the Nationwide Tour in 2001, earning enough in 2003 to gain his PGA Tour card. He's bounced between the two tours until earning more than $2 million on the PGA Tour in 2009.
He has four top-10 finishes this season. However, he hasn't made a cut in his last four events. After some solid practice sessions last week and good results this week, he's not too shocked to be teeing off on Sunday as the co-leader in a major.
"Maybe I'm a little bit surprised to be in the final group in a major, but I'm not surprised to play well on this type of golf course," he said.
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