Pro has earned 2 checks since April. But Thursday, he historically couldn’t miss

On the first Sunday of April, four days before the Masters, a couple weeks into spring, Hayden Springer tied for 58th at the Texas Open. He earned just over 20 grand. 

Then nothing. 

Two weeks after Texas, he missed the cut. A week later, he missed the cut. A week after that, he missed the cut. A week after that, he missed the cut. Two weeks after that, he missed the cut. A week after that, he missed the cut. Six tournaments. No weekends. It was now June. It was almost summer. 

“It’s been a little bit tough,” Springer said, “to kind of find anything.”

Then he did. Because golf, right? The oddest of games. One swing, you’re lost. The next, you’re found. Springer said he reconnected with Rosey Bartlett, who’d worked with him starting when he was a kid. The pro at the Trophy Club in Texas tweaked his setup. And last Sunday, at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Springer took off. He tied for 10th. He earned just over 200K, the second-biggest payday of his PGA Tour rookie season, in his second made cut since April. 

Things have been bumpy. Which made Thursday surreal to him. 

At TPC Deere Run, during the John Deere Classic’s first round, the 27-year-old from Nashville: 

— Shot an eight-under 27 on the front nine, behind six birdies and an eagle 

— Birdied the 15th hole, after five-straight pars, and eagled the 17th hole on a 55-yard hole-out 

— Birdied the 18th with a drive into the fairway, an iron to 12 feet and a putt 

— Made Tour history 

He’d shot 12-under on TPC Deere Run’s par-71 track. He’d shot a 59. He became the 14th Tour player to shoot sub-60. 

“Kind of, I don’t know, at a loss for words in terms of being able to do that,” he said. 

Let’s try to help. 

Has he ever gone that low? Nope. Springer said he shot only a few 61s. [Only.]

When did he think he had something special going? On the par-4 6th, where he fell just short of the green with his second shot, but dropped a 16-footer for birdie. “I kind of was like, OK, I feel like I’m not missing today,” Springer said. “I’m pretty much holing any putt I look at. So probably that putt going in was kind of the trigger of, OK, like we might be able to go super low.”

Was he frustrated over the string of pars after the opening 27? For sure. “My caddie, on 15, I mean, that’s a fairly straightforward hole,” Springer said. “I kind of got a bad lie in the rough and made par there. He was like, it’s OK. You’re fine. Just be patient. I think at that point it was kind of going to be tough to go and get it done. But just, yeah, just trying to be patient.”

What were things like on 18? What were the nerves like knowing a 59 was in play? “It’s like any golf shot,” Springer said, “you got to block stuff out if there is trouble on a hole. You kind of get to practice it. This one is — there is always a consequence kind of, so I feel like we got a lot of practice of being able to block out different things. You know, other than that, it’s there. You’re not going to get away from it. It’s not just going to go away. You kind of have to put it out as much as you can and focus on the shot.”

What’s the plan for Friday? “Tomorrow is a new day,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. Just try and do the exact same thing I do pretty much every day and go through the same routine, same process, and go from there.”

Notably, he and wife Emma have been doing that for a while. Last November, his young daughter, Sage, died from complications of Trisomy 18, or Edwards Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder caused by three copies of the 18th chromosome. Days later, though, Hayden Springer tied for fourth at Tour Q-School and earned a PGA Tour card. 

On Thursday, he said the death has given him strength. He said you have to work through things. You move forward. 

“I mean, we’ve had some challenging things happen,” Springer said. “You know, I think it’s — but at the end of the day, I also want to compete and I love doing that.

“I think that that drives me to want to make that putt or want to shoot low scores more than anything.”

Editor’s note: In January, GOLF’s James Colgan wrote an article detailing Springer and his daughter, and you can read that story by clicking here, or by scrolling below. It’s headline is: “He lost his daughter days before Q-School. Now he’s contending in PGA Tour debut.”

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If you’re looking for someone to root for at this weekend’s American Express, might we suggest a name?

Hayden Springer.

If you’re new to the bandwagon, that’s quite OK. Springer, a 27-year-old PGA Tour rookie from Nashville, is a stranger to all but the most knowledgeable golf fans. He’s won only two professional events in his pro career, both on the Canadian tour, including one at a tournament sponsored by a rail park in Manitoba. His PGA Tour career is truthfully just hours old: This week’s event in Palm Springs will be his first start as a full-time member.

In many ways, Springer is a garden variety pro golf miracle: He earned his Tour card the hard way, at Q-School in December, battling his way through a crowded field to nab one of just five full-time slots on the PGA Tour in 2024.

The moment was the culmination of a life dream, the highest high of Springer’s professional life. And it’d come just days after rock bottom.

You see, the story of Hayden Springer’s journey to the PGA Tour begins with the story of his daughter, Sage. Sage Springer was born in 2020 with Trisomy 18, or Edwards Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder caused by three copies of the 18th chromosome. Trisomy 18 is a serious diagnosis, resulting in severe delays to fetal development. Just 13 percent of all babies born with it live past the age of 1.

The Springers were one of the lucky Trisomy families, as Sage blessed the family with three years of love and joy. On November 13, 2023 — just days before the start of Q-School — Sage Springer died from the complications of Trisomy 18. She was 3 years old.

News

It felt impossible to return to golf in the days following Sage’s passing, but Hayden didn’t have much choice. A victory at the Canadian Tour’s Fortinet Cup Championship had guaranteed him a slot in the final stage of qualifying, which may well have been Hayden’s best chance at earning a spot on the PGA Tour. His heart was wounded beyond recognition, but he owed it to his family to continue competing. He went on the road at the start of December to tune up for Q-School, dedicating the effort to his late daughter.

“It’s an interesting kind of thing mentally thinking about her when you’re trying to play and there’s pressure and all of that because it is emotional. But it’s happy thoughts,” Springer told PGATour.com. “I can just close my eyes and think about her smiling, and it’s kind of a grounding, kind of gets you back to neutral. Not thinking about golf, not thinking about the last shot, the next shot, just thinking about her and her smile.”

When final qualifying arrived, Springer played the tournament of his life. He shot four consecutive rounds in the 60s at Dye’s Valley, including a final-round 69, to beat out more than 150 other competitors for a spot on the big Tour. He tapped in for par on the 18th and, in an instant, his future was solidified.

His caddie cried. His wife cried. He cried. Hayden Springer was a PGA Tour golfer.

“It’s hard to put into words for sure,” he said. “It’s unbelievable.”

After a month off for the holidays (plus a solid bid at the Sony Open’s Monday qualifier) Springer arrived in Palm Springs for the American Express with a different kind of energy. The heartbreak hadn’t gone away, but there were new challenges to worry about. On the other side of tragedy, Springer had found opportunity. Opportunity required careful planning for things like travel schedules and practice plans, but for the first time in Springer’s life, there were big-money events to look forward to, any of them capable of altering the course of his family’s life. Another Korn Ferry Tour graduate from his class, Grayson Murray, had grabbed a victory last week at the Sony Open, proving it was possible to move up to the PGA Tour and find success quickly.

But nobody, not even Murray, could have predicted Springer’s success would arrive this fast. He teed off at PGA West on Thursday morning and, by the time he’d reached the 10th hole, Springer was seven shots under par. His opening-nine 29 was followed by two more birdies on the back before a closing bogey, the first of his PGA Tour career, brought him back to earth. When the dust settled, he was two shots off the lead. In Hayden Springer’s first round as a PGA Tour, he’d shot 64.

“I hit it well,” he said later with a chuckle. “Definitely hit a few wedges close, and a few iron shots close. If I can straighten out the driver a little bit, maybe it’s even better.”

There will be time for Springer to hit it even better — though he probably won’t be complaining if he hits it a little worse. He enters Friday’s second round at the Amex tied for 5th, putting him in pole position for his first PGA Tour made-cut, and crucially, his first PGA Tour payday.

But even with the excitement surrounding his first-ever PGA Tour round, it’s likely money is not the first nor the fifth thing on Hayden Springer’s mind. It didn’t take long to find his late daughter everywhere around him on Thursday afternoon: Her name is stamped into his wedges in rainbow ink, and he has a pink shirt picked out for later this week, her favorite color.

“There’s harder moments than others, but we’re just trying to lean in on our faith,” he said. “It’s definitely been challenging and tough, but just trying to keep moving forward and keep living life as much as we can, and we know that Sage would want that for us.”

There is an old proverb about grief as an enormous, empty room. Our sadness, the proverb says, is an acknowledgment of the size of the room, and of all the things that once filled it.

“There’s a missing piece, that’s always going to be a missing piece,” he said. “But I think we’re just trying to love on each other and be around each other as much as we can.”

Life inevitably moves on, but Springer admits he hasn’t. He’s still standing in the doorway, looking back, even as he begins to build something new.