Given his recent playing history, it was somewhat surprising to see Kevin Streelman surge into the lead on Thursday at the Valspar Championship.
But it was no surprise that someone named Kevin would be out in front. More on that in a moment.
First to Streelman, a 45-year-old PGA Tour veteran who hasn’t been quite himself since last fall, making only made one cut in his last nine starts. But on Thursday he seemed to be playing a different golf course than the rest of the field; by his 14th hole on Innisbrook’s Copperhead course he’d made seven birdies and opened up a two-shot lead.
“I felt some really good feelings on the range this week and in the pro-am,” Streelman said post-round. He also explained he’d put a new ball marker into play, one that helps him with alignment. “Sticks into the ground, so it doesn’t move, obviously, from its location, and you can spin the top where the line is and then you kind of get back and you see where it looks good.”
But by the time he finished off his round of seven-under 64 he didn’t just have the title of tournament leader — he was also Low Kevin. On Wednesday golf stats guru Justin Ray deep-dived his database and returned to the surface with a fascinating fun fact: this week’s seven players named “Kevin” ties a record for most Kevins in a PGA Tour field — at least in the last 40 years.
Seven Kevins!
Let’s buzz through ’em.
We’ve mentioned Kevin Streelman. He’s No. 179 in the world and the seniormost member of this group; he played his first PGA Tour event in 2003.
Kevin Kisner is a four-time PGA Tour winner who peaked at No. 14 in the world and played on the U.S. Presidents Cup team as recently as 2022; he’s been battling his golf game but has been spending time in NBC’s broadcast booth, a nod towards a possible second career.
Improbably, of the four spots available in Monday qualifying, two were won by Kevins.
Kevin Aylwin is a mini-tour legend who works at a course in Florida and has a fantastic story; by shooting seven-under 65 on Monday he earned his first PGA Tour start after more than a decade as a pro.
Kevin Tway has now spent a decade on the PGA Tour; he’s an Oklahoma native who went to Oklahoma State University and won the 2018 Safeway Open. He shot 65 in Monday qualifying, too.
Kevin Dougherty, like Tway, went to Oklahoma State and turned pro in 2014. But he’s only made spot starts on Tour until this year; he’s in the field this week after finishing inside the top 30 on the Korn Ferry Tour last season.
Kevin Yu is just 25 and in his second season on the PGA Tour but he’s off to a hot start: he has three top 10s in his last eight starts and is actually the top-ranked of the bunch.
Kevin Roy was a PGA Tour rookie last season and finished the fall at No. 161 in the FedEx Cup; he was also a teammate of Valspar tournament favorite Xander Schauffele’s at Long Beach State. He received a sponsor exemption into this week’s field.
So, yeah. Those are your Kevins!
What’s the point? You could probably extrapolate something about naming trends in the 1980s and 1990s and cross-reference those with hotbeds of talented young golfers and end up with some sort of unified theory of Kevin. The name peaked in popularity in 1963 as the 11th most common boys name and stayed inside the top 30 until 1998; it’s now outside the top 150. But mostly there isn’t a point. It’s just a statistical oddity.
So here’s another oddity: despite this clear abundance of talented golfing Kevins, there isn’t a single one inside the top 100 in the world.
There’s a Scottie and a Rory. There’s a Jon and a Wyndham. There’s a Viktor and a Ludvig and a Hideki.
There are three Justins (No. 28 Thomas, No. 53 Rose, No. 96 Suh) and three Camerons (No. 23 Cameron Young, No. 57 Cameron Smith, No. 58 Cameron Davis) and three Taylors (No. 62 Taylor Moore, No. 80 Taylor Montgomery, No. 94 Taylor Pendrith).
There are four Adams (No. 50 Hadwin, No. 51 Scott, No. 56 Schenk, No. 70 Svensson) and four Toms (No. 13 Tommy Fleetwood, No. 20 Tom Kim, No. 55 Tom Hoge plus No. 75 Thomas Detry) and four Matts (No. 11 Matt Fitzpatrick, No. 27 Matthieu Pavon, No. 89 Matt Kuchar and No. 92 Matt Wallace).
But no Kevins. These are the everymen. The people’s golfers. But this week, they shine.
Streelman finished off his sparkling round to lead the crew, but as he finished Kevin Roy was charging, too, with six birdies in his first 12 holes. He birdied his 15th hole, too, getting him to six under par with three holes to play. Suddenly the titles of first-round leader and Low Kevin were both back in question.
Not every Kevin was so lucky; at last check four of the seven were over par and Kisner brought up the rear after a nine-over-par 80, giving Kevins possession of both first and last place.
These Kevins can do it all.
