It sounds crazy, given his success on the European Tour and in majors, but Tommy Fleetwood is on the cusp of a career first at the Honda Classic this weekend. Fleetwood is just 18 holes away from his first-ever PGA Tour victory. The Bear Trap is all that’s standing in Fleetwood’s way as he heads into Sunday at the Honda Classic with a one-stroke lead at five under.

Luke Donald (not to be mistaken with his alter ego, Luke McDonald) and Lee Westwood are also lurking near the top of the leaderboard. The pair are tied for third at three under.

Brendan Steele, of Sony Open infamy, is also in the mix, sitting in solo second at four under.

Below is the payout information for the Honda’s $7 million purse; you can watch all the action on Golf Channel from 1-3:00 p.m. and NBC from 3-6:00 p.m (all times eastern).

Honda Classic payout breakdown, winner’s share

1. $1,260,000
2. $763,000
3. $483,000
4. $343,000
5. $287,000
6. $253,750
7. $236,250
8. $218,750
9. $204,750
10. $190,750
11. $176,750
12. $162,750
13. $148,750
14. $134,750
15. $127,750
16. $120,750
17. $113,750
18. $106,750
19. $99,750
20. $92,750
21. $85,750
22. $78,750
23. $73,150
24. $67,550
25. $61,950
26. $56,350
27. $54,250
28. $52,150
29. $50,050
30. $47,950
31. $45,850
32. $43,750
33. $41,650
34. $39,900
35. $38,150
36. $36,400
37. $34,650
38. $33,250
39. $31,850
40. $30,450
41. $29,050
42. $27,650
43. $26,250
44. $24,850
45. $23,450
46. $22,050
47. $20,650
48. $19,530
49. $18,550
50. $17,990
51. $17,570
52. $17,150
53. $16,870
54. $16,590
55. $16,450
56. $16,310
57. $16,170
58. $16,030
59. $15,890
60. $15,750
61. $15,610
62. $15,470
63. $15,330
64. $15,190
65. $15,050

Have You seen our latest episode of Subpar featuring Kiradech Aphibarnrat? Click the YouTube link below to check it out!

CLICK HERE FOR KIRADECH APHIBARNRAT’S SUBPAR INTERVIEW

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There are only 24 hours in a day, so if you can only manage to carve out fifteen minutes to hit the gym, how should you spend it?

It depends on who you ask.

For some, like Joel Dahmen, a fifteen-minute circuit workout is the perfect way to get your sweat on efficiently.

According to other health professionals, if you’re heading to the gym looking to bolster your golf game, your time is best spent building strength and mobility.

But if you ask PGA Tour pro Brendan Steele how he’d spend 15 minutes at the gym, he recommends something a little different.

“The things that help me most are deadlifts and squats,” Steele said.

With the golf swing so reliant on driving through your legs to generate power, it makes sense that deadlifts and squats would be at the top of Steele’s to-do list in the gym.

Deadlifts and squats are total-body exercises, relying on the use of your legs, core, and shoulders to maintain proper posture throughout the exercise. What else relies on the legs, core, shoulders and proper posture? Your golf swing.

Injury Prevention

Should you heed Steele’s advice, it’s paramount to make sure you’re executing these movements correctly.

For deadlifts, it’s essential to maintain a neutral spine throughout the movement. To perform a deadlift, you’ll want to hinge at the waist and keep your knees slightly bent as you bend forward. You should feel tension in your hamstrings as you do this. Once you’ve grabbed onto the barbell or weights, you should push your feet into the ground and stand, keeping your lats engaged as you stand all the way up.

For squats, you want to start in a standing position. Then, sit your hips back as if you’re going to sit in a chair. As you squat down, make sure you’re keeping your chest up and engaging your core. This will help you maintain good posture. As you stand, you want to push your feet into the ground and push your knees out.

If you can’t squat all the way down without compromising your form (rounding your back, knees falling inward), you can squat to a target, such as a chair, bench, exercise ball, or medicine ball and slowly work up to a full squat.

If you’re new to these movements, start with very little or no weight at all until you’re comfortable and your form is solid.

If you’re looking to increase the power generated with your legs in your swing, try adding three sets of 10 deadlifts and three sets of 10 squats to your next workout.

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In the fitness world, they say building your body is 20% what you do and 80% what you eat. In a sport like golf, what you fuel your body with on the course is extremely important as you trek around 18 holes (or more) in a single day.

The average round of golf takes about four hours to complete, and during that four hours your body is burning somewhere between 1070 and 1,650 calories per round — contingent on whether you’re walking or riding a cart, carrying your clubs or pulling them, and other factors.

And four hours is a long time to be physically active, so those mid-round snacks really matter — especially to Tour pros who need to stay on top of their game at all times.

So what should you be eating during your round that will keep your energy up, but won’t weigh you down?

Tiger Woods is known for his peanut butter banana sandwiches (crunchy peanut butter to be exact) and Phil Mickelson is a big fan of almonds on the course.

Joel Dahmen’s tastes are similar.

“I have a lot of jerky out there,” Dahmen said. “Or just mixed nuts from Costco, trail mix basically.”

Brendan Steele? He’s into beef jerky as well.

“I like beef jerky,” Steele commented. “I drink a shake. I don’t have to have anything necessarily. I’m trying to eat more all the time, but beef jerky’s my favorite.”

Sebastian Cappelen is more of a bar guy — Epic Bars to be exact. If you’re unfamiliar with these bars, they are made from simple ingredients and packed with protein, making them a great and convenient mid-round snack.

The common thread between all of these mid-round snacks is that they are high in protein, have healthy fats and carbohydrates, which helps satisfy your hunger and keep you full for longer, not to mention give you an energy boost thanks to those carbs.

They’re also light bites that won’t give you stomach issues or make you feel sluggish at the turn.

So the next time you’re packing your golf bag for your round, don’t forget the snacks — just make sure it’s something packed with protein and healthy fats to keep your hunger at bay until you make it to the 19th hole.

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The finish at the 2020 Sony Open on Sunday was a complicated slog—full of bogeys, wild nervy shots and painfully long waits.

Cameron Smith came out on top in the end, collecting his second PGA Tour win in a playoff. But he was the only contender who left with a smile on his face.

Young phenom Collin Morikawa suffered an embarrassing three-putt from four feet at 17. Tour veteran Ryan Palmer hit his approach shot on 18 out of bounds. And no player was frowning more than Brendan Steele, who coughed up a two-shot lead with a bogey at 17, a disappointing par on 18, and another bogey in the playoff to lose to Smith.

But some observers didn’t blame Steele for his collapse. Instead, they laid fault at the feet of Palmer. That’s because Palmer’s aforementioned O.B. shot on 18 caused a painfully long delay in the crucial closing moments of play.

His 265-yard attempt from a fairway bunker flew into grandstands to the left of the fairway and took a wild ricochet. He opted not to take a provisional and only declared it O.B. after arriving at the area and taking three minutes to look for it. He then had to go all the way back to the bunker to re-do his shot.

As this was happening, Steele and the rest of the final group were waiting to play, first on the 18th tee, and again in the fairway once Palmer was forced to return and hit his shot again.

When the green was finally cleared, Steele hooked his approach badly from 245 yards, sending his shot into the grandstands. The wild shot resulted in a par on the closing par-5, which coupled with Smith’s birdie on 18 to erase Steele’s lead completely and force a playoff.

In all, it took Steele’s group about 40 minutes to play the final hole with the delays caused by Palmer. After the tournament was complete, Palmer received a lot of criticism from fans on his Twitter account, enough to inspire a reply from the PGA Tour veteran.

“And for all those questioning the last hole,” Palmer tweeted, “I’ll do it again next week so deal with it. That’s golf.”

One Twitter user commended Palmer for attempting to reach the green from the bunker, but then told him to hit a provisional next time so as not to “screw up the players behind you.”

To that Palmer shot back, “I didn’t hit their shots!!”

Whether or not Palmer showed proper etiquette by forgoing a provisional is up for debate, but his final point is a fair one.

To attribute Steele’s collapse solely to the interminable wait on the 18th hole is unfair, and flies in the face of the facts on the ground. After all, Steele’s game was already showing cracks before the closing hole. His bogey on 17 is what gave his competitors a shot in the first place.

Had he sunk a six-footer for par at 17, he would have avoided a playoff altogether, and no one would be wasting their time scolding Palmer on Twitter.

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Welcome to Wall-to-Wall Equipment, the Monday morning gear wrap-up in which GOLF equipment editor Jonathan Wall takes you through the latest trends, rumors and breaking news from the past week. 

Et tu, Rory? 

One week after Dustin Johnson added a hybrid to the bag, Rory McIlroy appears to be on the verge of following suit. McIlroy has historically used a traditional long iron, driving iron or 5-wood, depending on the course setup, but that could all be changing after taking TaylorMade’s SIM Max hybrid for a test run during a company photoshoot in November.

“I’ve never been a hybrid of a rescue guy, ” McIlroy told the Irish Golfer. “I’m a bit of a traditionalist… but I picked this thing up and it was unbelievable.”

McIlroy, who had never tested or tried a hybrid prior to the shoot, decided to take a few cuts with one that was built for him and immediately noticed an extremely tight dispersion with more than enough distance. McIlroy was so impressed, in fact, he took the club home to test on his own.

Based on the SIM Max rescue currently listed on McIlroy’s TaylorMade player page, he’s going to use the club this season — even if it’s a course-dependent option.

“I think for certain courses, why not?” he said. “I can flight it, I can hit it low, I can hit it high. It’s like a 3-iron that’s as easy to hit as a 7-iron.”

With the rough on Torrey Pines’ South Course keeping players honest, a hybrid could prove to be a viable option. McIlroy could find out soon enough if the club has a longterm spot in his bag.

Tour-only Tour B

On the heels of Bryson DeChambeau adding 750 RPMs of spin around the greens and Matt Kuchar picking up 10 yards off the tee with Bridgestone’s Tour B ball, Brendan Steele chose to follow their lead and insert the Tour B XS prototype ball at the Sony Open. The XS version, which happens to be Tiger Woods’ ball of choice, delivers more spin than the slightly firmer X.

The new version of Tour B remains a Tour-only prototype at the moment, but with the list of users continuing to grow, it’s very likely a retail version is imminent, especially with the PGA Merchandise Show only a few weeks away.

Hideki’s new combo

Hideki Matsuyama transitioned from TaylorMade’s M5 driver to the 2020 SIM (9 degrees) at Waialae but chose to maintain some semblance of consistency by retaining Graphite Design’s Tour AD XC-8 TX shaft. The “Xtra Carry” (what the “XC stands for) model is the latest addition to Graphite Design’s shaft line.

The mid/low launch, low spin shaft profile is similar to what Matsuyama has used in the past and based around a soft butt section and stiff mid and tip section. Torayca M40X carbon-fiber pre-preg is located in the mid to tip section along with T1100G in the tip section that helps enhance stability.

Tway’s Wilson setup

Although he missed the cut at the Sony Open, Kevin Tway offered a glimpse at his new Wilson setup after being unveiled as the equipment manufacturer’s newest tour staffer. Wilson’s C300 Forged and FG Tour V6 irons can be seen in Tway’s staff bag, along with new Staff Model wedges.

According to Wilson, Tway plans to use the recently released D7 Forged iron this season, but with little time to get acclimated to the new product, he opted to go with a different iron setup to start the year in Hawaii.

Give it a go

For Jimmy Walker, the new year didn’t bring any resolutions (at least none we’re aware of) but rather a new flatstick in the bag. The former PGA Champion was spotted using a 36-inch Directed Force 2.1 (69-degree lie angle balance) with a L.A.B. Press 2.M grip. The putter is designed to reduce head twisting through a lie-angle balanced design that keeps the face straight to the path during the stroke.

Walker tested the putter during the offseason and chose to give it a chance in Hawaii. He finished the week T45 while ranking 58th in strokes gained: putting (minus-2.473).

Quick-hitters: Callaway’s Mavrik prototype driver was used for the first time by 11 players in the Sony Open, including Marc Leishman, Talor Gooch, Emiliano Grillo, and Aaron Wise. … Xinjung Zhang became the first to put TaylorMade’s Truss prototype putter in play. … Mike Thomas, Justin’s dad, has one of the coolest wedges you’ll ever see. … Charl Schwartzel signed a golf ball deal with an under-the-radar manufacturer.

To hear more gear insights from Jonathan Wall and True Spec’s Tim Briand, subscribe and listen each week to GOLF’s Fully Equipped podcast: iTunes | SoundCloud | Spotify | Stitcher

The two-week Hawaii swing finished on Sunday with a half dozen players contending for the Sony Open title in rainy and windy conditions. Here’s how it all went down on Sunday at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Who won: Cameron Smith (two-under 68, 11 under overall; won with par on first playoff hole)

How it happened: Brendan Steele held the 54-hole lead at 12 under to begin the day — three shots clear of second place Cameron Smith — but Steele played the front in even par and made the turn leading Smith by two and Webb Simpson and Kevin Kisner by three. Steele pushed his lead back to three when he chipped in from the sand for a birdie on 11, but Smith birdied 12 and Steele bogeyed 13 to make it a one-shot lead. A wayward drive on 15 led to Smith’s second bogey of the day, and all of a sudden Steele led three others by two with three holes to play. But Steele again missed the green on a par-3, this time on 17, and he missed his six-footer for par and his lead was one with the par-5 18th to play. That’s when it got crazy.

The 18th hole: The 18th is a par 5, and play was getting congested late on Sunday. At one point there were three groups on it — one finishing on the green, another in the fairway and the final threesome on the tee. Steele and Smith had to wait 15 minutes to hit their tee shots, and Steele had to wait another 15 before hitting his second, which went way left, off the bleachers and on the 10th fairway. From there he got a drop from a temporary removable obstruction, chipped on and two-putted, but Smith found the green-side bunker in two, blasted it out and made birdie to force a playoff.

CLUTCH @CamSmithGolf!

We're going to a playoff. #LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/S6opuhQJ1t

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 13, 2020

The playoff: Playing the par-4 10th, the first playoff hole didn’t have near the drama as the 72nd hole. Smith found the green in regulation as Steele hit his approach over the green. Steele chipped on and then missed his par putt, giving Smith two putts to win. The Aussie rolled his first one close and tapped in for the win.

Why it matters: It’s the second PGA Tour victory for the 26-year-old Smith, but first in individual play. He teamed up with Jonas Blixt to win the 2017 Zurich Classic.

Best shot: Leading by two at a soggy Waialae Country Club, Steele missed the green on the par-3 11th and had a semi-plugged lie from the bunker — and then he blasted it in and increased his lead to three.

Nerves of Steele.

A perfect shot from a plugged lie.@Brendan_Steele now leads by THREE.#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/zFXUeQbCOg

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 13, 2020

Best round: Graeme McDowell (T4) and Lanto Griffin (T7) both shot six-under 64s in wet conditions to leap into the top 10.

Up next: The Tour heads to The American Express in La Quinta, Calif., which will be headlined by Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler. Mickelson is the tournament host.

We’re already heading into the final round of the first full-field PGA Tour event in 2020, the Sony Open in Hawaii. 36-year-old Tour vet Brendan Steele leads the field by three shots heading into the final day at Waialae Country Club in Oahu. Steele is trailed in the leaderboard by Kevin Kisner and youngsters Cameron Smith and Collin Morikawa.

After last week’s blustery finish at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, weather is again expected to be a major factor in the final day of competition from the Sony. Rain showers are expected for most of the afternoon, with winds blowing from 15-30 miles per hour.

Steele sits atop the leaderboard at 12 under par through three days of action, but if history is any indicator, he’ll have to go even lower on Sunday to claim the title. Matt Kuchar won last year’s Sony Open at 22 under par, and four of the last five winners of the event have checked in at 20 under par or better.

Sony Open in Hawaii TV schedule (ET)

Sunday: 6-10 p.m. (Golf Channel)

Sony Open in Hawaii Round 4 tee times (ET)

Tee No. 1

3:50 p.m. – Corey Conners, Michael Thompson, Matt Jones
4:00 p.m. – Rob Oppenheim, Pat Perez, Nate Lashley
4:10 p.m. – Graeme McDowell, Tim Wilkinson, Vaughn Taylor
4:20 p.m. – Ben Martin, Brendon Todd, Zach Johnson
4:30 p.m. – Emiliano Grillo, Patrick Rodgers, Ted Potter Jr.
4:40 p.m. – Nick Taylor, Peter Malnati, Tom Hoge
4:50 p.m. – Rory Sabbatini, Russell Knox, Cameron Davis
5:00 p.m. – Keegan Bradley, Charles Howell III, Henrik Norlander
5:10 p.m. – Mark Anderson, Sungjae Im, Bo Hoag
5:20 p.m. – Webb Simpson, Collin Morikawa, Ryan Palmer
5:30 p.m. – Brendan Steele, Cameron Smith, Kevin Kisner

Tee No. 10

3:50 p.m. – Brandt Snedeker, D.J. Tranan, Joel Dahmen
4:00 p.m. – Lanto Griffin, Sam Ryder, Hideki Matsuyama
4:10 p.m. – Jimmy Walker, Marc Leishman, Alex Noren
4:20 p.m. – Matthew NeSmith, Michael Gellerman, Abraham Ancer
4:30 p.m. – Andrew Putnam, Daniel Berger, Scott Piercy
4:40 p.m. – Brian Harman, Satoshi Kodaira, Rikuya Hoshino
4:50 p.m. – Kramer Hickok, Chase Seiffert, Hudson Swafford
5:00 p.m. – Jerry Kelly, Scott Harrington, Talor Gooch
5:10 p.m. – Rhein Gibson, Joseph Bramlett, Carlos Ortiz
5:20 p.m. – Joaquin Niemann, Zac Blair, Brian Stuard
5:30 p.m. – Harry Higgs, Sepp Straka, Mikumu Horikawa

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It’s Monday, and Mondays are Ryan French’s busiest day of the week. On this particular one, French sits in the clubhouse at the Orchards Golf Club in Washington, Mich., three days before the first round of the inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic. He has just finished caddying for Ben Albin, who hit 17 greens and shot 70 but finished four strokes out of a playoff in this week’s PGA Tour Monday qualifier.

An hour from now French will broadcast the 5-for-2 playoff on Periscope. The winners will earn coveted spots in the Rocket Mortgage at Detroit Golf Club, which is 30 miles south, but, in figurative terms for most of these guys, so much further. After the playoff, French interviews Wes Homan, a 35-year-old with three kids under 3 who plays just twice a week yet still managed to shoot 66 and emerge from the pack to grab one of the two spots. Homan will make his 10th career PGA Tour start at 1:55 Thursday afternoon, after battling the putting yips in 2017.

All of this is reported by French via Twitter. It was only 14 months ago he activated the account — Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) — but he’s already acquired more than 18,000 followers. That number keeps growing as French reveals the triumphs and tragedies of these weekly rituals. For French, Monday is moving day.

“It’s insane,” French says. “I say it all the time and I just repeat myself, but I thought if I got 500 followers, I thought that would be crazy. Like today in the Monday qualifier, everybody knows who I am. It’s just weird. And the account, I never thought it would get anywhere close to this, ever. I think it’s just an under-reported side of golf.”

And there’s an audience for it.

* * * * *

Every Tour event has a pre-qualifier of roughly 150 players a few days before the Monday qualifier for those who don’t have the required Korn Ferry or PGA Tour status. Those who advance to Monday meet other starving pros in fields of roughly 50 to 125, depending on the location, where there are usually four spots up for grabs. But, as French notes, even those who advance to the main event still face long odds. They already wasted a potential practice day at the course due to qualifying, and now they have to find a hotel, extend car rentals and handle other logistics. That leaves Tuesday as the only day to see the course because Wednesdays are often shut down for pro-ams.

Want to be a pro golfer? Korn Ferry Mon Q edition

There is a way that if you went to all 37 different KFT Mon Q sites and shot a total of 200 under par….that you didn't get into a single event.

Here is my end of the year KFT Stats pic.twitter.com/8lzbld0Vh3

— Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) August 6, 2019

“I think golf is thought of as so elitist, epically pro golf — private jets and big money and handing out gloves — so I don’t think people knew this side of it existed,” French says. “They know minor-league baseball because everyone’s been to a minor-league baseball game. It’s organized. Monday qualifying is just so fractured. I don’t think people knew it existed, at least your casual golf fan didn’t. They didn’t realize there were people grinding out there sleeping in cars, and I think that’s the human interest of it.”

French’s fascination with the lower-rung tours started after he graduated from Michigan State. While his friends hit swanky resorts or bucket-list gems, French and his father found their calling as mini-tour vagabonds. Twice a year for about a half-dozen years they’d hit the road and caddie on a developmental tour. French got to know many of the players and later caddied for some when opportunities arose at Q-School or on the Korn Ferry Tour. He swiped a caddie bib from every stop he made. His closet now houses a collection of memories from defunct and active circuits — the Hooters Tour, the Hopkins Tour, the Dakotas Tour, the eGolf Tour, the Symetra Tour and so on.

“It’s a really cool way to see awesome golf,” he says. “Or anytime there was an event close and I could get time off work, I’d go do it.”

A 42-year-old married father of two (Annette, 6, and Jackson, 4), the Michigan native now lives in the Chicago suburbs and is a stay-at-home dad. He used to run a group of restaurants, but that changed when Jackson ran into health issues. Jackson vomited every day since birth until he was 2 1/2, even though he wasn’t sick. For a while Ryan and his wife, Stephanie, thought Jackson’s troubles stemmed from over-feeding or lactose intolerance. Then they saw an allergist and a gastroenterologist. Jackson was eventually diagnosed with Syringomyelia, the same spinal-cord disease that afflicted golf legend Bobby Jones. (The Frenches are heavily involved in the Bobby Jones Society, which raises funds for the Chiari & Syringomyelia Foundation.)

In June 2017, at 2 1/2, Jackson had brain surgery. He’s doing much better now. As Ryan says, “It’s life altering, not life threatening.” The Frenches lost their long-term nanny around the time of the surgery, so Ryan left his job to stay home with Jackson. That’s when he decided to create his Twitter account.

He came to know so many of the players and storylines over the years while on the road, and he was constantly checking in on his buddies anyway. Why not tweet about it?

“It was really just something to do to not watch cartoons all day,” he says.

His audience slowly grew with every tweet, interview, tournament and story. His following includes pros, caddies, reporters, analysts, coaches, teachers, agents and more. Some of his tweets have appeared on Golf Channel. Brendan Steele and Zac Blair are just a couple of the pros with whom he trades DMs. Harold Varner III was one of the first big-name players to follow French on Twitter, and he still remembers when the PGA Tour’s official account followed him in April, when he had about 10,000 followers. French called that moment “surreal,” another sign that he was onto something.

“The cool part about [the account] is you get a little bit of that back story and start to understand what goes into all of these qualifying events,” Steele says. “It’s not just about the top players in the world. You think it’s so easy for everyone watching Tiger and Jordan and Rickie, and you don’t realize how hard it is for guys searching and clawing to get just one Korn Ferry start.”

The grind:

Mon- Paul Apyan drove 4.5 hours TN to KY for Pre-Q
Tues- Shoots 68 to get thru- drives 4.5 hrs home
Thurs- Drives 3.5 hours to SwingThought event,
Shoots 66-66 wins
Today- drives 3.5 hours home
Tomorrow- 3.75 hrs to Mon Q

In a '07 Accord with 263k miles on it

— Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) July 13, 2019

Steele says he enjoys the information French provides and likes to keep tabs on some friends who compete at qualifiers. He still fondly remembers the only Monday qualifier he ever advanced through, back in 2008 when he had conditional status as a rookie on the Korn Ferry, then the Nationwide Tour. The event spilled into the next morning and he made two birdies to get in to the Chitimacha Louisiana Open. Overjoyed, he immediately called his dad. Now a 36-year-old with three career PGA Tour wins and more than $14 million in career earnings, Steele still calls that day he got through the qualifier the greatest feeling of his golf career. It’s that difficult to do.

* * * * *

French runs the account on his own but a friend helps connect him with players. He works out of his house but will either attend or caddie a handful of tournaments a year, as was the case during Rocket Mortgage week in Michigan, where he crashed with his brother who lives nearby. For events he can’t see in person, French taps club members and PGA Section workers to track playoffs and assist with updates. But as his following has grown, it’s been easier to get information.

While the account was originally dedicated to Monday qualifying results and factoids, it’s morphed into much more. French frequently dabbles in the intricacies of the sport’s smaller circuits and mostly unheard-of mini-tour stops, where a check means a mortgage payment and not necessarily a second Lexus. He’ll also post player interviews via easily digestible screenshots of direct messages on Twitter, which is beautifully simplistic and symbolic of the Monday-qualifier life French covers — no frills.

His prep for Mondays begins on Sunday nights, sometimes earlier. French sidles up to his desk and searches for scoring links to notable qualifiers before he evaluates the field. He’ll note any big names and Google players he’s not familiar with. That background information is crucial, as it helps him get to know the competitors. “Most of these guys chase Monday after Monday after Monday, so their stories are bound to come up,” he says.

French loves to trumpet the players’ talents and the sacrifices they make to achieve their dreams. There’s the construction worker and the landscaper, the struggling pro and the college dropout, the man who lost everything and more.

“There are so many good golfers,” he says. “But for 90 percent of pro golfers, life is not as glamorous as people think.”

* * * * *

“Today, it’s windy in Michigan,” French says, still in the clubhouse outside of Detroit. “Two people who shot 66 are not getting in.”

Doc Redman was among those who avoided the 5-for-2 playoff that day. The 2017 U.S. Am champ turned pro in 2018 but hadn’t had his breakthrough, not until now. He shot 62 to sail into the Rocket Mortgage, where he parlayed that spot into a runner-up finish and $788,400 — aka life-changing money — plus special temporary membership on the PGA Tour. Redman also earned an Open Championship invite, where he tied for 20th and cashed another $91,350.

“No, no, it hasn’t sunk in,” Redman said after his finish in Detroit. “I knew what was at stake, but I was trying not to think about it.”

“I have been to a lot of Monday qualifiers,” French says, “and now looking back after he finished second and made over $700,000, it’s sort of anti-climactic the moment someone posts a score at a Monday qualifier.” French was in the clubhouse before Redman finished and saw him come in. Redman handed in his card, his 62 was posted and then it was crickets — not because everyone was in shock, but because no one was really there. About 10 people were present to shake Redman’s hand. “It turned into a career-changing week [for him], but there’s no real excitement at a Monday qualifier. He just went to his car.”

The Rocket Mortgage Classic was a banner week for the Monday-qualifier crowd. Redman was the runner-up, but the winner, Nate Lashley, failed to Monday qualify. He got in as an alternate and became the first alternate to win on Tour since 2016.

Tour weeks like that are extremely rare, two Monday warriors (one of whom who had to wait even longer) finishing that high, not to mention 1-2. A 64 might win your club championship by five, but at 18-hole Monday shootouts — where players are firing at virtually every stick and trying to drain every putt — 64 is often not good enough. The best golfers in the world advance and the best golfers in the world go home. Until next week.

* * * * *

It’s Monday, and Mondays are also Jackson French’s busiest day of the week, although not for the same reasons as his dad. On Mondays, Anthony swings by. He is the French’s garbage collector. Jackson loves garbage trucks, and every morning he’ll wake up and ask if it’s garbage day. When the hallowed day finally arrives — they have a countdown sheet in his room — Jackson and his dad rise at 5:30 and greet Anthony at their door. They have hot coffee and a fresh donut ready for him. Anthony often brings gifts for Jackson. Toys, a Waste Management bib, coloring books, and treats made by his daughter, who is a baker.

Jackson’s health is improving. He still battles migraines and suffers from sudden falls. He has therapy four days a week and needs a brain MRI every six months, but many of his symptoms are better or gone. There’s still some fluid in his spine that can’t drain properly due to the pressure, and his condition is something they’ll have to monitor for the rest of his life.

The medical bills are piling up. Stephanie, a nurse, has had Type 1 diabetes since she was 5, and her insulin pump is another costly expense. Soon French says he’ll need to re-enter the workforce, unless he can start making money with his fast-growing hobby. Either way, he’s loving his new venture.

“I’m having a lot of fun right now,” he says. “I’m a golf nerd. The fact that I text with pro golfers is pretty surreal to me. I love the insight to it. The fact that I was a district manager for some restaurants to this — it’s kind of crazy.”

On this particular morning, the Frenches say goodbye to Anthony and then go back to their routine. Ryan mixes a Crystal Light Energy (he’s not a coffee drinker) and makes breakfast for Jackson and Annette. After Stephanie heads to work, Ryan and the kids usually go for a quick bike ride before returning home, where the kids play in the yard. Ryan goes outside with them and fires up his laptop from the patio. Monday has arrived.

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