Johnny Keefer's meteoric rise to PGA Tour rookie and Masters qualifier
PGA Tour rookie Johnny Keefer, who grew up playing at TPC San Antonio, returns home for the Valero Texas Open.
SAN ANTONIO — Former Baylor University men’s golf coach Mike McGraw remembers seeing a fire burning bright in Johnny Keefer the first time he watched him play more than a decade ago. McGraw attended the 2015 Texas Junior Golf Tour’s Tournament of Champions that May at Brackenridge Park Golf Course in search of the next generation of Texas talent that would produce the likes of Jordan Spieth, Scottie Scheffler and Will Zalatoris in future years. Keefer was just 14 but McGraw remembers thinking of Keefer, That’s what my team needs .
“It’s what I hope to recruit all the time,” he recalled in a phone interview. “And I saw it in Johnny. ” So, McGraw recruited him hard and eventually Keefer didn't simply commit, he made the 3-hour drive from his home in San Antonio to Baylor in Waco to tell McGraw in person that he was going to come play for him.
“I asked him, ‘Johnny, when did you know you wanted to come to Baylor? ’ And he said, ‘Remember that morning that you saw me at Brackenridge Park? ’ I said, ‘Yeah.
’ He said, ‘That’s when I decided I was going to Baylor,’ " McGraw recounted. "I asked, ‘Why did you make me work for 2 ½ more years? ’ He smiled and said, ‘I wanted to make you earn it.
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