Journeyman pro Chris Naegel qualifies for fourth PGA Tour event — this month

Golf Digest Middle East — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 08:45:00 +0000

By Christopher Powers
For the majority of us, Mondays are the seventh-best day of the week. For journeyman pro Chris Naegel, Mondays are currently No. 1 in his rankings, particularly in the month of July.

Naegel, 39, has channelled Patrick Reed of late. Reed was a Monday-qualifying legend before turning into one of the best players on the PGA Tour. This past Monday, Naegel shot a six-under 66 at The Orchards in Washington, Michigan, site of the qualifier for this week’s PGA Tour event in Detroit, the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

That earned Naegel one of four spots available, marking the fourth time in July alone that he’s Monday-qualified into a tour event. He had previously qualified for the 3M Open, Barracuda Championship and the John Deere Classic. While he missed the cut at both the 3M and the Barracuda, Naegel did manage an impressive T-16 at the John Deere, the best finish of his career on the PGA Tour.

Prior to this season, Naegel had only made four career starts on the PGA Tour. His fifth came at this year’s US Open at Brookline, which he gained entry into by shooting nine-under over 36 holes in the final qualifying stage — which just so happened to take place on a Monday. He went on to make the cut, finishing in a tie for 56th.

Naegel, a Missouri native, has spent the bulk of his career on the Korn Ferry Tour. With 52 non-member FedEx Cup points to his name, Naegel will have a chance to return to the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, where 25 PGA Tour cards are available, should he earn more non-member points than the 200th-ranked player on the FedEx Cup points list. As of now, that player is Jimmy Walker, who has 83 points and is not in the field this week in Detroit. Should Naegel finish 28th or better at Detroit Golf Club, he’d tie or surpass that mark for the time being.

The post Journeyman pro Chris Naegel qualifies for fourth PGA Tour event — this month appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Missouri journeyman gets into U.S. Open after an improbable finish at sectional qualifying

Golf Digest Middle East — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 09:07:37 +0000

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

By Ryan Herrington
The best stories out of U.S. Open sectional qualifying tend to be, to borrow from Carl Spackler, the Cinderella stories. Sure, we all enjoy reading about PGA Tour veterans who go back to the salt mine of 36-hole qualifying, put on a pair of shorts and sweat out earning another spot into a major championship (yes, we’re talking about you Adam Scott). And there are the heartfelt tales of up-and-coming amateurs who ride a hot putter into their first trip to the big time. But it’s stories in the space between that fulfill the Open part of U.S. Open.

And so it’s time to introduce Chris Naegel, a 35-year-old from Wildwood, Mo., who’s journey to his first ever major championship has a bit of a Roy McAvoy/Tin Cup quality to it.

Naegel’s background is anchored in golf. A former college player at Missouri Baptist, Naegel has partial status on the Web.com Tour and has played in four events this season, even finishing T-7 at last month’s Nashville Golf Open. And once he had full status there in 2016. But much of his career has been spent fighting the good fight on the mini-tours. Since turning pro in 2008, Naegel has spent time on the Hooters Tour while also competing occasionally on the Adams Tour and the Minor League Golf Tour. It was in 2012, in the eGolf Tour’s Oldfield Open, that he claimed his professional victory. And the “best” he’s ever been on the World Ranking is 965th (he’s currently ranked 1,081st).

[divider] [/divider]

WATCH NOW: WHAT’S AT STAKE AT THE U.S. OPEN AT SHINNECOCK

[divider] [/divider]

It’s not just his scramble to succeed in the game that makes the fact he qualified for the U.S. Open so intriguing. It’s the way he grabbed himself a locker at Shinnecock Hills. On the 14th tee in his second 18 at Shadow Hawk Golf Club in Richmond, Texas., Naegel stood at six under, a respectable score but seemingly out of the hunt for one of the three qualifying spots for the 52 players in the field. Blaine Hale, who just finished his junior season at Oklahoma, was already in at 10 under par after shooting an afternoon 65, and two college amateurs from LSU, Jacob Bergeron and Philip Barbaree, were en route to finishing at 11 under.

Undaunted—or perhaps oblivious to what he needed to do coming in—Naegel made birdies on the 14th and 15th holes. A bogey on 16 looked like it was the end … until Naegel birdied the 17th hole and then made an eagle on the par-5 18th to match Hale’s 65 and get 10 under.

After forcing the playoff, Naegel then took down Hale to earn his first ever start in a major championship.

The post Missouri journeyman gets into U.S. Open after an improbable finish at sectional qualifying appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Chris Naegel Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

Journeyman pro Chris Naegel qualifies for fourth PGA Tour event — this month

Missouri journeyman gets into U.S. Open after an improbable finish at sectional qualifying