SE: K-State Men’s Golf Alum Ben Kern Speeds Way to PGA Class A Status, PGA Championship Berth
Jun 25, 2018 | Men's Golf, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
Ben Kern has never played in a PGA Tour event. The former K-State golfer has not even teed it up in the Web.com Tour.
On August 9-12, however, Kern will play against the best in the world in the PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, Missouri. He earned the opportunity last week by finishing tied for ninth at the PGA Professional Championship in Seaside, California, where the top 20 PGA Professionals advanced to the final major of the golf season.
"Shock, honestly," Kern, who played for K-State from 2003-06, said of the achievement. "Obviously I've worked hard but it almost seems like I don't deserve it, but I know I do. It's just excitement and disbelief, more or less."
Kern's reference to working hard has little to do with spending hours on the range, honing his craft. In fact, he said he did not play nearly as often as he would like leading up to his four-round, 1-over-par performance, which fell four strokes short of the winner.
"I've got to start practicing," Kern joked.
No, when he talked about the effort it took to get to this point, he was alluding to the process he went through to become eligible to play in the PGA Professional Championship.
Only Class A PGA Professionals — the highest certification level — can play in the event. The path to earning that classification runs through the Professional Golf Management Program, which requires golf pros to climb up three levels of education-based training.
"How you start each level is by going to Florida. You have five days of seminars, they go over the topics for each level and you come home and you do the online book work, which takes anywhere from three, four months to a couple of years," Kern said. "You send it in, get it approved and then you go through and test out of each little section and each level, and then you do that three times."
Kern, while living in Texas, hustled his way through the program in less than two years. He received his Class A status about a month before the Northern Texas PGA Professional Championship in August. He won the event with a 7-under par 137 to qualify for last week's PGA Professional Championship, where more than 300 Class A PGA Professionals competed for the chance to play in a major championship.
"This was literally the first time I could possibly play in this tournament," Kern, currently the head golf professional at Diamondback Golf Club in Abilene, Texas, said. "That moment (last) Wednesday, when I finished up, that was the whole reason I was getting into (this profession). I love to compete. Obviously, I've never played in a Tour event, but this was going to be my realistic chance to play in a PGA event, so that's what I've worked so hard for those two years, that moment right there."
After graduating from K-State, Kern played four years on various professional mini tours. He married his wife, a member of the Air Force, in 2012. They lived in Tokyo for a few years before they moved back to the United States in 2014. Shortly after, their daughter was born.
"When she was born," Kern recalled, "I said, 'Alright, that's enough. I want to stay home.'"
He then reached out to Tony Martinez, a well-known PGA Professional in the Dallas area and a native of his hometown, Tucson, Arizona.
"I knew he could be a guy who could either get me something or at least point me in the right direction. I contacted him once we got back and he actually had a really good position at one of his courses," Kern said. "That's where I kind of got my start, got my foot in the door."
Kern stepped into the career and has not looked back.
He got introduced to the "other side of the counter" of golf, the business side. He has learned everything from business management, marketing, accounting, tournament operations and plenty more.
Plus, it's allowed him to compete in as many as 20 events, give or take, a year.
"Honestly what I'm doing now, it's perfect," he said. "I still get to compete, which I love doing, but I love teaching the game, I love running a golf course day in and day out. I love it."
Last season, Kern won the Northern Texas PGA Ben Hogan Stroke Play Average Award and finished in the top three of 10 total NTPGA events. This included two other wins at the NTPGA Winter Series #4 and EPEC Pro-Pro Championship.
Even now, Kern can't help but think about how much his success on the course is due to his time at K-State.
"My first year at Kansas State, I couldn't keep the golf ball on the map. But I wasn't used to playing in 30 miles-per-hour winds and weather and rain," he said. "Being there for four years it helped me develop another part of my game that I didn't have. There's a lot of well-known golfers from Arizona that they always say, 'Well, they can't play out of Arizona.' That was me my first year, but after a while I was able to develop more shots and a better mindset so that when I did leave there I was able to travel around the country and have success at different types of golf courses at different levels."
More than a decade after graduating, Kern gets to play at one of golf's pinnacle annual events. Even more, he gets to play in the 100thshowing of the PGA Championship.
"That is pretty darn cool. I started thinking about that a couple weeks prior to this tournament and I thought that would be pretty meaningful to qualify for the 100thPGA Championship," Kern said. "It just adds to the cool factor."
Ben Kern has never played in a PGA Tour event. The former K-State golfer has not even teed it up in the Web.com Tour.
On August 9-12, however, Kern will play against the best in the world in the PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, Missouri. He earned the opportunity last week by finishing tied for ninth at the PGA Professional Championship in Seaside, California, where the top 20 PGA Professionals advanced to the final major of the golf season.
"Shock, honestly," Kern, who played for K-State from 2003-06, said of the achievement. "Obviously I've worked hard but it almost seems like I don't deserve it, but I know I do. It's just excitement and disbelief, more or less."
Kern's reference to working hard has little to do with spending hours on the range, honing his craft. In fact, he said he did not play nearly as often as he would like leading up to his four-round, 1-over-par performance, which fell four strokes short of the winner.
"I've got to start practicing," Kern joked.
No, when he talked about the effort it took to get to this point, he was alluding to the process he went through to become eligible to play in the PGA Professional Championship.
Only Class A PGA Professionals — the highest certification level — can play in the event. The path to earning that classification runs through the Professional Golf Management Program, which requires golf pros to climb up three levels of education-based training.
"How you start each level is by going to Florida. You have five days of seminars, they go over the topics for each level and you come home and you do the online book work, which takes anywhere from three, four months to a couple of years," Kern said. "You send it in, get it approved and then you go through and test out of each little section and each level, and then you do that three times."
Kern, while living in Texas, hustled his way through the program in less than two years. He received his Class A status about a month before the Northern Texas PGA Professional Championship in August. He won the event with a 7-under par 137 to qualify for last week's PGA Professional Championship, where more than 300 Class A PGA Professionals competed for the chance to play in a major championship.
"This was literally the first time I could possibly play in this tournament," Kern, currently the head golf professional at Diamondback Golf Club in Abilene, Texas, said. "That moment (last) Wednesday, when I finished up, that was the whole reason I was getting into (this profession). I love to compete. Obviously, I've never played in a Tour event, but this was going to be my realistic chance to play in a PGA event, so that's what I've worked so hard for those two years, that moment right there."
After graduating from K-State, Kern played four years on various professional mini tours. He married his wife, a member of the Air Force, in 2012. They lived in Tokyo for a few years before they moved back to the United States in 2014. Shortly after, their daughter was born.
"When she was born," Kern recalled, "I said, 'Alright, that's enough. I want to stay home.'"
He then reached out to Tony Martinez, a well-known PGA Professional in the Dallas area and a native of his hometown, Tucson, Arizona.
"I knew he could be a guy who could either get me something or at least point me in the right direction. I contacted him once we got back and he actually had a really good position at one of his courses," Kern said. "That's where I kind of got my start, got my foot in the door."
Kern stepped into the career and has not looked back.
He got introduced to the "other side of the counter" of golf, the business side. He has learned everything from business management, marketing, accounting, tournament operations and plenty more.
Plus, it's allowed him to compete in as many as 20 events, give or take, a year.
"Honestly what I'm doing now, it's perfect," he said. "I still get to compete, which I love doing, but I love teaching the game, I love running a golf course day in and day out. I love it."
Last season, Kern won the Northern Texas PGA Ben Hogan Stroke Play Average Award and finished in the top three of 10 total NTPGA events. This included two other wins at the NTPGA Winter Series #4 and EPEC Pro-Pro Championship.
Even now, Kern can't help but think about how much his success on the course is due to his time at K-State.
"My first year at Kansas State, I couldn't keep the golf ball on the map. But I wasn't used to playing in 30 miles-per-hour winds and weather and rain," he said. "Being there for four years it helped me develop another part of my game that I didn't have. There's a lot of well-known golfers from Arizona that they always say, 'Well, they can't play out of Arizona.' That was me my first year, but after a while I was able to develop more shots and a better mindset so that when I did leave there I was able to travel around the country and have success at different types of golf courses at different levels."
More than a decade after graduating, Kern gets to play at one of golf's pinnacle annual events. Even more, he gets to play in the 100thshowing of the PGA Championship.
"That is pretty darn cool. I started thinking about that a couple weeks prior to this tournament and I thought that would be pretty meaningful to qualify for the 100thPGA Championship," Kern said. "It just adds to the cool factor."
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