SE: K-State Men’s Golf Alum Ben Kern Finishes Tied for 42nd at PGA Championship, Soaks Up Every Step of Unforgettable Opportunity
Aug 13, 2018 | Men's Golf, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
Ben Kern's main goal was to have fun. As one of 20 PGA Professionals in the PGA Championship field, the former K-State golfer had more fun than anyone could have ever predicted, including himself.
Kern not only made the cut in his first PGA Tour event ever, making him the only PGA Professional to do so, but he also finished tied for 42ndat Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, Missouri. His four-round total of 3-under par 277 earned him a nice payday of just over $33,000.
The former Wildcat hit 45 of 56 fairways and finished ahead of names like Rory McIlroy and Marc Leishman, respectively fifth and 18th in the World Golf Rankings entering the final major tournament of the year. Not to mention the big names who failed to even make the cut, like Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Patrick Reed and Phil Mickelson.
"It's been a blast, more than I could have imagined," Kern said in an interview with Amanda Balionis on CBS."The good golf is just a bonus to even being here."
Kern, who played at K-State from 2003-06, fired a 1-over par 71 on Thursday and a 1-under 69 on Friday. He capped his second round by rolling in a birdie putt on 18, pushing him to the right side of the cut line and earning him some praise from TNT commentator Ernie Johnson.
"How clutch is that? Go ahead, Ben, exhale. That was a beauty," Johnson said after Kern made his 7-foot putt, which served as the exclamation mark to his strong finish of shooting 3-under on his last 12 holes on Friday.
The Arizona native put together his best round on Saturday, carding a 3-under 67. Kern posted one of only three bogey-free rounds that day, sprinkling in three of his 10 birdies for the week.
One birdie, in particular, on Saturday, made for one of many memories he'll never forget. Shooting at a visible flag but a hole hidden by a ridge in front of it on the par-3 third hole, Kern stuck his tee shot inside two feet for a tap-in birdie. For a second, however, he thought he might have recorded an ace.
"I couldn't tell if it went in. It came close and disappeared. The crowd around me reacted like it was a hole-in-one and the crowd around the green reacted crazily," Kern, the PGA Professional at Georgetown Country Club in Texas who shot even-par 70 on Sunday, said to Balionis. "I got my first roar from the crowd, so that was cool."
All week, Kern soaked up jaw-dropping moments. He documented a few of them on his Instagram account, @benkerngolf. From swinging at the practice range next to the world's ninth-ranked golfer, Rickie Fowler, to working on the putting green alongside five-time PGA Tour winner Jason Dufner to simply relishing the perks of playing in a PGA Tour event — BMW courtesy vehicles, for instance — Kern enjoyed a four-day experience he dreamed about since he was young.
"Every step that I took was a memory," Kern said in a Golfweek article. "Something I'll never forget."
Before the tournament, Kern had similar praise for his time at K-State. He said playing in Manhattan and at Colbert Hills, in particular, helped strengthen his game an incredible amount.
"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 to K-State Sports Extra in June. "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."
Kern qualified to the 100th showing of the PGA Championship by finishing tied for ninth at the at the PGA Professional Championship in June in Seaside, California, where the top 20 PGA Professionals, out of more than 300 competitors, advanced to the PGA Championship.
This opportunity for Kern came after two years of grinding to earn Class A PGA Professional status, making him eligible to play in PGA Professional events.
Kern had stepped away from golf after four years on different mini tours, moving with his wife, in the Air Force at the time, to Japan in 2012. He got back into the sport as a golf pro in 2014 when they moved back to the United States and his daughter was born.
"Honestly, what I'm doing now," Kern said in June, "it's perfect."
So while Kern, who also won the Texas State Open the week before his impressive outing at the PGA Championship, is playing some of the best golf of his life, don't expect him to be making another run at the PGA Tour lifestyle.
"No, I've got a family, I've got a three-and-a-half year old and I love being around them," he said to Balionis after she asked if he was tempted to try playing professionally again. "I honestly love my job. I get to teach the game, run golf tournaments and run a golf operation. It's awesome."
Ben Kern's main goal was to have fun. As one of 20 PGA Professionals in the PGA Championship field, the former K-State golfer had more fun than anyone could have ever predicted, including himself.
Kern not only made the cut in his first PGA Tour event ever, making him the only PGA Professional to do so, but he also finished tied for 42ndat Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, Missouri. His four-round total of 3-under par 277 earned him a nice payday of just over $33,000.
The former Wildcat hit 45 of 56 fairways and finished ahead of names like Rory McIlroy and Marc Leishman, respectively fifth and 18th in the World Golf Rankings entering the final major tournament of the year. Not to mention the big names who failed to even make the cut, like Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Patrick Reed and Phil Mickelson.
"It's been a blast, more than I could have imagined," Kern said in an interview with Amanda Balionis on CBS."The good golf is just a bonus to even being here."
Kern, who played at K-State from 2003-06, fired a 1-over par 71 on Thursday and a 1-under 69 on Friday. He capped his second round by rolling in a birdie putt on 18, pushing him to the right side of the cut line and earning him some praise from TNT commentator Ernie Johnson.
"How clutch is that? Go ahead, Ben, exhale. That was a beauty," Johnson said after Kern made his 7-foot putt, which served as the exclamation mark to his strong finish of shooting 3-under on his last 12 holes on Friday.
The Arizona native put together his best round on Saturday, carding a 3-under 67. Kern posted one of only three bogey-free rounds that day, sprinkling in three of his 10 birdies for the week.
One birdie, in particular, on Saturday, made for one of many memories he'll never forget. Shooting at a visible flag but a hole hidden by a ridge in front of it on the par-3 third hole, Kern stuck his tee shot inside two feet for a tap-in birdie. For a second, however, he thought he might have recorded an ace.
"I couldn't tell if it went in. It came close and disappeared. The crowd around me reacted like it was a hole-in-one and the crowd around the green reacted crazily," Kern, the PGA Professional at Georgetown Country Club in Texas who shot even-par 70 on Sunday, said to Balionis. "I got my first roar from the crowd, so that was cool."
All week, Kern soaked up jaw-dropping moments. He documented a few of them on his Instagram account, @benkerngolf. From swinging at the practice range next to the world's ninth-ranked golfer, Rickie Fowler, to working on the putting green alongside five-time PGA Tour winner Jason Dufner to simply relishing the perks of playing in a PGA Tour event — BMW courtesy vehicles, for instance — Kern enjoyed a four-day experience he dreamed about since he was young.
"Every step that I took was a memory," Kern said in a Golfweek article. "Something I'll never forget."
Before the tournament, Kern had similar praise for his time at K-State. He said playing in Manhattan and at Colbert Hills, in particular, helped strengthen his game an incredible amount.
"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 to K-State Sports Extra in June. "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."
Kern qualified to the 100th showing of the PGA Championship by finishing tied for ninth at the at the PGA Professional Championship in June in Seaside, California, where the top 20 PGA Professionals, out of more than 300 competitors, advanced to the PGA Championship.
This opportunity for Kern came after two years of grinding to earn Class A PGA Professional status, making him eligible to play in PGA Professional events.
Kern had stepped away from golf after four years on different mini tours, moving with his wife, in the Air Force at the time, to Japan in 2012. He got back into the sport as a golf pro in 2014 when they moved back to the United States and his daughter was born.
"Honestly, what I'm doing now," Kern said in June, "it's perfect."
So while Kern, who also won the Texas State Open the week before his impressive outing at the PGA Championship, is playing some of the best golf of his life, don't expect him to be making another run at the PGA Tour lifestyle.
"No, I've got a family, I've got a three-and-a-half year old and I love being around them," he said to Balionis after she asked if he was tempted to try playing professionally again. "I honestly love my job. I get to teach the game, run golf tournaments and run a golf operation. It's awesome."
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