College golfer gets Genesis sponsor invite after six-hour drive home, so he drives right back
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Tim Widing lost a heartbreaker on Monday, coming up short in a playoff to Angus Flanagan in the Genesis Invitational Collegiate Showcase.
After the two parred the first two playoff holes, Widing could only watch as Flanagan drained a 15-footer for birdie on the third hole to lock up the final spot in the field.
Widing, who plays at the University of San Franciso, decided that was it for this trip and drove home on Tuesday, only to get a call as soon as he got home that Andy Ogletree was withdrawing due to injury.
Ogletree was originally in the field on a sponsor exemption and tournament organizers wanted to replace him in the field with another sponsor exemption, thus the call to Widing, who was still unpacking his stuff, but never finished that task.
Instead, he put all his stuff back in his car and drove back Riviera Country Club to join the group of Tyler Strafaci and Tae Hoon Kim for Thursday’s first round. Widing shot a 5-over 76 on Thursday but did have a front-row seat when Kim made a hole-in-one to win a brand new Genesis G80. On Friday, Widing shot three strokes better with a 73.
