Adam Long holed a 14 foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole of The Desert Classic Sunday afternoon that changed his life. In so doing, he rained all over Phil Mickelson’s victory parade and likewise put a damper on Adam Hadwin’s bid for his second win on the PGA Tour.
“It was one of those putts that you just stand over and you know that you’re going to make,” he told Golf Channels George Savaricas in a post round interview.
Wow! That statement of casual confidence is just as amazing to me as is Long’s out-of -the blue closing 65 that erased a three shot deficit at the start of play and crushed Mickelson’s hopes for an early 2019 win in his first start of the year.
Long is a 31 year old rookie on the PGA Tour this season who has paid his golfing dues on several tours since turning pro in 2010 after a collegiate career at Duke. His only previous professional win was in a Hooters Tour event in 2011.
In four prior starts on Tour this season he had posted T63, Cut, Cut, Cut. So he wasn’t exactly building up to this.
Long gets a check for $1,062,000 which is nearly twice as much as he’s won in golf in the past nine years combined. His collective winnings prior to yesterday’s payout total $585,563.00. He would have made more dough flipping burgers at MacDonald’s. But then he would have missed out on all the perks of life on the minor pro golf circuits like bunking four to a room at El Cheapo motels and doing your laundry in the bathtub.
At the start of the day it looked like Long was just along for the ride as the third wheel in the final grouping with Mickelson and Canadian Adam Hadwin. Phil got off to a poor start with a 3 putt bogey, all the magic on the greens in his first three rounds was long gone.
Hadwin took control of the tourney with an opening nine of 5 under par, leading Phil by two shots with Long another back. He nearly holed out from the fairway on the par-5 11th but tapped in for his birdie.
At 26 under, Hadwin stuffed a wedge to 7 feet on the 12th hole but missed the birdie putt and his chances for a second tour win said sayonara when he bogeyed the 13th. He couldn’t muster another bird the rest of the round and the stage was set for Long’s improbable heroics.
On 18, Long pushed his tee ball to a hanging lie in the dormant Bermuda grass right of the fairway. No sweat, as he flushed a six iron straight on line to set up his clinching putt.
A million dollar payday is quite extraordinary but that’s only one of the many benefits Long secured with this victory.
He’s exempt of the PGA Tour through the 2020-2021 season and is invited to The MASTERS, The Players and The PGA.
Not a bad day’s haul for an overnight sensation nine years in the making.
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