Michigan Golf Journal April 2020

Michigan PGA Tour Pro Brian Stuard COVID-19 Perspective Brian Stuard is the highest earning PGA Tour player the state of Michigan has ever produced. The Jackson native climbed from Division 3 state champion at tiny Napoleon High School, to Summit (now Horizon) League Player of the Year in 2005 playing college golf at Oakland University. He earned his first PGA Tour Card in 2010 and later won the 2016 Zurich Classic in New Orleans for a Masters invitation in 2017. Stuard was playing No. 7 (his 16 th hole) in the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship , when pro players started hearing that the event would be closing the gates and would not allow any more fans in the rest of the tournament. That day he finished 2-under- par 70, with 5 birdies on his closing 9 holes. That same night as he tried to sleep, at 9:45 pm he read the text from the PGA Tour saying THE PLAYERS was canceled. All PGA Tour events have since been postponed or canceled with the first possible return being May 21 at the Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas (where Stuard now lives) – with the Rocket Mortgage Classic next on the list in Detroit, May 28-31, unless the PGA Tour shuts them down. Last year Stuard placed T5 at the Rocket Mortgage with rounds of 66-72-65-68 (17-under) at Detroit Golf Club. When we spoke on March 20, he was not practicing golf as much as he would during an active season and was doing more things around the house that otherwise get neglected, like yard work and spring cleaning. “When you see how this has affected every other sport, and every other person and every other job, I think it would have been a little selfish for us to keep playing when everybody else is going through all this,” he said about the PGA Tour’s canceled events so far. “I think it made sense and was the right thing to do. (Pro) golf takes a back seat to what everyone else is struggling with; the country’s struggles – and the world. I think to miss a few golf tournaments is not as important as getting everyone safe and healthy.” MGJ