By Fred Altvater
Ryan Brehm, from Mt. Pleasant, was a very successful junior golfer. He was named 2003 Michigan High School’s Mr. Golf and continued to find success as a collegiate golfer at Michigan State. He won five individual titles, was named BIG Ten Freshman of the year and helped the Spartans win three BIG Ten championships.
Finding success as a professional has taken a little more time.
Since turning professional in 2008, Brehm competed on the Canadian and Korn Ferry Tours. He won the Michigan Open three times and twice on the Korn Ferry Tour. His win at the 2016 WinCo Foods Portland Classic moved him to fourth spot on the Korn Ferry Tour money list and assured him a PGA TOUR card in 2017.
Failing to keep his PGA TOUR card Brehm, once again competed on the Korn Ferry Tour and won the 2019 LECOM Health Challenge, which left him in the top 13 on the money list at the end of the season to make it back to the big show.
In 21 PGA TOUR starts in the 2020-21 season, he made 10 cuts and earned just over $238,000. Finishing the year at No. 185 in FedEx Cup points. Finishing outside the Top 125, he was forced to requalify via the Korn Ferry Tour’s Final Series.
Then he contracted COVID and golf was put on the shelf.
Coming into the 2022 Puerto Rico Open, with his status once again in jeopardy and playing on a medical exemption, he needed a win, or runner-up finish to keep his tour card.
The win does not allow entry into the Masters, but does secure his spot on the PGA TOUR with a two-year exemption and entrance to the second major championship of 2022, the PGA Championship.
Brehm was ranked No. 773 on the Official World Golf Ranking and with his wife, Chelsey on the bag, he had a lot on the line in Puerto Rico, but didn’t let that bother him.
“Our goal coming into the week was just to improve every day, every shot, every round, every hole. We committed to that and I can say that it worked this week. I think it took a lot of mental discipline, took a lot of conversing. It was great having Chels up there with me caddying. It was a special week. I don’t know, there was just something special about it from the moment we landed.”
Brehm took a three-shot lead into the final round on Sunday and carded a solid 5-under 67 to finish at 20-under par for the win.
“I might sound like Bill Belichick or Nick Saban here, but honestly, I wasn’t thinking about the impact of my status or anything this week. I think that’s probably the real lesson here. I have people on my team that will do that for me. Really, I just need to put my head down and hit good golf shot after good golf shot. That’s my job and I’m going to trust people around me to do their job and they can take care of all those details for me.”
Playing in The PLAYERS Championship the following week, he missed the cut, but rebounded to finish T-66 at the Valspar.
With a solid team, his wife on the bag and a PGA TOUR win on his resume’, we think Ryan Brehm may be someone to watch for the rest of the year.
