They’re part of the same college golf program, and they’re both related to players who have won on the PGA Tour.
And now Gunner Wiebe and Tim Mickelson have one other thing in common: They’re both in a playoff for a spot in next month’s San Diego Open, the fourth stop on the PGA Tour schedule.
Wiebe, a resident of Aurora and the son of PGA and Champions Tour winner Mark Wiebe, will square off Saturday in an 18-hole playoff with Mickelson, the younger brother of Phil Mickelson, the No. 2-ranked player in the world. The winner will compete as an amateur in the San Diego Open at Torrey Pines Jan. 28-31.
The situation is a bit awkward because Gunner Wiebe is a junior on the University of San Diego golf team, and Tim Mickelson is his head coach.
“I don’t know whether this is a win-win situation or lose-lose,” Mickelson said.
Wiebe and Mickelson each shot a round of 3-under-par 69 on Nov. 21 at Torrey Pines South to tie for medalist honors in an annual qualifier that awards one spot in the PGA Tour event to an amateur. Wiebe finished the qualifier in fantastic fashion by making a 4-foot eagle putt on the 18th hole.
A sudden-death playoff ensued immediately after the regulation round, and Wiebe and Mickelson halved four straight holes, though in less-than-impressive fashion, going bogey, bogey, double bogey and par. Wiebe missed putts of 3 and 4 feet, either of which would have clinch the San Diego Open berth.
After four holes, it became too dark to continue, and Mickelson couldn’t return the next morning because he had to fly out on a recruiting trip. After considering various possibilities, including resuming sudden-death play in early January after USD’s winter break, officials announced that Wiebe and Mickelson would settle the matter in an 18-hole playoff on Saturday at Torrey Pines. In the 26 years of this amateur qualifier, this will be the first time the spot in the San Diego Tour field will be decided in such a manner.
Wiebe, who qualified in Colorado for the U.S. Amateur this past summer, likes the thought of the University of San Diego being represented in the San Diego Open field regardless of what happens Saturday. If Wiebe qualifies, it will be his first PGA Tour event as a competitor.
“Cool deal, isn’t it?” the 20-year-old told the (San Diego) Union-Tribune. “If I’m not going to make it, I would love it to be Coach. It couldn’t have worked out any better.”
Mickelson, whose older brother has won the San Diego Tour stop three times, competed in the event himself in 1999, missing the cut.
“I’m here to give myself a chance to play in” the San Diego Open, Mickelson said. “I did in “˜99. I loved the experience, so I want to do it again. On the flip side, I want Gunner to experience it as well.”
Wiebe helped the University of San Diego advance to the NCAA Championship Finals for the first time last spring. This season, he’s posted two top-seven finishes in five fall tournaments.
Earning a spot in the San Diego Open “would be a new step for me in my golf career,” said Wiebe, a graduate of Kent Denver High School. “Obviously, I would be very happy playing in the tournament. My goal would be to compete, to see how good my game is in trying to prepare myself for what I want to do with my career after school.”
With that in mind, Mickelson said, “I feel like I’m in a no-win situation because if I win then I get to play, but I’m screwing my own player out of the opportunity of playing in a PGA Tour event — and vice-versa.”
Gunner’s dad, Mark Wiebe, who once lived in the San Diego area before moving to Colorado in the 1980s, finished second at the San Diego Tour stop in 1989. Mark Wiebe won twice on the PGA Tour, and also has two victories on the Champions circuit.
