Former Fort Collins resident and Air Force Academy graduate Tom Whitney hasn’t made a start this season on the Web.com Tour, where he was a regular in 2017. But he’s about to compete in his third PGA Tour event of the 2017-18 wraparound season.
On Monday, Whitney earned one of four available spots out of a field of 67 into the AT&T Byron Nelson, which begins Thursday in Dallas. In a Monday qualifier in Prosper, Texas, Whitney shot a 5-under-par 67 and birdied the second playoff hole to land the fourth and final qualifying spot.
Whitney finished with seven birdies and a double bogey in regulation.
The 28-year-old former Air Force officer, who recently moved from Colorado to Little Elm, Texas, will be making the third PGA Tour start of his career. He missed the cut in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in November and made his first PGA Tour check in January by finishing 67th in the CareerBuilder Challenge, where the 2006 graduate of La Quinta High School was given a sponsor exemption.
Whitney (pictured) spent 2017 on the Web.com Tour, competing in 15 events, with a best showing of fifth place in the Lincoln Land Charity Championship in June. He finished 89th on the Web.com season-long money list.
Also among those in the field for the Byron Nelson is Colorado resident David Duval, the former world No. 1 who will be making just his third PGA Tour start of the season. He missed the cut in both the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
(May 18 Update: Both Whitney and Duval missed the 36-hole cut. Whitney posted rounds of 72-74 for a 4-over-par 146 total, while Duval went 80-73–153. A 138 total was necessary to advance to the weekend.)
