Former PGA Tour pro plays in member-guest, has handicap questioned after going on incredible birdie binge
Scott Halleran
Every once in a while it's funny to see the difference in skill level between tour pros and top club guys when the latter decides to try to Monday qualify for an event. But this can go the opposite way as well.
Over the weekend we saw such a case with a former PGA Tour pro entering a member-guest event. And going on an amazing birdie binge. Well, an amazing birdie binge for his opponents. This was probably old hat for a guy who once played on a Presidents Cup.
OK, we've dragged out the suspense over who it is long enough. Unless you can identify the guy in the photo above. It's Brendon de Jonge, who made $11.5 million during his career on the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour. And we know this thanks to Yip Stricker, the self-proclaimed "Independent journalist investigating handicaps and tournaments at prestigious private golfing clubs." Have a look:
As you can see, de Jonge was part of the winning team (shocker) while playing to a +1.9 handicap. And on the one hand, that doesn't seem like enough for someone who was once part of the INTERNATIONAL TEAM in the Presidents Cup. Now a golf analyst, the 45-year-old made 17 (!) birdies in a 45-hole span. Decent! It's also funny that this happens to be his most recent tweet.
On the other hand, it also looks like he made a bunch of bogeys. Anyway, Yip wasn't making any judgements so we won't either. But a scroll through the comments and you'll see that most people think de Jonge is a bit of a sandbagger. However, he's got nothing on the infamous J.B. Holmes story. (Side note: Yip is the man, and we'll have more shortly with him on GolfDigest.com so keep an eye out for that.)
Anyway, as the people playing in the TPC Piper Glen member-guest learned this weekend, Brendon de Jonge can still COOK. Nice playing, Brendon. You can take the guy out of the PGA Tour, but you can't take the PGA Tour out of the guy.
