Another Shot

Qualifying tournaments in professional golf can be a numbers game – compete often enough and eventually, you’ll shoot the lowest score and win an opportunity.

That was the thought occupying the minds of most pros in the Auggie Navarro Pro-Am, where the low pro wins an exemption into the Korn Ferry Tour’s Wichita Open. The event places a pro alongside four amateur partners for 18 holes, raising tens of thousands of dollars for local college-bound students. 

Eric Johnsen is a member at Crestview Country Club – home of both the Auggie Navarro Pro-Am and the Wichita Open – and a passionate supporter of professionals dreaming of holding a PGA Tour card. Each year during the Wichita Open, Johnsen and wife Annie host players at their house during tournament week. Four years ago, Johnsen had a new idea to support both the community and pro golfers. 

Johnsen wanted to add pros to the Auggie Navarro Scramble to raise more money for local scholarships and give pros an opportunity to earn a spot in the KFT event. He went to the tournament with the idea of holding a qualifier for the final sponsor exemption spot. When the PGA Tour agreed to the collaboration, Johnsen went to work connecting with mini tours and aspiring professionals around the country. The field of pros he assembled has improved every year and includes notable past winners Will Grimmer, Aman Gupta, and Zach Bauchou. 

34 pros from the Monday qualifier, including me, were invited for an extra chance to earn our way into the Wichita Open. On a day when a north wind blew steadily across the Kansas plains, Las Vegas’ Matt Snyder had a breakthrough performance. The extra day of competition inspired the 34-year-old Snyder. 

“It’s nice to have opportunities,” Snyder says. “Having two chances to qualify this week helped me relax a little.”

Snyder and I played a practice round together the day before the pro-am. We talked about the grind of mini tour life and the joy of being dads; Snyder has a 3-year-old son. We played alongside former Oklahoma State Cowboy, Aman Gupta. Gupta earned a start in the Wichita Open in 2022 by shooting 7-under and winning an exhausting nine hole playoff against a local high schooler playing as a substitute for a late pro-withdrawal. 

When the high schooler hit a tree 30 yards off the front of a tee box on the long par 4 10th hole in the playoff, Gupta thought his fairway-finding tee ball had won him a spot in the tournament. But the kid wouldn’t go away. The high schooler holed a 30-footer for par on the hole to extend the playoff. Gupta laughed recounting the day, but in the heat of competition he didn’t see the humor in it. Gupta endured the playoff and went on to finish T23 in the tournament.  

Snyder has been chasing the professional game for years and while his resume includes a T2 at the two-day Temecula Shootout on the Asher Tour this season, he only has two PGA Tour-sanctioned starts, both on Latinoamerica in 2019. At The Summit Club – the prestigious Las Vegas development that hosted the PGA Tour’s CJ Cup in 2022 – Snyder works on his game alongside Collin Morikawa, Harry Hall and Kurt Kitayama. With successful Tour players in such proximity, the dream of competing at a higher level seems tantalizingly close. 

In our practice round, Snyder was launching high draws all day. He joked that one soaring shot was actually his low flight. Many quality shots were hit but on the 14th hole – a short par 5 – Snyder pull-hooked his drive left, never to be found. We discussed strategy on the hole that I believed called for a 3-wood, and the tee shot left him feeling uncomfortable. 

The following day in the tournament, Snyder hadn’t shaken the feeling and hit a driver off 14 with a similar result – a lost ball. He managed to get his 3rd shot in play, hit his 4th on the green and hooped the putt to save a crucial par. The save complimented eight birdies and a bogey for a 7-under, 65. There wouldn’t be a playoff this year. Snyder medaled by a shot over three other players and beat me by two.Snyder celebrated with a gin and tonic in the hospitality tent behind the 18th green. “I putted really nice,” Snyder says. “I hit shots to conservative spots and took advantage when I hit it close. I was hitting the ball where I was looking and just played really solid.”

Johnsen was thrilled for Snyder, but felt the disappointment of other players. “I wish I had 34 spots to give away,” Johnsen says. “I’m happy with the outcome. A guy is going to get an opportunity that he might not have otherwise had. That’s what this tournament is all about.”

Johnsen hopes future winners of the Auggie will follow the lead of last year’s winner, Zach Bauchou, who finished T4 in the Wichita Open and went on to earn Korn Ferry Tour status. The tournament was expected to raise $70,000 in scholarships for Wichita seniors, and gave Matt Snyder the shot he’d been waiting for. 

It’s now up to Snyder to fly up the leaderboard. 

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