The Heads-Up That Changed Everything

Josh Creel sent me a text early Saturday morning.

“Do you have Matt Atkins’ number? He just saved my f***ing ass and I want to thank him.”

I shot back: “Did he make bogey on 18?”

I figured Atkins must have missed a putt late in the second round, nudging the cut line just enough to save Creel’s week — maybe even his season.

But when I pulled up the leaderboard, I realized that wasn’t it.

What Creel told me next made it clear: Atkins hadn’t just saved his tournament.

He might have saved his season — maybe even his career.

Creel, who has one career Korn Ferry Tour win, was playing in his 140th career KFT event. But things had been a grind since returning to the KFT after a season on the PGA Tour in 2024.

Last season, he made nine of 22 cuts. He did manage a runner-up finish, but still ended the year 84th in points — leaving him with only conditional status for this season.

At 35, with two kids at home and a wife, Alex, in his corner, Creel wasn’t sure how much longer chasing pro golf made sense.

I saw him earlier this year in the Bahamas. He had moved up to third alternate and booked a last-minute — and expensive — flight to the island, only to never get into the field.

That’s the part people don’t see.

The financial strain of professional golf is real. Add a family, and the pressure can feel impossible.

This week, Creel barely did.

He was the last man in. If one more player had committed, he wouldn’t have even been standing on the 18th Friday afternoon.

But that’s exactly where he found himself —unfortunately he was in the trees.

His tee shot on the final hole of the second round clipped the branches and dropped straight down, leaving him in jail. Or so he thought.

At the time, Creel was 2-under par, sitting T61. With the top 65 players and ties making the cut, the math wasn’t clear. He figured a birdie would guarantee a weekend tee time. A par might be enough. A bogey certainly meant he was done.

And this wasn’t just about one weekend.

The reshuffle was coming in a few events. A missed cut would push him even further down the priority list — fewer starts, fewer chances, and the end of his career inching closer.

The 18th at the Fundadoras in Bogota Colombia is a quirky par five. It features internal out of bounds running along the 17th hole, which plays right beside the finisher.

Standing in the trees, Creel started working through the obvious play — chip out sideways, wedge back into position, try to save par the hard way. Playing up the 17th fairway would have been far easier… but he assumed that was out of bounds.

At the same time, longtime pro Matt Atkins was walking up the 17th. As he watched Creel and his caddie talk it through, something clicked.

Creel might not know the rule had changed.

In December, the Tour updated its policy on internal OB. The boundary now applies only to tee shots — not to second shots or anything after. The change had been explained in a preseason email and discussed at a player meeting in the Bahamas.

Creel wasn’t there.

As Atkins walked by, he simply spoke up and mentioned the rule change. That’s it. No suggestion on what to hit, no direction — just information. (Multiple rules officials later confirmed that sharing a rules clarification like that is not considered advice.)

Atkins said he could tell by Creel’s reaction that he was right on the cut line.

With the easier route suddenly available, Creel pulled 3-wood and sent his ball up the 17th fairway, finishing in the left rough. Instead of hacking out and hoping, he now had just a 9-iron left.

“If I chip out,” Creel told me before his third round, “I might have been able to get a 3-wood to the front edge.”

From there, he hit his approach and left himself 20 feet for birdie. The putt slid by, but the par kept his hopes alive.

A few minutes later, Atkins — who would miss the cut — finished up and checked the leaderboard.

Creel was sitting exactly on the number.

“That might have saved his season,” Atkins told his caddie. (Atkins was quick to point out that he meant Creel had saved his season with the par, not him informing him of the rule change). 

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Saturday morning, the second round finally wrapped up after a rain delay had halted play the night before — after Creel had already finished.

The cut line never moved.

He was in for the weekend.

That’s when my phone buzzed.

“Do you have Matt Atkins’ number? He just saved my ass and I want to thank him.”

A solid weekend now could change everything. A good finish would likely get Creel into the next four events. Play well there, and suddenly he’s looking at a full season.

Miss the cut, and it’s a different life — waiting on the priority list, chasing Monday qualifiers, and wondering if it’s time to walk away.

Instead, he got a chance.

And it came from another player who was already going home.

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