The Mini-tour Legend vs. the Snake Pit

It's 7:30 on Wednesday morning at the New Smyrna Beach Golf Club, a municipal course about three hours from Innisbrook Resort, where the Valspar Championship will begin in less than 24 hours. Kevin Aylwin, a local mini-tour legend who has played New Smyrna countless times since he was a kid, is sneaking out on the back nine, as he often does. Except this time, it's different. That’s because Aylwin will be teeing it up the next day in his first PGA Tour event, 12 years after turning pro. So why was he three hours away from Copperhead Course? 

The term mini-tour legend gets thrown around far too often, especially by me, but the 35-year-old Aylwin is precisely that. He has a homemade swing and doesn't hit it far (by professional golf standards), but he hits most fairways and gets up and down from everywhere. 

If there was a mini-tour event or a money game for several hundred dollars in Florida in the last 12 years, Aylwin was probably there, and often he was winning. He has more than 30 multi-day mini-tour wins, and that doesn’t even include one-day event victories. If he counted those, he says his win total would probably approach triple digits. 

When Hurricane Ian hit Florida in 2022, Aylwin and his wife, Chelsea, hunkered down in their home, thinking they were far enough inland to be safe from flooding. They were wrong. The water was already in the yard when the couple awoke that morning. Within a few hours, it was making its way into the house, and soon they were standing in the living room with water so deep it was above their ankles. Kevin and Chelsea each grabbed a backpack and paddleboards, shoved them out the living room window, and paddled to safety. They wouldn't be back living in their home for nearly six months. 

That is when Chelsea, a second-grade teacher, and Kevin decided he needed to find a full-time job. For years, Kevin squeaked out a living on the mini-tour grind. He only played events in the Florida area, which cut down on expenses, and he won often enough to be on the plus side, almost unheard of in the mini-tour world. However, such a way of life isn’t sustainable, and there were months when the couple would be in the red if he didn't play well. 

Soon after the hurricane passed, he started working full-time as an assistant pro at Cypress Head Golf Course in Port Orange. Most weeks he works 40 hours, but he still finds time to play mini-tour events. Aylwin still dreams of a career on the PGA Tour, and the club works around his playing schedule as much as possible. 

Last week, after signing up for the Valspar pre-qualifier late and being put on the waitlist, the PGA section that runs the qualifier called Aylwin to let him know he had a tee time in Thursday's pre-q. He got up and down on 18 to shoot 69 and move on to the Monday qualifier. 

At Southern Hills, Aylwin turned at 1 under and knew he needed something special on the back. He did just that. A streak of five consecutive birdies, clutch chips on 17 and 18 to help save par, and a back-nine 30 earned him a spot in the Valspar Championship.

On Tuesday morning, I called Kevin, and the conversation turned to how he would prepare for the week. He had driven home after the Monday qualifier to celebrate with his family. For Monday qualifiers, Tuesday is the only day to practice on the course because at most events, the course is closed on Wednesday to players not in the pro-am. He has played the course a few times, but also played it multiple times on a simulator, leading up to the last Next Tour event a few weeks ago. 

The Tuesday practice round included nine holes with Adam Schenk, whom he has played with a handful of times around Florida, and the two finished up early in the afternoon. That is when a decision had to be made.

"I've never been a range rat," Aylwin told me, "Unless I am working on a particular thing, I'll hit five balls and lose focus." So he decided it was best for him to make the three-hour drive home. 

It’s easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of activity at a PGA Tour event. The equipment manufacturer trailers are enticing, with offers of free clubs and apparel. You can head to the putting green and work with all of the companies offering the opportunity to try their product for free. There is also pressure to grind on the range, as at least a few guys are always hitting countless balls. One former Korn Ferry Tour member told me the first year he had his card, he saw players hitting balls for hours, so he thought he needed to do that, too. Never mind that wasn't what got him there. At a player's first PGA Tour event, it’s easy to get away from what works best for you. 

So Aylwin jumped in his Toyota Camry (he declined the courtesy car!) and headed for home, away from the commotion of a PGA Tour event. 

"I play,” he says. “That's how I get ready for any event, so I figured I'd go home and play."

So on Wednesday morning, just one day before the biggest event of his life, Kevin Aylwin was back at the course he'd played tens of thousands of times. The club pro greeted him with a smile and a hug, and the few members he usually plays with met him on the tee. They invited him to join them, but Aylwin politely declined. He played alone, hitting multiple balls on each hole. 

A couple hundred miles from the demanding course he would play the next day, Monday qualifier Kevin Aylwin was getting ready the best way he knew how–playing the muni he grew up on. 

At 3:02 on Thursday afternoon, he will tee it up at the Valspar Championship.