Of the 29 players who competed in the 2014 Tour Championship at East Lake, it’s hard to imagine any of them had a greater sense of satisfaction for that accomplishment than Brendon Todd.
Like most of the players in the field, Todd was a highly touted young player who enjoyed success in amateur and college golf and quickly made his way to the PGA Tour.
But shortly after arriving in golf’s major leagues at the age of 23, Todd’s ascending career began to spiral downwards.
The highlight of Todd’s rookie season on the PGA Tour in 2009 was a tie for 12th in Memphis in mid-June. He shot 65-68-66 the last three days to come up just short of a top 10 finish and took home a nice check for $123,200.
As it turned out, it was the last money Todd earned from his play on the PGA or Nationwide (now Web.com) Tours for almost two years.
After his successful week in Memphis in mid-June of 2009, Todd did not make a cut on either tour until the Nationwide Tour visited Valdosta in late April of 2011. After failing to make it to the weekend in 26 consecutive events spanning almost two years, Todd recorded a top-20 finish in the South Georgia Classic.
Todd played well the next four weeks before enduring another lengthy stretch of missed cuts. He closed out the season with some solid play, culminating with a victory in the finals of Q-School that enabled him to return to the PGA Tour in 2012.
Things went better for the former Georgia Bulldog in his second stint on the PGA Tour, but not well enough to retain his exempt status. He split 2013 between the PGA and Web.com Tours and played well on both, with a Web.com victory in Athens helping him regain full PGA Tour status for the 2013-2014 season.
Todd, who has lived in Atlanta since graduating from Georgia, continued his solid play in the Fall events on the new wraparound schedule. He picked right back up when the Tour began its 2014 schedule in Hawaii, and kept playing well until he captured his first PGA Tour title in the Byron Nelson Championship.
The victory started a six-tournament run of exceptional play by Todd, who had five top-10 finishes in that span along with a tie for 17th in the U.S. Open, where he was second after 36 holes before a bad third round knocked him out of contention.
Todd did not play as well toward the end of the season, but shot 66 the final round of the Tour Championship at East Lake to conclude the most successful showing of his seven-year professional career.
With a victory, seven top 10s and only four missed cuts in 25 starts, Todd finished the season 18th in earnings ($3.4 million) and 27th in the final FedExCup points standings after being 12th coming into the Playoffs. He ranked in the top 10 in both the primary and total putting categories as well as in scrambling, and was in the top 20 in scoring average. Despite finishing around 150th in driving distance (280 yards) he was just outside the top 10 in par-5 scoring.
“It was very satisfying to play the kind of golf I always knew I was capable of playing,” Todd said after a practice session at East Lake during the Tour Championship.
He said going through the long stretch of “struggles” a few years back “made me earn it,” and Todd has emerged a better and stronger player as a result.
Scoring his first victory was “very important,” Todd said. “It was nice to win my first one early on. After the first one, you want to win multiple times.”
Todd’s best finishes on the PGA Tour prior to his victory were a pair of ties for 6th in two tournaments earlier in 2014, and he quickly squashed any thought that it was a one-off effort with his play in subsequent weeks.
“I didn’t win by mistake,” he said. “I was able to repeat that kind of play. If anything, I think I should have won another time.”
Todd closed with a 66 to win by two shots over former Masters champion Mike Weir in Dallas, and was paired with another major champion (Louis Oosthuizen) in the final round. He made a strong run at a victory the next week at Colonial, shooting a final round 68 to finish two shots out of the Adam Scott-Jason Dufner playoff.
After an eighth place finish the following week at the Memorial, Todd was second after 36 holes in the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, near where he grew up in North Carolina. Playing in his first ever major championship, he struggled playing in the final group Saturday with runaway winner Martin Kaymer, but bounced back with a 69 the next day, his third round in the 60s in the tournament.
Two weeks later at Congressional, Todd again finished just two shots out of a playoff, and concluded his two-month stretch of superb play with a tie for fourth in the Greenbrier Classic.
Todd came close to playing his way onto the 2014 U.S. Ryder Cup team, finishing 12th in the final points standings, But after some so-so showings in the big events just prior to the selection of the team, he was not given strong consideration by U.S. captain Tom Watson.
Being overlooked by Watson did not come as a surprise to Todd, who admitted to some disappointment at not playing well enough to make the team on points. With his wife about to give birth, Todd was spared having to make a decision about whether he would be able to play had he made the team, but had some thoughts on Watson’s decision not to pick Chris Kirk, Todd’s teammate at Georgia.
“I didn’t understand how you don’t pick the guy,” he offered. “It didn’t make any sense to me. He had a very good year, was playing well and had just won.”
Todd has hopes of making a future Ryder Cup team, and says he’s looking forward to the opportunity to being on a team that includes another ex-Bulldog or two.
During his career in Athens, Todd was part of the 2005 NCAA Championship team that included Kirk and fellow PGA Tour member Kevin Kisner. He was a second team All-American during the Bulldogs’ championship season and a first team selection as a senior.
Shortly after turning pro following his graduation in 2007, Todd won on both the Hooters and eGolf Tours, and made it to the finals of Q-school to earn a spot on the ’08 Nationwide Tour.
In his first start of the season, Todd was in contention after 54 holes in the Athens Regional Foundation Classic at Jennings Mill, and managed to record a top-25 finish after a difficult final round. He tied for ninth two weeks later in Valdosta and two more top 10s the next few weeks in the Carolinas solidified his playing status for the season.
Todd locked up his spot on the 2009 PGA Tour with a late season victory in Utah, and was coming off the best showing of his rookie season when his game suddenly left him. Todd missed his last 10 cuts in a row, and was back on the Nationwide Tour in 2010.
In 13 starts that year, Todd did not make a cut and broke 70 just once in 27 rounds. He missed his first three cuts of 2011 to extend his streak to 26 in a row, but once he returned to familiar turf, Todd’s struggles ended.
Todd shot 68 in the first round at Kinderlou Forest in Valdosta and tied for 18th, the beginning of a 5-tournament stretch in which he made all five cuts, had 10 rounds in the 60s and finished 18th or better three times.
When the tour left the Atlantic Coast, Todd’s run of solid play ended. He missed 11 of 12 cuts before notching a top-10 finish in Texas. Todd closed out the year by winning in the finals of PGA Tour qualifying and played well enough in his return to the PGA Tour in 2012 to retain partial status for 2013.
Splitting his time 50-50 between the PGA and Web.com Tours, Todd played consistently on both, missing only three of 20 cuts and recording 13 top-25 finishes. He picked up his second Web.com in what turned out to the final Stadion Classic at UGA, with his victory coming in anticlimactic fashion when the final round was rained out.
That set the stage for his outstanding 2013-14 PGA Tour season, which has vaulted him into the top 50 in the world rankings and spots in all four majors for 2014, including his first ever Masters appearance.
“That’s a huge accomplishment,” Todd said, adding the Tour Championship and World Golf Championships events to his resume. “But it’s also a huge challenge, playing all those places for the first time against fields that are very strong. I’ll have my work cut out for me in them.”
Throughout his struggles from 2009-11, Todd maintained a good attitude and was convinced that they wouldn’t last forever.
“I had a good routine and did the same things week in and week out. I had good practice habits, and was committed to them day in and day out”.
Todd also began working with Cartersville Country Club head professional Scott Hamilton, whose growing list of Tour players includes Kirk, Russell Henley and Boo Weekley. After consecutive consistently successful seasons, Todd has joined Kirk, Henley, Brian Harman and Harris English as part of the talented UGA contingent, all in their 20s, who have already enjoyed considerable success on the PGA Tour with much more to come.