When recent Georgia tech standout Ollie Schniederjans returned to the Atlanta area to compete in a U.S. Open sectional qualifier, he was feeling pretty good about his play at that point of his rookie season on the Web.com Tour.
Three weeks later, after his first professional victory in a Web.com event in Wichita, Schniederjans was feeling considerably better about his game and immediate future after locking up a spot on the 2016-17 PGA Tour.
Schniederjans won the tournament in Wichita in a playoff, the second time this season he had gone to extra holes after tying for first place. Earlier this year in Colombia, Schniederjans hit two balls in a hazard on the par-5 playoff hole and lost. This time he birdied the second playoff hole to take a three-way playoff over two players who both played their final five holes in 5-under to force the playoff.
With his victory, Schniederjans moved up from 14th to third on the money list, and is guaranteed a top 25 finish that will earn his PGA Tour card for next season.
“It’s just a lifetime dream come true,” Schniederjans said after his victory. “To be able to go out there and be a member of the PGA Tour, it’s an incredible feeling. I put so much work in to get there.”
It took Schniederjans less than a year to earn his spot on next season’s PGA Tour, turning pro after an outstanding performance last year as an amateur in the British Open. He only played in four PGA Tour events as a pro before the end of the 2014-15 season, but almost earned enough money to play his way into the Web.com Finals, which would have given him a chance to earn his PGA Tour card.
Schniederjans lost out on that chance by the slimmest of margins, but that may have been a good thing for him in the long run.
“I can’t believe how much I’ve learned this year,” he said following his win in Wichita. “I never would have thought I had that much to get better at and this much to learn. I needed this year on the Web.com Tour, honestly. I don’t think I was ready for the PGA Tour.”
As the former world’s No. 1-ranked amateur and a first team college All-American, Schniederjans received sponsor exemptions into four PGA Tour events last season and the maximum of seven for the 2015-16 season.
Schniederjans closed out his amateur career by achieving the rare feat of making the cut in both the U.S. and British Opens, tying for 12th at St. Andrews in an outstanding amateur finale. He made an impressive professional debut, tying for 22nd in the Canadian Open the next week and for 15th the week after that in the PGA Tour event in the Washington, D.C., area.
Needing to make one more cut in the two PGA Tour tournaments left on the schedule, Schniederjans was on the verge of advancing to the weekend in the regular season finale in Greensboro. He bogeyed his final hole in the second round, but was still among the top 70 until Roberto Castro, a fellow Georgia Tech graduate who also grew up in suburban Atlanta, birdied his 18th hole that day to change the cut line.
That required Schniederjans to enter the qualifying process for the Web.com Tour, and he barely made it to the final stage, shooting a final round 69 to move up 15 spots and advance on the number. He had a much easier time in the finals, placing in the top 10, and after missing the cut in his first two starts on the tour this year, shot another 69 the final day to earn a spot in a playoff in an event in Cartagena.
That playoff didn’t end well for Schniederjans, but the next one did. After he and his two fellow playoff participants parred the long, par-4 18th, they played the hole again, and Schniederjans holed an 18-foot for birdie putt to claim his first professional title.
“I felt like it was a 20 percent chance of making it,” Schniederjans said. “I just wanted to pure the heck out of it and see what happens. It went in beautifully. It was incredible.”
Schniederjans took control of the tournament when he shot a course record 61 on the par-70 Crestview CC course to take a 2-stroke lead to the final round.
“It’s probably the best round I’ve ever had,” Schniederjans said of the 61. “I’ve never really played a round where I didn’t make any mistakes. Today, I didn’t really make a mistake.”
Although Schniederjans’ birdie total the final day dropped from nine to three, he made it through a second straight round without a bogey.
A number of players challenged Schniederjans in the final round, but he never lost at least a share of the lead. Both J.J. Spaun, also a Web.com rookie and the leading money winner on last year’s Canadian Tour, and Collin Morikawa, the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year at California this past season, played their final five holes in 5-under to force a playoff at 17-under 263.
“It was a tight race all day,” Schniederjans said. “I kept hanging in there and did all the right things mentally.”
Schniederjans took home the winner’s check of $112,500 with his birdie on the second playoff hole, raising his total for the season to more than $245,000. The only players ahead of him are Augusta resident Wesley Bryan ($296,000) and Richy Werenski ($263,500), Schniederjans’ teammate at Georgia Tech.
At the outset of the season, Schniederjans said his goal this year “was to win twice. I thought it was a realistic goal.”
If he can achieve that, he will have a chance to finish the season No. 1 on the money list, which would make him fully exempt for the 2016-17 PGA Tour season and earn him a spot in next year’s Players Championship.
Schniederjans will leave the Web.com Tour with positive memories, particularly about the event in Wichita, one of just three surviving tournament’s from the tour’s first year in 1990 when it was sponsored by the Ben Hogan Company, the first of the tour’s five title sponsors.
The first start in a professional tournament for Schniederjans came in Wichita in 2014, shortly after his breakthrough junior season at Georgia Tech. He tied for fifth in the tournament, shortly before making the cut in a European Tour start in the Scottish Open.
Schniederjans got into both the U.S. and British Opens last year off his status as the world’s No. 1-ranked amateur, and made a run at qualifying for this year’s U.S. Open. He tied for sixth in the sectional qualifier at Ansley Golf Club’s Settindown Creek, shooting 73 in the afternoon for a 3-under 141 total, four shots higher than the player who got the third and final qualifying spot.
With his thoughts on the Web.com Tour and his hopes for a top-25 finish on the money list, Schniederjans said he was “not terribly disappointed” to miss out on qualifying for the U.S. Open. He played that week’s Web.com event in Nashville, finishing well back in the pack, but came back the following week with his win in Wichita.
Following his qualifying effort at Settindown Creek, Schniederjans said his first season on the Web.com Tour had included “a lot of good golf,” including consecutive finishes of 13th, seventh and sixth immediately after his playoff loss in Colombia.
Schniederjans described his playoff loss as “a missed opportunity,” but added, “it was a huge week either way.” He earned $75,600 for his runner-up finish, vaulting him into the top 10 on the money list, and he remained near that spot until his second playoff experience moved him up to third.
As he was preparing to leave Atlanta for that week’s Web.com event in Nashville, Schniederjans felt he was “in a good spot” to earn his playing privileges on the PGA Tour for next season, with his goal “to finish as high as I can” on the money list and maybe “get the number one spot.”
Several weeks later, he was a lot closer to the No. 1 spot on the money list, with his first start as an official PGA Tour member only a little more than three months away.