Bo Van Pelt and I grew up as a couple of a bunch of kids who generally got in the way of the adults around the pro shop at Forest Hills Country Club. He was about four years younger than me, so I was skeptical when he’d come in from a round reporting suspiciously good scores. Turns out, he wasn’t lying or cheating: he was just really, really good. Today, he sits at 8th place after 3 rounds at the Masters, and I’m delighted to occasionally win a closest-to-the-pin contest in a local scramble.
Bo is featured in a Florida Times-Union article on the Masters about his third round performance which was one of the best on the day. I liked this description:
While Watson has been billed as one of the up-and-coming American stars since he won his first Tour event last summer and his second in January, Van Pelt has been a poster boy for the working-class PGA Tour player. The 36-year-old Indiana native, who went to Oklahoma State, has won once on the Tour, the 2009 U.S. Bank Championship.
But Van Pelt has finished between 30th and 79th on the FedEx Cup points list since the system was established in 2007 and has maintained his Tour exemption every year since 2004.
He has been showing flashes of good play in difficult tournaments. Van Pelt tied for fourth last year at The Players Championship, finished solo fifth the week before that at the Quail Hollow Championship, tied for third at Hilton Head, tied for third at the Memorial and made the cut at the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA.
Even if he hasn’t won a lot of tournaments, he has been pretty consistent and in the hunt a number of times, and generally been an excellent golfer even as some of his peers have had flashes in the pan.
Hoping for another good showing today. I’m not holding my breath, but seeing Bo with the green jacket on would be surreal and very cool.
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