PGA Tour: “Beef” Johnston Eyes Card for 2016-17 Season

Andrew Johnston, one of the most popular European players in the game, has set his sights on a PGA Tour card for 2017.

Most European Tour stars will be using the next few weeks to jockey for position in the season-long Race to Dubai, but not Andrew “Beef” Johnston. The popular Englishman will instead play the Web.com Tour Finals in hopes of earning his PGA Tour card for the 2016-17 season.

Most of the spots in the Finals will be filled by the top 75 on the Web.com Tour money list, along with Nos. 125 through 200 in FedEx Cup points. However, there are spots for nonmembers who match or better the points total of the 200th man on the latter list. Johnston falls into that category, mostly thanks to his eighth-place finish at The Open Championship in July.

Johnston also made the cut at the other two majors he played this year (he didn’t qualify for the Masters) and tied for 42nd at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. He ended up with a total of 146 FedEx Cup points, just barely inside the Finals bubble. He was more consistent on his home circuit, where he picked up eight top 25s, including a solo third at last week’s Omega European Masters.

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While his golf game has been the main reason for his rise to prominence, Johnston can thank his outsized personality for all the attention he’s gotten this year, his second as a European Tour member. Highlights include his promise to “get hammered” after winning the Open de España in April and his endorsement deal with Arby’s, a company that knows a thing or two about beef.

Johnston’s four-week run through the Finals will begin at this week’s DAP Championship in Ohio. The commitment effectively rules him out of the Italian Open, Porsche European Open and Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, in addition to this week’s KLM Open in the Netherlands.

While Beef has the potential attract large galleries and loyal fans, there’s no guarantee that PGA Tour membership will be the best thing for his career. Only the best players can effectively balance their time between the two foremost tours in the world, and one poor season has the potential to throw a career off course.

The best recent example is that of Gonzalo Fernandez Castaño — the Spaniard was a Ryder Cup hopeful as recently as four years ago, but his game hit the skids last year, confining him to the weekly grind of the Web.com Tour. At 64th on the 2016 money list, he just barely qualified for this year’s Finals.

Still, it’s hard to compete with the prestige and money of the PGA Tour, which is probably why Johnston’s taking the plunge. This year, he became a folk hero in just a few short months — who knows what he’ll be able to do over the course of a full season stateside?

Before we can find out, however, Johnston has work to do. Four events remain before the picture will crystallize, but the PGA Tour just might get a whole lot beefier in 2017.

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What do you think: will we see Beef on the PGA Tour in 2017? Let us know in the comments, and keep it here at Pro Golf Now for more updates from the Web.com Tour Finals.