Meet PGA TOUR’s Newest Rising Star: Ollie Schniederjans
By Matt Cochran
With all the rising stars stepping on the scene, there has been a resurgence of first-time winners on TOUR this season, ten to be exact. Last week it was Troy Merritt picking up his first TOUR victory at the Quicken Loans National, so who is the next to grab their first win?
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It’s hard to keep up with all the young guns making names for themselves, but there is a new kid to keep on you radar. His name is Ollie Schniederjans and he’s the newest rising star on the PGA TOUR.
His name has been briefly popping up on leaderboards for the past couple of weeks, but it’s only a matter of time before he stays on top.
Schniederjans made his decision to turn professional a day after The Open Championship and signed a deal with Callaway upon turning pro.
If this kid is just now popping up on the scene, where’d he come from?
“He’s got a lot of game. He’s got a lot of firepower, hits the ball a long way. Seems to be a great putter and, more importantly, seems to have a great head on his shoulders.” -Justin Rose on Ollie
Ollie Schniederjans, 22, was born in Dallas, Texas, but grew up in Powder Springs, GA and is a graduate Georgia Tech, where he had an solid four-years. He won the ACC Player of the Year Award as both a junior and senior, only the sixth player to win the award in consecutive seasons.
Throughout his collegiate career, Ollie has played in 55 events in which he has 27 top-10 finishes, 17 top-5s, and six victories. He finished with a scoring average of 70.96, which is the second best in Georgia Tech history.
He took the number 1 spot for the top amateur golfer in the world back in June of 2014 and held that position until March 2015. During his span at the top, he was awarded the prestigious Mark H. McCormack Medal and granted exemptions at the 2015 U.S. Open and 2015 Open Championship.
At the U.S. Open, Schniederjans was able to make the cut and good enough to crack the top 50 in his first major appearance (T-42). Things got even better for him at The Open Championship when he was able to put together a -5 in the final round to place T-12.
His performance at St. Andrews made the decision to turn pro pretty easy for the 22 year old.
"“You just have to have a long-term focus and know that in the end, you know whatever your career is and your path,” Schniederjans said. “I like how my path has been, and I like where I’m headed. It’ll be a long career out here, hopefully, and I’ll be playing for many years. That one year back in school, I don’t think I’ll regret it.”"
As an amateur, Ollie’s first PGA TOUR event was at the 2015 Valspar Championship where he missed the cut with rounds of 75-71. However, he did much better in his first appearance as a pro at the RBC Canadian Open last weekend.
With opening rounds of 71-69-66, he stumbled in his final round to finish with a 73 and place T-22. Schniederjans took home $46,206 in his first tournament as a professional. Expect his career earnings to keep growing because this kid’s future is bright.
Schniederjans continued to show progress this week at the Quicken Loans National. In his second TOUR event as a professional, Ollie held a two-shot lead during the second round, but dropped a few strokes and ended up finishing tied for 15th at -9, one shot ahead of some guy named Tiger Woods.
Ollie’s next event will be this week when he is at the Barracuda Championship in Reno, Nevada. With most of the world’s best golfers in attendance for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone, the Barracuda Championship will see a weaker field than most tournaments and he could easily find himself in contention at another TOUR event.
Ollie Schniederjans is one of the newest young guns on TOUR and it’s a name you’re going to want to remember for quite some time. He’s the mini Robert Rock, letting the lettuce flow sans hat:
Robert Rock Courtesy: USA TODAY Sports Images
Follow Ollie on Twitter and Instagram to see how he’s spending his first couple of tournaments as a professional.