Chip McDaniel is exactly what an aspiring PGA TOUR player should be

Chip McDaniel has become a viral sensation over the past month, but he’s not just a fun Twitter trend. In fact, he’s what every pro on the come-up should look to be.

Chip McDaniel is a guy you had never heard of six months ago. I don’t mean that in the “been around forever without big results” way. I mean, unless you followed SEC college golf, you almost certainly hadn’t even heard his name before. That’s all changed over the last month or two, and he’s doing it in a way that every other PGA TOUR hopeful would do well to emulate.

McDaniel has earned the nickname “Mr. Monday” for good reason. He’s made five PGA TOUR starts, and earned his way in through the infamous one-day soul-crusher that is the Monday Qualifier three times. This is a “get-hot-or-go-home” week where even established pros without status go home after shooting 65s. To do it so much – on his own dime and with such a crazy schedule – is impressive.

Take, for instance, McDaniel’s recent itinerary. On June 3rd – a Monday, of course – the University of Kentucky alum finished in a four-way tie for first in his 73-player U.S. Open sectional at Springfield Country Club in Ohio. From there, he made the cross-country trek to Pebble Beach, making the cut in his first major championship.

There’s no rest for the weary, though. He caught a red-eye to Boston and made the drive down to Cromwell, Conn. for the Monday qualifier for the Travelers Championship. He got in, made another cut, and found himself playing alongside Brooks Koepka in the third round that Saturday. The multiple-major winner shares a grinder’s mentality, but it was McDaniel who won the day, 68-72.

This week, at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, McDaniel finally got to take a Monday off. His solid play has garnered him plenty of attention on social media, with one particular Twitter account helping to spread the good word. The account “Monday Q Info” – @ACaseOfTheGolf1 – is more than just a great follow, they helped start this movement.

A grassroots campaign to get tournament organizers at the Rocket Mortgage, 3M Open and John Deere Classic to invite McDaniel didn’t take long to blow up, and the good folks in Detroit went with what the people clearly wanted.

https://twitter.com/acaseofthegolf1/status/1140959858734317568

McDaniel, for his part, gets that his newfound notoriety is fleeting if he doesn’t back it up through the weeks, and remains eternally humble.

Look, I know that there’s “no rooting in the press box”, but there’s nothing about this guy that could stop you from pulling for him. He won three events at UK, but as good as he was, he wasn’t a can’t-miss prospect by any means. It would have been easy for him to take his accounting degree into the “real world”, but he decided to gamble on himself and his game.

It’s that type of mentality that makes Chip McDaniel, and hundreds of others just like him, so intriguing. In a way, they’re what makes pro golf such an incredible journey. You don’t get into the NBA or NFL just based off of “want to”…but in golf, all you have to do is shoot the lowest number. It doesn’t matter where you started as long as you can keep up on the big stage.

As he prepares to begin his hunt again at the Rocket Mortgage Classic this week, some things still won’t change. He could make a run this weekend, or he could be headed home early. That’s just the nature of this profession.

Either way, Chip McDaniel will survive, because no matter what happens on Sunday…there’s always another Monday just around the corner.