PGA Tour: Getting to Know Young Stud Maverick McNealy

Maverick McNealy may have the coolest name on the PGA Tour. He’s also got the game to go with it. Get to know the talented young player.

Maverick McNealy. First things first – no matter how good of a player he is, it would be hard to have a cooler name than Maverick McNealy. The fact that he’s an accomplished golfer just adds to his aura.

Let’s start with the name. Maverick is one of four brothers, all of whom were named after American cars because their grandfather worked in Detroit in the auto industry. Therefore, the brothers are named Maverick (Ford), Dakota (Dodge), Colt (Dodge) and Scout (Jeep).

McNealy grew up playing ice hockey and golf, but when it came time to choose a sport, he hung up his skates and decided to spend his time on the links. Seems like he made the right decision.

McNealy went to Stanford, where he had a dominant collegiate career. While playing for the Cardinal, McNealy won 12 (yes, 12) college events. He was a three-time, first-team All-American, was a member of the 2015 and 2017 United States Walker Cup team and he tied the Stanford school record for lowest 18-hole score (61).

After graduating from Stanford with a degree in management science and engineering, McNealy turned pro in 2017 and played on the Korn Ferry Tour during the 2018 season. He earned a pair of top 10 finishes in his first season, but was unable to secure his PGA Tour card in his first season as a pro.

So McNealy went back to the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019. He earned three top 10s and finished 23rd on the money list, earning his PGA Tour card in the process.

He’s making the most of that opportunity so far this season. After missing the cut in his first two events of the season, McNealy finished 52nd at the Safeway Open in late September. The next week, he was 37th at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. And just one week later, he earned his first career top 20, finishing 17th at the Houston Open.

McNealy has continued to make cuts and earned another top 20 (15th at the Farmers Insurance Open) before notching his first career top 10. At the legendary AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, McNealy carded rounds of 72 in each of the first two rounds. However, he had a big weekend, with a 66 on Saturday and a 68 on Sunday to finish 9-under par and in a tie fifth place.

Still just 24 years old, McNealy has plenty of big things ahead of him on tour. As he proved during his college days, he is one of the best, if not the best, player his age. Now that he has gotten his footing on the PGA Tour, expect to see McNealy’s name at the top of many leaderboards for many years to come.