I played against 25 or so of them in college and though I didn’t play very well in college, I knew I could play with them. “I thought if I just kept getting better, I could play with some of these guys. “That kind of gave me confidence because I was playing pretty good that summer,” he said.

The missed cut allowed him to defend his City Match Play title that same week, but also proved to him he could compete at that level. Playing in the 2014 Firekeeper Classic as an amateur, shot a 1-under 71 in the first round and then had a 3-over 75 in the second round, missing the cut by two strokes. Walker’s first taste of the Adams Tour was enough to convince him a pursuit was a worthy endeavor. Patrick played the par-5s really well.”įirekeeper pro Randy Towner and Topekan Ron Wilkin shot a 5-under 67 and are tied for 21st. “If one of us was tapping in for par, the other was rolling in a long birdie. “If one of us was in trouble, the other was making birdie,” Evans said. It’s awesome playing with Drew because we know each other games and our games are very similar. “We got off to a good start and right in the middle of the round, we got in a really good groove and Drew made a lot of birdies. “Our round was really good,” Sullivan said. Patrick Sulilvan of Maumelle, Ark., and Drew Evans of Dallas lead the field heading into Thursday’s Chapman format after posting an 11-under 61 on Wednesday, one better than the team of Will Dusenbury of Boerne, Texas and Albert Miner of Dallas.

Walker and Grause combined to shoot an even-par 72 in Wednesday’s best-ball format first round, placing them 30th out of 32 teams. For the past three years, Walker has played sparingly on the Adams Pro Tour and is playing alongside fellow Topekan Chris Grause in this week’s Prairie Band Team Championship at Firekeeper Golf Course. Those victories coupled with some solid showings in Kansas Golf Association events gave Walker the impetus to give professional golf a shot. Walker swept City Stroke and Match Play titles in 2013 and then came within a playoff loss to Mac McFarland in the Stroke Play of doing it again in 2014. Some success in the Topeka Golf Association’s summer majors, however, changed that mindset. When I got done, I didn’t know if I could do much with it.” “I always wanted to play pro golf, but my scores weren’t that great in college.

“I didn’t really have the greatest college career,” Walker said. Coming out of Hayden High School and, to some extent, Washburn University, Brian Walker never really considered himself a potential professional golfer.

A Worthy Piece of Work by Michael Hines