From the bottom to the top in just three months – a steep rise in professional golf that surprised Lucas Glover himself. In mid-May, the 43-year-old American was 147th in the world rankings, and in the FedExCup, the American PGA Tour’s seasonal standings, was only 184th, far from the top 125 who will be eligible to play for the next season. The second play-off tournament of the FedExCup, the BMW Championship, begins on Thursday in Olympia Fields (Illinois), a suburb of Chicago. And Lucas Glover goes into this tournament of the top 50 of the season 2022/2023 as one of the favourites.
Because Glover won the last two tournaments and is now fourth in this ranking behind the Spanish Masters champion Jon Rahm, the American Scottie Scheffler and the Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy. This means that Glover can also play in the final of the top thirty, the Tour Championship in Atlanta (Georgia), the weekend after next. The new number thirty in the world rankings can now even figure out a chance of winning the FedExCup and thus 18 million dollars (around 16.5 million euros) in prize money. The newcomer to the season even thinks his very first appearance in Team USA in the Ryder Cup against the European selection in Rome at the end of September is possible – even though he wasn’t allowed to play in any of the four majors this year.
The ascent began in July
Glover’s rise began in July when he finished fourth, fifth and sixth in three tournaments, his first top finishes of the year. Then, on August 6, he won the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, the last, mediocre, regular tournament of the season. In doing so, he qualified at the last minute for the first of the three play-off tournaments, in which only the top seventy professionals of the season were allowed to participate for the first time this year.
Last Sunday, the blatant outsider even left the entire world elite behind at the FedEx St. Jude Classic in Memphis (Tennessee). He defeated the fourth in the world rankings, his compatriot Patrick Cantley, in the jump-off and received the highest prize money of his career at 3.6 million dollars (around 3.3 million euros), almost three times as much as for his outsider victory at the US Open 2009 (1 .35 million dollars or 1.24 million euros).
Rise: Lucas Glover : Image: Reuters
After his triumph at this major 14 years ago, Glover had won twice on the PGA Tour in 2011 and 2021, but putting yips had plagued him most of all; an affliction in which the simplest shot in golf turns into the most terrifying through involuntary muscle spasms. For almost ten years Glover, one of the few pros who play without gloves, fought in vain. Again and again he pushed the ball past the hole from a short distance. It was a struggle Glover described as crippling.
Nevertheless, he never thought of giving up the professional career he started in 2001: “It’s simply one of the saddest qualities of an athlete. We always believe in ourselves, no matter how bad we play.” For years, Glover saw an opportunity to overcome the yips through sessions with sports psychologists, constant practice, and frequent putter changes—to no avail.
The Yips’ healing began in May, when Glover was ranked 199th in putting strokes gained out of a total of 205 PGA Tour pros. Glover was mentored by Jason Kuhn on the advice of his manager. The former elite Navy SEAL previously helped the Atlanta Braves baseball team’s pitcher win his fight against the Yips and a World Series game.
“He explained to me that it was more of a central nervous system problem than a brain thing. I’ve never had it explained to me scientifically,” Glover said last week of his 12 sessions with Kuhn, who had encouraged him with clear words: “Dude, you’re not mentally weak. Quite the opposite. But to be able to compete at this level tells me you are as strong as anyone I have ever met.”
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But Glover got the crucial tip from former PGA pro Brad Faxon. The 62-year-old American, who in the 1990s was one of the best putters in the world, won eight times on the PGA Tour and now advises several top players such as McIlroy, suggested Glover to use a putter with an extremely long shaft. With this broomstick or broomstick putter, Glover seems freed from the yips. Glover has not blundered in the last few meters to the hole in recent weeks. Finally he can benefit from his ability to hit fairways and greens; a gift which is why he is referred to in golf jargon as one of the best “ball strikers”.
