The PGA Tour’s most unlikely contender had a week you wouldn’t believe

Ben Kohles woke up six days ago in Greenville, SC with a dream.

In the next three days, he thought, there would be ample opportunities to see at least one of his golfing dreams come true. Perhaps through a win in that afternoon’s BMW Charity Pro-Am, where Kohles woke up with a healthy lead. But perhaps through the US Open final qualifiers in Maryland on Monday afternoon, where he was scheduled to play.

The storm that has followed in the last six days has proved so utterly disorienting, so extraordinary, that Kohles never even considered the possibility that he would wake up less than seven days later having reached both of those dreams. And if this is true, it is impossible to believe that he saw THIS The weekend is coming, where Kohles finds himself claiming his first PGA Tour win.

I mean, how could he have seen it coming? Six days ago, he was not on the pitch.

So what happened to get Kohles from there to here, rising to Saturday morning’s T14 at the RBC Canadian Open? Well, it all started Sunday night at the BMW Charity Pro-Am, where the latest sign of Kohle’s resurgence as a 35-year-old tour pro arrived in the form of a four-stroke victory. As Kohles gathered his equipment, Korn Ferry Tour camera crews were rolling as he jumped into action: Literally running from the trophy ceremony to his car, where a 90-minute drive to Charlotte International Airport and a short flight to Washington-Reagan Airport awaited.

Kohles made his flight and arrived in Rockville, Maryland — the site of Monday’s final qualifying attempt — late Sunday night. With his adrenaline still high, he fell into a few hours of fitful sleep. He woke up the next morning before 6 in order to get to the golf course in time for 8:32 a.m. and soon after began the all-day test of courage that is US Open Final Qualifiers.

He might not have felt it, but Kohle’s game traveled with him at Woodmont Country Clubwhere he shot a 7-under par over 36 holes to clinch the second of the four qualifying spots for the US Open. He scurried into the scorer’s tent on the side of Woodmont just after 7:30 p.m.—11 hours after his opening round began—and then made a quick phone call home to share the good news: It was time to book the trip to Shinnecock.

“I feel like my head is still spinning,” he said. “It’s easily the craziest 24-hour stretch of my golf life.”

With his qualifying score down, Kohles jumped into action again: This time he boarded a flight from Maryland to Toronto, where he was one of the alternates for the RBC Canadian Open.

“Obviously it’s not too far from next week here, so I thought I’d have a pretty good chance to get in on Monday or Tuesday,” Kohles said. “No one really stepped back.”

Finally, on Wednesday, the call came — Kohles was one of the last alternates in the field at TPC Toronto. He picked up right where he left off on Thursday, shooting an opening-round 67 to put himself in the mix on Friday. Then his exhaustion caught up with a 71 in the second round. On Saturday, however, Kohles found form — firing a five-birdie 65 in the third round to climb to 7 under for the tournament, good for T14 at the time of this writing.

It was, not counting practice rounds, Kohles the sixth competitive round in the last six days. Five of them have entered under par.

Time will tell if Kohle’s third-round effort was enough to propel him into legitimate contention Sunday afternoon in Toronto. But there’s no doubt he’ll be playing for a big salary by the time the balls are in the air.

On Sunday evening, there may be time for a few minutes of reflection on all the good things that have come into his life during this truly wild week. But not many of them.

He will go to Shinnecock on Monday.