Bringing The Heat! - Cameron Champ Is Now On The PGA Tour
Golf Digest|November 2018
Heres an EXCLUSIVE LOOKat how THIS ROOKIE became the LONGEST PLAYER on the pro tours.
Bringing The Heat! - Cameron Champ Is Now On The PGA Tour

SEAN FOLEY REMEMBERS the first time he saw Cameron Champ swing a club. It was at Foley’s academy in Orlando, and Cameron was about 14. Foley was working with many tour pros at that time, including Justin Rose and Hunter Mahan, but what he saw that day prompted him to call his wife, Kate, and tell her to clear his teaching schedule the next day.

“I can’t say in print what my reaction was, but wow!” Foley says. “We spent the whole next day working on his game. And when you look at him now, he’s got the accuracy of David Toms off the tee but hits it 30 yards past Dustin Johnson.”

That’s not hyperbole. Even the longest of players in professional golf recognize that Champ—great name, by the way—is hitting drives that defy logic. He’s 23, a hair under 6 feet and weighs about 180 pounds. And that’s a bulked-up 180, Champ says. On the Web.com Tour in 2018, Champ averaged—are you ready for this?—343.1 yards off the tee. At the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, where the then-Texas A&M student first got the golf world’s attention, he led the field with a 337-yard average. His accuracy is pretty impressive, too. He was third on the Web.com Tour last season in total driving, a stat that combines distance and accuracy prowess, and fourth in greens in regulation (75.5 percent).

Now, less than a year after turning pro and winning the Web.com’s Utah Championship, he’s earned a PGA Tour card and will play a full schedule in the big league this fall.

“When he swings, he applies so much force to the grip of his club, he’s capable of snapping a graphite shaft in the middle,” says Foley, who’s still Champ’s coach. “Any idea how hard it is to do that? That’s Bruce Lee stuff right there.”

Denne historien er fra November 2018-utgaven av Golf Digest.

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Denne historien er fra November 2018-utgaven av Golf Digest.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.