Tom Gillis played in the Senior PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, N.Y., and thought he was toast after finishing the first 36 holes at 9-over.
Cutlines can be fickle in any event and are a rarity on the PGA Tour Champions. Gillis, meanwhile, was three shots underwater after posting a 74-75.
Gillis figured he was done early Friday. So he grabbed his bag, left the course and headed home to Michigan.
But when Gillis landed in Detroit, he learned he had make the cut on the line and there was an 8:23 a.m. Saturday tee time at Oak Hill with his name attached to it.
“Now what?”
Gillis had two options: stay home with friends and family at his Lake Orion, Mich., to enjoy the long Memorial Day weekend, or fly back to the airport in Rochester, N.Y., and hustle to Oak Hill to make his tee time.
The choice for Gillis was easy.
“I wasn’t going back,” Gillis told Tony Paul of The (Detroit) News. “I chose family over golf . . . It was more about spending the weekend with family.”
Gillis was officially categorized as a WD and slid six spots in the Schwab Cup Standings to 77th. His official earnings this year held steady at $447,060. He will be playing in the Champions Tour tournament in Iowa this week. Hopefully, the cutline won’t be an issue this time.
