Edina golf store manager set for unlikely appearance in PGA Championship

Last week, he conceded to Island View Golf Club pro Johnny Schwaller on the 17th tee in a Minnesota PGA match-play event at Mendakota Country Club.

On Thursday, golf store manager Derek Holmes competes in a major championship against Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy and 153 other professionals of both the touring and club kind.

He'll do so at South Carolina's famed, wind-swept Kiawah Island Ocean course, site of the Ryder Cup's 1991 "War on the Shore" and McIlroy's 2012 PGA Championship victory.

"It can blow 90 and I'll have a smile on my face," Holmes said.

At age 34, he is older, presumably wiser and definitely calmer than the former assistant club pro at River Oaks and Dellwood Country Club once known in his Minnesota PGA section for his talent and temperament.

Now a husband and father of a 2-year-old son, Holmes reached his first — and probably only — major by sinking a clutch, clinching 25-foot par putt on the PGA Professional Championship's 72nd and final hole last month in Florida.

That putt made him one of 20 players who advanced from the 312-player field. It made him the first Minnesota PGA section player to reach the PGA of America's national championship since Brent Snyder in 2015. (Transplanted Minnesotans Alex Beach and Ben Polland qualified from other PGA sections.)

"Good thing I have an unlimited [data] plan," he said. "I didn't know I knew this many people."

He shot 72-71-71-73 over four days to finish in a nine-way tie for eighth place in an event for which he barely prepared so early in the Minnesota golf season. He was one of eight Minnesota PGA section pros who last summer at Somerby near Rochester qualified for April's PGA Professional championship.

He canceled a return flight he scheduled the same day as the third round but sent wife Kelsey, son Jaxson and his mother-in-law home after he made the 54-hole cut. His final round included an eagle, a four-putt double bogey and an 18th hole in which he needed to two-putt from 70 feet to punch his ticket.

The first putt lost speed, caught a slope and rolled away 25 feet. A greenside scoreboard told him he'd still make a playoff if he two-putted from there. He stepped forth and stroked a putt that broke slightly back up that slope and dropped into the cup's left edge.

"One of the greatest pressure putts I've ever seen," said childhood golf buddy Brad Cole, who grew up playing with Holmes at Rum River Hills golf course in Ramsey.

"The biggest check I've ever seen," Holmes said.

Holmes has Minnesota State Open top-10 finishes and tried to qualify for the U.S. Open but never came closer than a couple of shots. He shot 69-80 and missed the cut at his only other PGA Professional championship, in 2015.

He also never chased minitour dreams after he attended Anoka High School, a golf operations academy in Phoenix and graduated from Wisconsin-Stout with a golf enterprise management degree. He lives in Cottage Grove.

Holmes declares "100%" he wouldn't have made that par putt two years ago. He attributes marriage and fatherhood for a new maturity.

"Just getting older and understanding if you have a bad hole, bad putt or bad chip, you can't get it back," he said. "So just move on. Part of it is just growing up. Having a 2-year-old has helped. He doesn't know if I shoot 100 or 65."

"He's just a regular guy and now he's playing in a major championship," said PXG territory leader Ty Munneke, who hired Holmes 17 months ago.

Holmes left Friday after he booked housing and transportation for his family and "team" on short notice. For one week only, Hazeltine National assistant pro Andy Smith is Holmes' "physio" trainer, Nike regional rep Cole is swing coach and brother Devin is Holmes' caddie.

During Monday's practice round, a video board listed the longest hitters on the range. Holmes' name was up there with three major champions behind Johnson's 292-yard carry, tied with Adam Scott's 281 yards and ahead of Shane Lowry's 279. At 5-9, he's a long hitter despite his height.

He tees off at Kiawah at 6:22 a.m. Central time Thursday with South Africa's George Coetzee and South Korea's Byeong Hun An.

"Derek is going to do great; he just has to have fun," said Snyder, a Troy Burne teaching pro. "It's pretty much what you think it'll be: It's big and hard. But he's super-super talented and it's noticeable how he is really starting to trust himself. Either way, he'll have a great experience."