SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. -- It was all supposed to be so simple.
State championship in soccer. Solid junior golf career. Played on 1995 NCAA Championship team at Oklahoma State. Walker Cupper.
Next up, the PGA TOUR. Well, sort of.
Meet Kris Cox, who found himself two shots off the mid-afternoon lead at the 104th U.S. Open. Even happened to be tied for the lead late in his round.
And when he walked off the course, all anyone knew was his name. And that he qualified.
Just to catch you up, Cox is a member of the PGA TOUR thanks to a tie for seventh at last fall's qualifying school on his mumblesomething attempt. Lives in Dallas and plays out of Royal Oaks, where Justin Leonard learned the game. Got here through qualifying in Summit, N.J. And, oh yes. Before the 30-year-old got to the TOUR this year, he played just about every Tour available -- Tight Lies, Gateway, Hooters, Canadian, South American and Nationwide.
"I put a lot of expectations on myself," he said. "I was thinking after a good college career comes q-school. And I can't get it done. I had no idea how different it was out here.
"Sometimes it just takes a little while."
That said, Cox came into this U.S. Open with two top-25 finishes in his last two events. And now ... this.
An opening 68. A birdie at the par-is-awesome seventh hole. A 15-footer at 11. A pitching wedge to 10 feet at 16. The bogey at 18? He was still smiling.
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| Cox shot a 2-under 68 Thursday. (Getty Images) |
"I always hoped I could, but do you know?" he said. "No. Never. When you're playing professional golf, obviously you hope to be up there, but until you do it, you never really know. It gives me a lot of confidence to have a nice round out there today and to be here now I feel like, yeah, it's possible."
Cox isn't that well known. In fact, he was virtually a no-name in the Player's Guide because, well, he entered the event under his real name, Kristopher. And when the USGA was pulling together material on him, they couldn't find him in the PGA TOUR database where he's Kris.
"I signed up with my full name so I wouldn't have any problems with room reservations on my card," he said chuckling.
So, he's just a guy on the board right now. No center stage, no outside pressure.
"There are no expectations on me," he said. "I'm able to just go out there and play."
Which he did. Playing in the third group to tee off, he jumped on the leaderboard before the turn and hung in there with those early birdies.
"I was really at ease on the golf course," he said. "If I missed a shot, there was no panic. Just trying to do my best to make par because I knew if I stayed patient, I'd start hitting some really good shots and hopefully finish off the round well."
Which he pretty much did.
Cox had to go through both stages of qualifying, which is never any fun. And, it's even harder when you're in your first year on TOUR and trying hard to keep your card.
"You feel like you earned it and it's fun," he said. "It's a major and it's definitely got a major feel to it. It's great.
"But is it a pain in the neck? Yeah."
So were all those mini tours where you drove everywhere, shared rooms and played wherever you had a chance to make money.
"It's a choice we make," he said. "We're playing golf for a living. I think that means something and that's very special. But it wasn't very glamorous. You're on a tight budget and the courses you play sometimes aren't always the best. But like I said, it's a choice we make and hopefully you try to get to your goal."
This week, however, he's playing one of the best courses in the country and in the national Open. Which is a heck of a lot better than where he was the last time the U.S. Open came to Shinnecock -- playing on the Gateway Tour and rushing through his round so he could get back to the hotel and watch the '95 event.
Now he figures 30 isn't a bad time to get his TOUR career started and 68 is a pretty good opening here. Yep, it's only Thursday, but he's there. With a chance.
That's all he asks.
