Major Step Up

Ryan Welborn knew that with his limited experience, the chances of succeeding as a professional golfer were about as slim as the fairways at the U.S. Open.

He had little experience as a junior golfer, basically skipped college golf and then breezed through an amateur career without compiling much of a resume. But, on a whim, he decided to take a gamble and turn pro.

“I just thought I should do it,” Welborn said. “I figured, ‘Why not? I don’t have any other skills.’ ”

Welborn, a 27-year-old Fullerton resident and mini-tour player, found that he does have golf skills. Enough, in fact, that he will tee it up with the world’s top golfers in the U.S. Open, which begins today at Pinehurst, N.C.

Welborn qualified for the Open by finishing second in sectional qualifying June 7 at El Caballero in Tarzana.

It marks the high point in a steadily improving career that has been spent mostly on the low-profile Golden State Tour.

His road to a professional career strayed far from the usual route. Most golfers today start early, pack their junior golf schedules, go to Division I colleges and then, if they have found success at each level, turn pro.

Welborn picked up golf at 14. A baseball and soccer player as a youngster, Welborn tried out for the baseball team at Don Lugo High in Chino, but didn’t make it. That’s when he turned to golf.

“I figured I would play a sport where you didn’t need to be as much of an athlete,” Welborn said.

Figuring he was too old to start playing in local and national junior tournaments, Welborn instead just worked on his game.

Still learning, he played on and off for the Don Lugo golf team over the next three years before graduating and enrolling at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.

That lasted less than a year.

“I had trouble making it to class,” Welborn said. “I was playing too much golf.”

He got odd jobs at area golf courses--picking up balls at the driving range at Los Serranos Golf Course and cleaning carts at Western Hills Country Club, all the while working on his game.

As a naive 22-year-old in 1994, without setting any goals and without expectations, he decided it was time to turn pro.

“I didn’t really have any plans,” Welborn said. “I just figured I was good enough.”

Welborn is in his fifth season as a Golden State Tour regular. He has finished in the top 10 on the money list in each of the last three years and is seventh midway through the current season.

But that doesn’t mean much on a tour where prize money barely covers entry fees and travel expenses.

“He’s almost always broke,” said Doug Ives, director of the Golden State Tour. “Mini-tour players don’t usually have a lot of money.”

Especially when they don’t have any other source of income. If he is playing well, Welborn can earn between $500-$1,500 a week on the Golden State Tour. After subtracting an average entry fee of $250 and travel expenses, it doesn’t leave much.

If he is not playing well, it can be several weeks between paychecks and financial difficulties inevitably arise.

“I remember a few times he would show up at tournaments with that look in his eye,” Ives said. “He would ask ‘Will you carry me this week?’ And I don’t do that, but sometimes with the good players I do because they are the good players and I know I’ll get paid.”

Turning pro when he did was a huge risk for Welborn. He had no money and no sponsor and even today relies on financial assistance from friends.

“I’ve had some help from the guys at the courses,” he said. “I get by with a little help. As a professional golfer you either have to make the big tour or try to break even.”

One major supporter is Joe Berg, a sales manager for Nestle who saw something special in Welborn on and off the course. Berg, who caddies regularly for Welborn, will carry his bag this week at Pinehurst.

“I didn’t invest in a golfer,” Berg said. “I invested in a person. He’s a great guy and a great golfer. We’re out [at the U.S. Open] here and he’s hitting it as well as anyone out here. Nobody hits it better.”

Berg isn’t the only one who sees a bright future for Welborn. Fellow competitors are not surprised that the long, straight drives Welborn often hits got him into the U.S. Open.

“Sometimes it’s just so easy for him,” said Jason Follen, a friend and fellow Golden State Tour member. “There will be weeks in a row that I play with him and he never misses a shot and I just wonder why he’s out here playing with us. I always say that if you can beat Ryan, you can beat anyone.”

Welborn has tried to make the big time. He has tried several times to qualify for Nike Tour events and PGA Tour events but has been successful just once, when he qualified for the Nike Tri-Cities Open in 1997. He missed the cut.

He has advanced to the second stage of PGA Tour Qualifying school in each of the last two years, but has come up short of making the finals.

But some are convinced that by qualifying for the U.S. Open, Welborn’s game will rise another level and he will make the Q-school finals, which, depending on his finish, could result in a PGA Tour card. At the very least, a trip to Q-school finals would get him a conditional Nike Tour card.

“This brings a guy’s level of play up a notch, just by making it,” Follen said. “He’s going to be better when he gets back.”

Welborn, who said that receiving the keys to a USGA courtesy car to use for the week and playing a practice round with 1996 U.S. Open champion Steve Jones have been the highlights for him so far this week, has not set any particular goals for the tournament.

“I just want to play as well as I can,” Welborn said. “But I’m going to reevaluate my goals after every shot.”

Meaning that if he is playing well, making the cut and finishing in the top 15 could become goals.

And, if he is playing really well, then . . .

“Winning,” he said, “is always one of my goals.”