Cole following family bloodlines in golf

Ahead of that final qualifier at Oakwood Country Club, Cole reported that on Sunday all he did was play the first hole and the finishing stretch beginning at No. 13 at the Coal Valley course.

It's hard to argue with the method considering the results. The 33-year-old Floridian carded a 6-under 65 to work his way into the 156-man field for the $6.2 million PGA Tour event that starts Thursday at TPC Deere Run.

“For me, it was just seeing if the ball was going the same distance as what I'm used to in Florida, what kind of bounces the ball is taking on the fairways and greens,” said Cole after making it through the cut-throat four-spotter. “It was as much about that as anything. We can use lasers, so practice rounds aren't quite what they can be sometimes.”

In actuality, though, Cole has been preparing his entire life for professional golf.

And the career path is definitely in his DNA. His parents — Bobby Cole and Laura Baugh — were both touring professionals.

“I was always around golf when I was young,” Cole said. “I don't know if I would say I was destined to be a pro golfer, but I was pretty athletic at a young age and kind of saw that my size wasn't going to let me play some other sports that I liked more than golf, so when I got to maybe eighth grade or something like that, I realized I should be focusing on golf.”

At that point, Cole realized then that 5-foot-9 point guards — even ones who led their team in scoring as he did — didn't have much of a future on the hardwoods unless you were named Muggsy Bogues.

It wasn't long after junior high when he said he started beating his mom and dad on the golf course, taking lessons from both of them to mold his future endeavors.

“... I learned probably more technical stuff from my dad and more like the how to play golf and like the mental side, the feel type of side from my mom,” he said. “... I enjoyed playing with my mom a little bit more growing up because when I was little she hit the ball shorter so it was more relatable. Like we hit the clubs the same distances at a younger age versus my dad was always — it kind of seemed hard to do what he did.”

Cole still stands just a slender 5-9 and is considered on the smaller side even in golf circles. But he hasn't let that hinder his success.

He humbly admits that he has a number of victories on the Florida mini-tour circuits. Reports range from anywhere from 30-some to nearly 55 titles. He says he really doesn't keep count. 

“But those are one-day and two-day events — nothing like the Tour,” he said of those events against other grinders and youngsters also trying to work their way up the pro ranks.

Still, Cole has shown his chops on the links.

He has open qualified into a few PGA Tour events (turning one in March into a 22nd-place finish at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship) and also worked his way through the grueling qualifying for this year's U.S. Open that was played at Torrey Pines in San Diego.

“I mean, it was incredible,” he said of his experiences at the season's third major where he missed the cut by four strokes. “I really wanted to play well and was disappointed in the way I scored. But the overall week was awesome, and it was cool to have my mom out there and my girlfriend out there, so to kind of share that with them.

“It's a big stage and somewhere I've always wanted to be, so I was really happy to be there, and like I said, although I was disappointed, I tried to take the positives from it.”

And that means putting those experiences to good use when he does find himself in a regular PGA Tour event — such as this week — or even on the Korn Ferry Tour.

His appearance here was motivated by future opportunities.

He is battling to get into the Korn Ferry Tour finals. A decent showing here this week can net him that result as a non-member of the PGA Tour, better odds than playing dwindling KFT events. A good enough finish in a PGA Tour event can qualify him for the KFT finals through a different category.

“I kind of realized that recently so I have a little different outlook here,” he said of his future.

So that has changed his focus here this week.

“Just to kind of get the best out of my game,” he said of this week's expectations. “I'm fairly confident in my game and kind of know what I'm capable of. I'm just going to try and hold myself to the level that I expect out of myself. I try not to look too much into results and just more out of like a preparation and execution standpoint probably.”

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