Baylor grad Luke List ready for PGA Tour

Luke List is not an actor.

He may appear smooth on screen, but he doesn't have the skills of Kevin Costner, Morgan Freeman or even Shia LaBeouf, who played legendary golfer Francis Ouimet in "The Greatest Game Ever Played."

But List gave it his best in Callaway commercials at Colonial Country Club about three weeks ago.

"It was fun and I worked with a full film crew," List said via cell phone. "I'm not sure what's going to air, so I don't want to leak anything, but the commercials are about why would you play anything else when you can play this."

Callaway, which has superstars Phil Mickelson and Annika Sorenstam on staff, signed List before the 2012 golf season. The equipment company made a wise decision.

List, who grew up in Ringgold and played high school golf at Baylor, earned his way on the PGA Tour by finishing fourth in the Web.Com Tour rankings. The top 25 from that tour earn status on the PGA Tour the following year.

He'll be competing against the likes of Mickelson, Tiger Woods and Bubba Watson beginning in January at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

"It's what I dreamed of doing," List said. "I think my game is better suited for out there than on Web.com. I have lofty goals for next year."

Precisely, List wants to win a PGA Tour event, earn exemptions into each of the four majors beginning with the Masters, and then maybe win the rookie of the year award.

"It's an aggressive goal," List said. "It requires good play. There's still a lot of work to do to prove what I'm capable of."

With $363,206 in earnings, he finished behind only money leader Casey Wittenberg of Memphis, Luke Guthrie and former Georgia player Russell Henley on the Web.com Tour. One of Henley's teammates at Georgia and List's at Baylor, Harris English, earned more than $1 million as a PGA Tour rookie this year.

"We hung out a good bit and played some practice rounds when I was on the Nationwide [Web.com] Tour," English said a month ago. "It's going to be good having him on tour. We'll definitely hang out."

The first half of the season was particularly fruitful for List. He won the South Georgia Classic and tied for second at the Stadion Classic at the University of Georgia course, which essentially locked up his PGA card before the calendar turned to June. He finished the season with a tie for 13th at the Web.com Tour Championship.

"I went through a couple of valleys where I wasn't quite as sharp," said List, who lives now in Jupiter, Fla.

"It was a long year and there's a lot to be taken from this season," he said. "Finishing No. 4 is better than No. 5. I was happy with the end result."

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