Paul Apyan thought earlier this year that this might be his last season working as a professional golfer.
He’s 28 years old and a newlywed. He has a son who has yet to celebrate his third month of life.
Wife Leah told Apyan to play this summer and continue chasing his dream that began at Hixson High High School and continued during his seasons at Southern Miss.
The faith – in each other and in Apyan’s game – paid off this past weekend.
Apyan won the Greater Cedar Rapids Open, an individual event not associated with any tour, and stuffed a six-foot-wide check into the back seat of his car for the ride back from Iowa. His prize was $22,000.
Paul Apyan, who prepped at Hixson High School, won the Greater Cedar Rapids Open over the weekend. His first professional victory changed his outlook on the season. He practiced on Monday at Council Fire.“I’d like to say that I’m buying toys and fun stuff, but I’ve lost a lot of money in the last two years playing,” Apyan said. “So I’m buying diapers.”
He won Saturday by completing a three-round total of 18-under-par 198 at Hunters Ridge Golf Course. The runner-up finished four shots behind Apyan.
He’s not giving up on his dream now.
“The biggest check I’d won before this was $4,500,” Apyan said. “I came fairly close to giving up earlier this year, closer than I’d ever been.”
Yet his future plans are still in flux. The ideal goal is to earn status on the Web.com Tour through qualifying school later this year.
With the victory – even though it provides zero exemptions to any tour – Apyan and his wife must now try to figure out the rest of his schedule for this year. Does he leave the family to play in South America like he did before Paul Cameron Apyan joined this world? Does he continue to play mini-tour events in the Southeast? Does he travel even greater distances than he went for two events in Iowa?
“I have to sit down with Leah and look at the best places to play,” Apyan said. “With the changing landscape of tours, I have to re-evaluate.
“Right now, I’m having so much fun playing golf that it’s not the grind that it has been in the past.”
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP