Last June in the parking lot of the University of Maryland Golf Course, Billy Hurley Jr. tossed his clubs into the back of his SUV and headed back to Annapolis after missing the cut in the Nationwide Tour’s Melwood Prince George’s County Open.
A year later, Hurley is in an entirely different place. The course is Congressional. The vehicle is a Mercedes courtesy car. The tournament is the AT&T National. The circuit is the PGA. And his position is well above the cut line.
In Thursday’s opening round, Hurley spent most of it in the lead on his way to a 2-under-par 69. Hurley birdied three of the first eight holes, then played steady the rest of the way, until yanking a drive into a tree on his final hole and making a bogey.
“I was playing No. 4 off No. 9,” Hurley cracked.
After Fairfax native Steve Marino withdrew with an ailing knee, Hurley filled the void on Thursday, providing a local storyline. Hurley, the son of a club pro-turned-Loudoun County policeman, grew up in Leesburg and played at the Naval Academy.
As a kid, Hurley got one chance to play at Congressional, but an attack of appendicitis forced him out of a U.S. Junior Amateur Qualifier. Thursday was his first tournament round on the famed Blue Course.
Hurley’s presence in the spotlight also is appropriate considering this tournament pays homage to the military. Though many in his gallery were there to cheer on 17-year-old sensation Beau Hossler (71), there still were plenty cries of “Beat Army.”
Hurley was late bloomer in high school. By the time he started getting noticed, he was already committed to Navy where he became an All-American. After his five-year service commitment, Hurley still is playing catch up.
“I’m 30 and I think in golf years I’m like 25,” said Hurley, who is married and has two children.
There were moments of soul searching when Hurley was scraping by on the mini-tours in 2010 and last year on the Nationwide when he missed the cut in five of his first six events.
But as he was struggling to maintain status on the Nationwide, he finished 5th and 2nd in back-to-back tournaments and continued on a hot streak, winning his PGA Tour card in just one season on the Nationwide.
This year has been another adjustment for Hurley. He missed the cut in 12 of 16 events, but last week he earned a check at the Travelers. Now there’s a chance for his best PGA Tour finish and perhaps another hot streak.
“It’s about getting comfortable out here,” Hurley said. “Everything is a little bit — courses are a little bit longer, a little bit firmer, a little bit faster. So it’s all little increments.”
