Second Thoughts

PGA rookie finally finds way on Tour

Nicholas Lindheim, 32, is the oldest of the 25 rookies on this year’s PGA Tour, but he’s not like any of the others.
Nicholas Lindheim, 32, is the oldest of the 25 rookies on this year’s PGA Tour, but he’s not like any of the others.

Of the 70 players who made the cut in the PGA Tour season opener, Nicholas Lindheim easily could have been mistaken for a college kid who was a Monday qualifier. He had a carry bag. He was not wearing a cap with a logo. He didn't have an equipment deal. He didn't have an agent.

Lindheim, who turns 32 next month, is the oldest of the 25 rookies on the PGA Tour.

And there aren't many like him.

The California native made it to the big leagues without going to college and wasn't known to have an exceptional game.

"I played my sophomore year in high school, and I was terrible," he said. "Being as competitive as I am, I just couldn't put it down. I knew I could do it. I wouldn't say I knew I could play on the PGA Tour, but to do it competitively."

He worked in the cart barn at Mission Viejo Country Club, then moved to Menifee Lakes Country Club in Murrieta, Calif., where he would play every day after work until he got better. He tried Q-school for the first time in 2011. He qualified for the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in 2014, made the cut and played with Jim Furyk in the final round (Lindheim closed with a 77 and tied for 56th).

Lindheim finally got some status on the Web.com Tour, and won on the Latin America circuit in 2014 and 2015.

And then he was ready to quit.

"I thought maybe at one point this year I wasn't good enough," Lindheim said. "It was my daughter's third birthday. I was in Springfield, Ill., and had just missed the cut by a shot. I missed an 8-footer on the last hole. I called my wife and said, 'This isn't fun.' I was missing out on life at home."

His wife, Gracie, an attorney in Satellite Beach, Fla., told him to finish up the year and take stock.

Lindheim promptly won the next week in Utah and was on his way to the big leagues.

"That's how crazy this game is," Lindheim said.

Lindheim finished 70th and won $12,000 in last week's Safeway Open.

Network blunders

"Way to grow the Major League Baseball," wrote Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com. "The ALCS with Cleveland vs. Toronto is on during the day when many are at work. And the NLCS with the Cubs vs. LA is on FS1, a channel many people, and most hotels, don't get."

The middle

Indians Manager Terry Francona said video showing him extending a middle finger to a camera during Game 3 of the American League Championship series was a "nervous habit" and certainly wasn't intentional.

Wrote Dwight Perry of The Seattle Times: "Francona apologists immediately blamed it on the four years he spent managing in Philadelphia."

Headline

From theonion.com:

"Retired David Ortiz excited to finally eat whatever he wants"

Sports on 10/20/2016

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