NEXT LEVEL

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

Going into the last month of his final season at Baylor, fifth-year senior golfer Johnny Keefer seemed to be a longshot at best to finish in the top 25 of the PGA Tour University Rankings and earn exempt status on the PGA Tour Americas.

On the outside looking in, at 39^th, Keefer had an impressive run that included a tie for sixth at the Big 12 Championship, runner-up at the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional and tie for 11^th at the NCAA Championship at Omni La Costa Golf Course in Carlsbad, Calif., to claim the 25^th and final spot.

"I wasn't 100% sure where I stood, what I needed to do going into the national championship," Keefer said. "When I found out that I was in the (25^th) spot, me and Coach (Mike) McGraw were really happy. We were having dinner after the last round with Luke Dossey and Tyler Isenhart, the two other seniors that were graduating with me. And it was really cool. I was like, 'Hey, I have a job now.'''

A little over three months later, the Baltimore, Maryland, native was hoisting the Fortinet Cup after finishing first in the tour standings and earning Player of the Year honors as a rookie on the PGA Tour Americas with a 66.0-stroke average. He made the cut in all 10 events he played with four runner-up finishes and a win at the CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open at 26-under-par.

"To be honest with you, I was just kind of taking each tournament as an opportunity to showcase what I can do," he said. "I was playing really good golf at the end of the college season. And then, to head up to Canada and continue that good golf was really special. I didn't necessarily expect it, but I was definitely grateful for it."

At his debut pro tournament in Victoria, British Columbia, Keefer remembers looking up at the leader board at one point in the first round and "was like tied for 60^th" at 2-under.

"I was like, 'What the heck? I thought I played all right,''' he said. "I just continued to chip away and finished fifth, so that gave me a lot of confidence. I think each week, I just continued to play well, and the confidence built. That was huge. I definitely was going into the tournaments with a little bit less pressure as they went on. There was no reason to expect anything more or less than just go out there and hit the next shot."

Johnny Keefer

After six top-10 finishes in his first seven tournaments on the tour, Keefer broke through with his first professional win at the Manitoba Open in Winnipeg, shooting 26-under and beating 30-year-old Canadian Joey Savoie by one shot.

"It's kind of guns firing right out of the gates in professional golf," he said. "It's different, because you just need to try to go out and make as many birdies as possible and try to limit the damage. Sometimes in college golf, pars are great. But at the professional level, I haven't noticed many holes where I've set up and thought, 'You know, I can't really shoot for birdie here.'''

With two more top-5 finishes, including tying for third in the Fortinet Cup Championship at TPC Toronto, Keefer finished atop the Fortinet Cup standings with 2,022 points and beat three-time All-American Frederik Kjettrup by 320 points. That earned him a Korn Ferry Tour card for the 2025 season and exemption into the Final Stage of PGA Tour Q-School that will be held Dec. 12-15 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

"I'm super pumped about it," he said. "I did my job and what I needed to do up in PGA Tour Americas. They did a really good job hosting us and getting to play great competition. So, to get out there and be able to test myself against the Korn Ferry (players) is going to be really exciting. And then, even having the opportunity to get a (PGA) Tour card at the Final Stage of Q School, I'm excited and really grateful."

After earning $161,708 in three months on the PGA Tour Americas, Keefer earned his biggest paycheck to date in last month's Procore Championship. Tying for 13^th at 9-under 279, he pocketed $86,515 to bring his earnings to almost a quarter of $1 million.

"That's the dream, right?" Keefer said of playing in his first PGA Tour event. "That's where everyone wants to be. I was super excited. The first two days, I was looking at these guys and was like, 'Man, I've seen these guys on TV! Oh, there's Min Woo (Lee), there's Max Homa.' I gave myself a few days to kind of be star-struck. But once the tournament started, I wasn't necessarily nervous. I was more excited to play. It was kind of like any other tournament."

At Lady Bird Johnson High School in San Antonio, Keefer was ranked No. 10 in the 2019 recruiting class and 19^th overall in the Golfweek Junior Rankings when he signed with Baylor in November 2018.

Keefer certainly lived up to the hype as one of the most decorated players in the history of Baylor golf. He was a three-time All-American, setting school records for career scoring average (71.45), lowest individual round (63) and lowest tournament score (198, at the 2024 NCAA Chapel Hill Regional), while becoming the only three-time Big 12 Men's Scholar-Athlete of the Year in the league's history.

Crediting McGraw for his development throughout his five years at Baylor, Keefer said he was never "surprised by the courses as much as some other guys might be," because of the difficult schedule the Bears played every year.

"Kind of early on, when I was a little bit frazzled by everything, all the moving parts, he settled me down," Keefer said. "He taught me so much throughout college. He has so much experience, especially guiding Tour players like Ricky Fowler, Hunter Mahan and Charles Howell III.

"He has so many people that he's coached at (Oklahoma State), and then obviously guys like Cooper (Dossey) and me coming through Baylor now. He's been able to give us the guidance that we've needed, honestly, to start our professional lives."

Players Mentioned

Luke Dossey

Tyler Isenhart

Johnny Keefer

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