Spencer Levin, 41, who has played golf for money most of his life and has one victory in 408 PGA Tour-sanctioned events, is often called the “Journeyman.”
But in fact, he is an “ordinary person”.
He didn’t hit very far. He fought with a flat stick and refined his approach by adopting techniques used by Happy Gilmore. In his PGA Tour profile, he lists his greatest excitement as “putting.” Levine has a great sense of humor. He also has a temper. At one point, he used a javelin to throw a flagpole at his golf bag, knocking it down.
Bottom line: Tour pros are not getting any more relatable. Yet, 20 years after turning pro, Levine continues to do things the rest of us can’t.
For example, on Saturday, in the third round of the Q-School Finals, Levine shot a 7-under 63 at Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, giving himself a chance to regain something he hasn’t had since the end of the 2017 season: a PGA Tour card. Levine’s hot scoring, highlighted by five straight birdies on the back nine (his front nine of the day), puts him at 9 under for the week and tied for sixth, two strokes behind co-leaders Ben Coles and Marcelo Rozzo heading into Sunday’s final round. Only the top five players will earn full PGA Tour status – a change from previous seasons, when the top five players and ties were all eligible.
The math is different this time.
Levine is familiar with the pressure, however, having been a Q School finalist in 2022 and 2023, where he struggled during the competition as many of the other competitors were in diapers.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” Levine said Saturday. “I’ve seen it all. What you learn is there are no secrets. You just have to go out tomorrow and execute and play the game. That’s it.”
Easier said than done. But Levine does it often.
Born in Elk Grove, California, Levine rose to prominence in baseball as a child, but at age 13, inspired by Tiger Woods’ 1997 Masters championship, he began taking golf seriously. His swing was never mechanically perfect by PGA Tour standards. But he has long been accurate off the tee and has long been known for his sharp-eyed putting. Levine, a two-time All-American at the University of Mexico, turned pro in 2005, a year after finishing tied for 13th and earning low-amateur honors at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.
In the 20 years since, he has earned more than $9 million in his career, including a victory on the Korn Ferry Tour at the 2023 Veritex Bank Championship. But he has never won on the PGA Tour and went five years without making a cut on the top tour. When he finally broke that drought, he did so in unforgettable fashion, putting his right hockey stick on his stick during the weekend of the 2022 Shriners Open and breaking up a putt straight out of Happy Gilmore.
Levine will need his putter and the rest of the clubs in his bag to perform on Sunday. The leaderboard is crowded, with only two strokes separating the 11 players. Levine is the oldest of the competitors and has seen the most, both good and bad.
Ordinary guy or not, a good round on Sunday could change everything for him again.
