Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman, at 45 years old, is finishing up his 17th season on the PGA Tour. This isn’t one of his best ones, but he achieved a significant milestone at last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi.
Streelman made his 300th career cut on golf’s premier circuit. There have been 9,711 golfers who have made at least one PGA Tour cut over the years, but only 203 have hit 300. Streelman did it in his 457th career start.
“It’s a career thing,’’ said Streelman, who is – at least arguably – the best player to come out of the Chicago area in at least six decades . “It’s not just a hot week or a special year, but to do it this year is special to me and my family. It’s been a lot of work, a lot of time on the road, a lot of time away from my family. I’m just really thankful.’’
In his 17 seasons Streelman has won two tournaments, the last in 2014, and $26.7 million. This year, though, he had nine missed cuts and one withdrawal via injury in 20 starts. His ranking in the FedEx Cup standings is down to 177th and he’s 274th in the Official World Golf Rankings.
“You don’t want to play for making cuts, because then you end up finishing near cuts. If you’re trying to win tournaments those things take care of themselves,’’ said Streelman, “but this (hitting 300) has been a little bit of weight on my shoulders. I don’t necessarily know why. It’s just a number. I know 20 years from now, no one cares. It’s just something I’m proud of, that I’ve been able to accomplish.’’
Streelman has come a long way in his golf career.
“For a kid who lived out of my car for five years out of college, the dream of getting out here to close to 500 starts and 300 cuts is pretty cool,’’ he said. His first made cut came at Brown Deer Park in Milwaukee in 2005. The tournament, the Greater Milwaukee Open, has been long gone – but not in Streelman’s memory books.
He shot 65 in Monday qualifying to get into the tournament. That alone was a huge deal.
“At the time I had $20 to my name,’’ he said. “To know that last place would be $10,000 or $12,000, that’s a life changing amount of money for a mini-tour golfer. To make the cut I made like $25,000. I was the richest guy in the world that night. It allowed me to pay for Q-School and the next few months of entry fees.’’
Making cuts became less of a concern as Streelman blossomed into a solid journeyman on the PGA Tour and prize money steadily increased. Still, money was a concern.
“It’s real. We pay our caddies a lot. Pay for hotel fees and travel, and you’ve got to take care of all that on our own,’’ he said. “A cold stretch with the putter or driver and all of a sudden it gets expensive. That can weigh heavily on Friday afternoons when you’re right on the cut line.’’
Streelman got a dose of reality before the Mississippi tournament wrapped up on Sunday. A struggling 73 in the final round dropped him 29 spots on the leaderboard into a tie for 42nd place. His paycheck was $26,200 – not bad, but it would have been about $200,000 more had he held the tie for sixth that he had after 54 holes.