For the second time in his career and the first since 2016, Josh Speight has qualified for the PGA Championship.
Speight, a 2006 graduate of Gloucester High School who’s now the director of instruction at The Club at Viniterra in New Kent, tied for 11th at the PGA Professional Championship from April 30-May 3 in New Mexico. The top 20 earned invitations to golf’s second major of the year, scheduled to begin Thursday at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York.
“It was nice to get that validation of how well I’ve been playing,” he said. “I changed my golf swing pretty dramatically over the winter months, and I’ve been really putting in a lot of effort on that and my putting.”
It wasn’t all about his efforts on the course, though. He also credited what has happened off the course in the past few years.
“I think I have way more perspective of life these days because I have children,” he said. “I think I have more appreciation for what I just did because I have a family. I have a beautiful wife who I love very much and is so supportive of me, and our children that are, quite frankly, too young to know what’s going on right now.”
He and his wife, Sydney, have been married almost 10 years. They have a 2-year-old son, Graham, and 1-year-old daughter, Grace.
“I think one of the reasons that I played better last week is because I had more perspective that, hey, if I don’t play well, it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day,” he said. “That kind of freed me up to play better, not that I didn’t get frustrated when I did something wrong.”
That maturity was important to him bouncing back from an opening-round 4-over-par 76 in the PGA Professional Championship, an annual tournament for golf club pros and teachers who are PGA members. He followed with rounds of 70, 72 and 67 to move safely into the top 20 and the PGA Championship again.
“As I mature, I’m able to deal with this tournament way better,” he said.
After finishing tied for fourth in 2016, he failed to reach the final round in 2017, ’18 and ’19. In 2020, the event was canceled because of the pandemic, and he didn’t participate the past two years because the tournament came shortly after the birth of each of his children.
“All the other times I missed the cut, I had a 76, 77, 78 in the first round, and then I was done at that point,” he said.
However, this year he wasn’t discouraged after his opening round left him tied for 172nd. He had played in the afternoon, when the windy conditions were particularly challenging.
“I knew the guys that played in the morning had to now play in the afternoon the next day, and I knew I was getting to play in the morning, so I had time and I stayed patient,” he said. “I wouldn’t have been able to do that seven years ago, five years ago, four years ago.”
In the final round, he holed out from about 50 yards for an eagle on the first hole, setting the tone for the day.
“That was a nice way to start that round off,” he said.
He knew where he stood most of the day, and when he birdied No. 16, he was pretty sure he would finish in the top 20. But with the leaders still out on the course, it wasn’t yet official.
“You never know, things happen,” he said. “I waited around on pins and needles for three hours.”
Now, it’s off to eastern New York, where he will participate for the second time against the likes of Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka and Jordan Spieth. In all, 99 of the top 100 players in the world are in the 156-player field.
Seven years ago, Speight missed the cut in the PGA Championship by six shots after rounds of 77-71 at Baltusrol Golf Club in New Jersey.
“I think I was overwhelmed a little bit the first day,” he said. “But I’m looking forward to doing it again.”
He doesn’t know much about Oak Hill, but has been doing research. He expects it to play long with challenging rough.
“I’m going to have to keep the ball in play off the tee to avoid the rough,” he said.
He isn’t intimidated by the big names in the game, although he is impressed by them. He knows he has to stay patient and play his game, not letting one bad shot snowball. The experience from 2016 will pay off, even if it was seven years ago.
“I’ve matured a lot in my golf game, and as a person,” he said. “I think that maturity will also serve me well this week versus 2016.”
