For TOUR rookie Turnesa, golf runs in the family
By Lauren Deason, PGATOUR.COM Editorial Coordinator
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. -- No PGA TOUR player would wish bogeys upon a fellow TOUR member.
But if the devil had perched on Marc Turnesa's shoulder at the Northern Trust Open in mid-February and whispered bogey hexes into his ear, you wouldn't have blamed Turnesa for at least mulling over his options.
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That's because when darkness halted play on Friday at Riviera Country Club, six players -- including Turnesa and playing partner John Merrick -- had to return the next morning for the final two holes of the second round.
Both Merrick and Turnesa, at even par for the tournament, sat just inside the cut line. If the duo made two pars, they'd both make the cut ... except there was a catch.
At that time the PGA TOUR had just implemented a new cut policy. If 78 players made a cut, 78 players played the weekend. If 79 players made the cut, those players one stroke above the line did not play the weekend. They still earned money and FedExCup points, but since the field size then exceeded 78, they didn't have a chance to play Saturday and Sunday.
Turnesa parred his final two holes; Merrick made par then bogey. Turnesa went to play round three; Merrick went to pack.
In the third and fourth rounds Turnesa -- who had Monday qualified that week -- shot 67 and 70, respectively, to tie for 22nd and garner his best TOUR finish.
"(That finish) is probably why I am here right now," Turnesa recalled on Friday after finishing his second round at the Verizon Heritage.
Certainly it helped the 30-year-old gain entry into more events, including the one at Harbour Town Golf Links, where he's currently tied near the top of the leaderboard with a large group of golfers -- including Jim Furyk, Aaron Baddeley and Jonathan Byrd -- at 6 under.
It's a solid place to be heading into the weekend, and it's an even better place considering he started Thursday's first round making bogey on three of his first four holes. He seemed destined to suffer his seventh cut in his 12th tournament start this season.
But by the time he made the turn, he was already back to even par, and managed two more birdies on the back nine to turn a disastrous start into a decent result.
On Friday he avoided anything above par altogether. His four birdies gave him a 67 and placed him four strokes behind leader Lucas Glover.
Turnesa is constantly working on his putting and making adjustments to his game but said he's not doing anything different this week.
"I'm just trying to play golf and not worry about anything else. Just hitting it, going to find it, hitting it again," he said. "Every week I get more comfortable. Experience is something I don't have but I get more of every week."
Turnesa is new to the PGA TOUR but has professional golf running through his veins.
Great-uncle Jim won the 1952 PGA Championship. Grandfather Mike captured six titles on the PGA TOUR and was runner-up in the 1948 PGA Championship. Mike had six brothers and five played on the PGA TOUR, including 15-time PGA TOUR winner Joe.
With bloodlines like that, naturally Marc's father Mike Jr. took to golf and is currently the head pro at Rockville Links Golf Club in Long Island, N.Y. It was Mike Jr. who passed a love for the game on to his son.
"I grew up in a house just a mile from the course," Turnesa said. "I'd go to school and then go to the golf course. It was my second home. (My dad) was my mentor growing up."
Now all grown up, Turnesa followed his family's footsteps onto the TOUR. After five seasons on the Gateway Tour (2001-2006), Turnesa made the Nationwide Tour for the first time last year. A win at the 2007 Miccosukee Championship and eight other top-25 finishes made him 16th on the Nationwide Tour money list and handed him a PGA TOUR card.
"It's not quite the PGA TOUR obviously, but you are playing tournaments every week all over the country against some pretty solid competition," Turnesa said of his Nationwide Tour experience. "You get used to the travel and it's a pretty high level of play out there. It prepared me for the PGA TOUR."
Turnesa also learned by watching former college roommate Carl Pettersson earn his stripes on the TOUR. He counts Pettersson and another fellow North Carolina State University alum Tim Clark among his closest TOUR friends. Knowing them, he says, has made his transition easier.
There are still two days left at the Verizon Heritage, but Turnesa is itching to join Pettersson as Wolfpack alums with a PGA TOUR win.
He'd also add to the Turnesa legacy -- although that thought rarely crosses his mind.
"It would be cool, it would be nice to do it," he said. "But I'm doing this because I love to play golf. I love to compete."
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