MJ Daffue looking to avoid Mondays in the future
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MJ Daffue sinks birdie putt at Sanderson Farms
MJ Daffue didn’t have to look far to get motivation as a Monday qualifier this week in the Sanderson Farms Championship where he opened with an impressive 7-under 65. Just six groups ahead of him on Thursday at the Country Club of Jackson was Canadian Corey Conners – the last man to win a PGA TOUR event having had to play an extra round just to make the field.
Daffue (pronounced Duffy), has become a bit of a savant at qualifying over the last few years getting through in nine of his last 14 attempts at PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour Monday qualifiers. The 31-year-old South African survived an eight-man playoff for two spots on Monday at Deerfield Golf Club to take his place in just the fifth TOUR event of his career.
But while Conners – who became the fifth Monday qualifier to go on and win the tournament proper with his success at the 2019 Valero Texas Open – is proof it can be done, Daffue has even more motivation to play well enough to be a regular TOUR player. He has a six-week old newborn son he’d love to provide a steady future for.
To do that, Daffue needs to win a TOUR event or earn 288 non-member FedExCup points in the starts he gets either as a qualifier or as a sponsors invite (up to seven starts) to qualify as a special temporary member. If he can do that the seven start sponsor invite restriction is lifted and his new goal becomes earning enough points to be inside the top 125 of the FedExCup. He sits just one shot off the lead following round one.
His career has been spent mostly on mini tours after the mental strain of losing his mother-in-law to a tragic accident, where she tripped over a manhole and was killed by a car, took its toll. Now he is back playing to the level he felt he could years ago after graduating from Lamar University.
Last month, he qualified into the Safeway Open and finished 72nd. Last season he found his way into the Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village and finished a career best T22 after shooting the equal best round of the day on Saturday.
“Obviously I've had some good finishes getting into these events and made most of the cuts, and I think for me it's all about trying to forget about trying to make all the points to get temporary membership at once,” Daffue said after finishing up in near darkness with his seventh birdie of the day.
“If I can just stick with the process and chip away and back myself to get into more events… If I play good enough, it will happen.”
Daffue cheekily hoped his continued efforts would send a message to tournament directors in charge of sponsor invites, allowing him to skip Monday’s all together.
“Hopefully the tournament directors are seeing what I'm doing, I pretty much think it's a world record, so hopefully they're nice and maybe I can get into some more events and just keep playing,” he grinned.
“I'm really fortunate to be out here and I'm having fun. It's awesome. I have a six-week-old baby at the house and I miss him so much, and it's just nice to know that there's something bigger for when you get off the course.
“I'm excited. Hopefully I can just execute the same game plan. I've got a good caddie on the bag this week. He's a member out here, so I have a little bit of the inside scoop.”
Daffue wasn’t the only qualifier to start well. Stephen Lewton shot 68 in just his second TOUR start and 40-year-old heart attack survivor Jay McLuen shot 70 to be inside the top 40.
