A year ago this week, Dan McCarthy entered the final hole of the Savannah Golf Championship on the verge of his first Korn Ferry Tour title. The journeyman held a one-stroke lead over Scottie Scheffler as the pair teed off on the 593-yard, par-5 18th.

“I hit a decent tee shot and had about 230 yards into the hole,” McCarthy recalled. “Considering the situation, I ended up laying it up. My mindset for the day was to take as much pressure off myself as I could.”

McCarthy laid up from the fairway, leaving himself a wedge approach into the green. Trailing by one, Scheffler lined up his second shot and flared his 4-iron high and right into the greenside bunker. Moments later, McCarthy hit a wedge to 12 feet and kept the pressure in Scheffler’s corner.

Facing a difficult approach to a short-sided pin, Scheffler hit a near-perfect bunker shot that scared the hole for eagle and left a 6-foot birdie try.

“He (Scottie) hit into a really tough spot,” McCarthy said. “I thought if I could wedge it close, I could really put pressure on him to have to hit a miracle shot. He hit a ridiculously good bunker shot from where most people would be dead, and almost made it.”

With a chance to clinch his first win, McCarthy’s 12-foot birdie putt slid by the hole, leaving a short putt for par. As McCarthy could only wait and watch, Scheffler lined up his birdie putt to force a playoff. Scheffler’s attempt slid past the hole, and McCarthy tapped in for par and his first Korn Ferry Tour title.

“There was a tremendous amount of satisfaction that all the hard work was worth it,” he said. “It instilled me with a lot of beliefs. It was really gratifying to know I was capable of doing it.”

The victory came in McCarthy’s 45th career Korn Ferry Tour start, but not without previous years of sacrifice. After turning professional in 2007, the Upstate New York native battled his way on mini-tours and competed in state opens in the Northeast for several years.

“I played anywhere and everywhere,” McCarthy said. “I played a lot on the Minor League Golf Tour down here in south Florida. I played a lot on the Hooters Tour (Swing Thought Tour) and I played state opens in New York and New Hampshire. I felt the more tournament golf I could play, the more experience I could get and the better off I would be.”

In 2010, the Le Moyne College product earned a spot in the U.S. Open Championship at Pebble Beach Golf Links.

“It was a bit shell-shocking at that point,” McCarthy said of his experience at Pebble Beach. “I had gone from playing mini-tours to playing one of the premier golf tournaments in the world. I learned a lot from that week and thoroughly enjoyed it.”

In 2014, things started to turn in McCarthy’s favor. He joined the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada after competing his way through the Tour’s qualifying tournament.

During the 2016 season in Canada, everything finally clicked. In 11 starts, McCarthy won four times en route to earning Player of the Year honors. By winning the Order of Merit, he secured full 2017 Korn Ferry Tour status.

“That’s a year I’ll never forget,” he said. “I really learned a lot about myself going into that season. The months leading up to that season are when I really started to figure some things out that worked for me consistently.”

McCarthy is now in his fourth full Korn Ferry Tour season and in search of his first PGA TOUR card. After his win last season, it’s clear that the Savannah Golf Championship and the Savannah community will always have a special place in his heart, wherever the game of golf takes him.

“I really like the city of Savannah a lot,” McCarthy said. “It’s just a beautiful place and I felt very comfortable there. I don’t think any tournament surpasses that golf tournament as far as volunteer and military support go. It’s just a great golf tournament on a great golf course.”