Arizona alum Trevor Werbylo fulfills childhood dream, punches ticket to PGA TOUR

When Trevor Werbylo was a youngster, he played a junior golf event at PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He stayed on property and played the golf course a few times. It was a cool course and a cool place. He loved it.

Despite competing at a high level in baseball at the same time, he found himself at baseball practice dreaming of the golf course. That was the moment he knew it was time to get more serious about the path he was going to take with his life.

And thanks to a wonderful start to this Korn Ferry Tour season, he has ensured himself of PGA TOUR membership for the 2022-23 season.

With a T18 finish at last week’s Wichita Open Benefitting KU Wichita Pediatrics, Werbylo has crossed the fail-safe threshold (875 points) to secure his first TOUR card via The 25 upon the conclusion of the Regular Season-ending Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna in August.

Werbylo, who was a celebrated collegiate golfer at the University of Arizona, has three top-10 finishes so far this season, including a victory at the Lake Charles Championship in late March, in which he defeated Seonghyeon Kim in a playoff that included a mind-bending birdie after a shot over a grandstand.

He had finished third at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open presented by MISTRAS the week prior, completing a sparkling run through the Louisiana swing that ultimately proved effective in securing his TOUR dream for 2022-23.

“It’s a lifelong dream that’s being fulfilled,” said Werbylo upon crossing the threshold to secure his TOUR card. “It’s super exciting and super satisfying seeing a lot of the hard work paying off now.”

The 24-year-old is no stranger to winning. He notched a win at The Fuzzy Zoeller Classic at Covered Bridge Golf Club on the 2021 PGA TOUR Canada (season contested in the United States as the Forme Tour) in his first year as a professional. The win came after his 2021 title at The Prestige while a senior at Arizona. In his final season as a Wildcat, Werbylo led Arizona to the team title at the Pac-12 Conference Championship – the program’s first title since 2004.

Werbylo had earned full 2021 PGA TOUR Canada status by virtue of his No. 9 finish on the inaugural PGA TOUR University presented by Velocity Global Ranking. He becomes the first PGA TOUR University alum to earn TOUR membership.

The Tucson, Arizona native said he has been able to lean into a solid short game to help with his consistency through the early part of the year, and now he’s hoping to translate his fine start to an even better finish.

“When I was writing down some goals for the season, number one was to get a PGA TOUR card,” said Werbylo, a hiking enthusiast who is also featured in the 2022 cast of One Shot Away. “To be in such a great position to achieve that is really cool and really satisfying.”

The early-season success has seen Werbylo pivot some of his goals – happily, he said – to now include finishing No. 1 on The 25, along with notching at least one more victory.

“There is still so much to motivate me still,” he said.

Ever since that fateful trip to PGA National, Werbylo has wanted to make it as a professional golfer. He enjoyed college golf and the aspect of being part of a team, but he was ready to do things on his own, he said. He began his professional career on PGA TOUR Canada in a good state of mind to play good golf. There was no big hurdle to overcome mentally as he commenced his journey in professional golf.

The success came fast and furious last season on PGA TOUR Canada, on which he finished atop the 2021 Order of Merit to earn full Korn Ferry Tour status in 2022. It quickly proved to translate effectively.

“I’ve always been a self-motivated person,” said Werbylo. “I enjoyed the individual aspect of professional golf and making my own plans and all that. I’ve enjoyed (turning professional) but I’ve also been working really hard and have a lot of confidence in my game.

“The combination of that is why I’m in a good spot mentally and with how my game feels.”

Werbylo (he laughs and says he has “definitely” heard some bad pronunciations of his last name, but mostly it’s just people forgetting the ‘r’) believes he has already matured as a person since turning pro. In college, he admits, he was “a little too hard” on himself. He wasn’t finding any joy when he was struggling.

Now he has put a little less pressure on himself and is playing more carefree. He’s not always stressing about hitting bad shots, and he’s comfortable in being a high-level performer. Even with lots of golf left this season, he has locked up a TOUR card and currently stands No. 8 on the Regular Season Points List.

That young version of Werbylo who teed it up at PGA National only dreaming of playing with TOUR pros has turned into a professional golfer who is ready to make that dream a reality.

“It’s obviously still a job,” he said of his chosen career, “but it’s a pretty cool job and I love everything about it.”