Meet the rookies: Michael Gellerman
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PORTLAND, OREGON - AUGUST 11: Michael Gellerman holds up his PGA Tour card during the "The 25" ceremony after the final round of the WinCo Foods Portland Open presented by KraftHeinz at Pumpkin Ridge Ridge Golf Club on August 11, 2019 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
Michael Gellerman reflects on maiden Web.com Tour title at KC Golf Classic
Each week during the fall, PGATOUR.COM will highlight one of the rookies playing on the PGA TOUR during the 2019-20 season. This week: Michael Gellerman, who’s in this week’s field at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier.
Age: 27
Birthplace: Tucson, Arizona
Resides: Edmond, Oklahoma
College: Oklahoma
TOUR card gained by: Finishing 21st in the Korn Ferry Tour regular season standings.
TOUR starts/Best finish: Making his PGA TOUR debut this week at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier
Pro highlights: Won the 2019 KC Golf Classic on the Korn Ferry Tour for his first victory as a pro; it came in front of family and friends, as Gellerman grew up in Sterling, Kansas, about 3-1/2 hours away. Two months later, he finished T-3 at the TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes en route to earning his TOUR card after spending four seasons on the Korn Ferry Tour and Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada.
Amateur highlights: Made 47 starts for the Sooners during his four-year career from 2011-15, winning the 2014 Wyoming Cowboy Classic among his 17 top-10 finishes … Led the Sooners in scoring average in his junior and senior seasons … Was an Academic All-Big 12 First Team golfer for three seasons … As a junior, he was named the 2009 Kansas Junior Player of the Year (he won nine tournaments that year) and was runner-up in 2010.
Interesting tidbits: During his freshman year in high school, he broke both of his wrists while playing pickup basketball. That kept him out of the golf regular season, but he returned in time to win the state championship, the first of three in his high school career. … Grew up playing junior golf against fellow rookie Harry Higgs, who is from the Kansas City area. Higgs finished T-2 to Gellerman at the KC Golf Classic.
Gellerman says (after winning the KC Golf Classic): “Winning on Mother’s Day was great because I was kind of lacking on the presents, so I really needed to come in clutch down the stretch. Having my fiancée and my mom here on Mother’s Day was awesome. I had my dad here who taught me the game and was really the only one to ever give me a lesson up until last year. It was really cool to have all of the support. Even my dog is here.”
For more on Michael Gellerman, click here.