He was a UK golf star. Now, Chip McDaniel is learning, teaching at PGA Tour event.
To call the last year a whirlwind for Manchester native Chip McDaniel would probably be an understatement, given the changes to both his personal and professional life.
Last July, McDaniel — a University of Kentucky golfer from 2014-18 and an experienced player on both the Korn Ferry and PGA Tours — joined the coaching staff at Eastern Kentucky as an assistant for the Colonels’ men’s and women’s teams.
After one season at EKU, McDaniel came back to his alma mater.
New UK men’s golf head coach Gator Todd added McDaniel to his first-year staff as an assistant coach in late May.
Just a few weeks before this announcement, McDaniel made another major life decision: He proposed to his now fiancée, Sara.
So it’s understandable given all of this change that McDaniel hasn’t had much time to play golf, especially of late.
“I just haven’t played,” McDaniel matter-of-factly told the Herald-Leader on Wednesday. “I think Monday was actually my fifth or sixth actual day on a golf course (since late May). And I’m not a range rat, so I didn’t hit balls a lot (in) between. ... I hadn’t really played, especially hadn’t played in anything with juices flowing or adrenaline or anything like that.”
A standout player at Kentucky who still holds the second-lowest career scoring average (72.02 strokes) by a Wildcat men’s golfer since 1994, McDaniel said he didn’t know what to expect from his golf game given his lack of recent on-course time.
Which is what made the lead up to this year’s Barbasol Championship even more remarkable.
McDaniel qualified for the Barbasol via Monday’s open qualifier at Boone’s Trace National Golf Club in Richmond.
He had to survive a three-for-two playoff to do so, but it was a qualifying pathway with which McDaniel is more than familiar.
The Clay County High School graduate became known as a Monday-qualifying specialist back in 2019.
That year, he Monday-qualified into the PGA Tour’s Corales Puntacana Championship and finished in a tie for fifth. McDaniel also qualified into the Wells Fargo Championship, U.S. Open and Travelers Championship that year.
But this month’s Monday qualification was different, in large part due to the different place that McDaniel’s life is in.
“A lot of people that I’ve talked to, especially in the coaching business, they’re like, ‘Dude. I got way better at golf when I was a coach. Just because you see stuff from different perspectives. You just play more efficiently. You don’t freak out about stuff that doesn’t matter,’” McDaniel explained.
This led McDaniel to be in a place of optimism entering Thursday’s opening round of the Barbasol, a tournament he’s played before.
Those past results? A tie for 60th in 2018 and 68th in 2019.
“I’m kind of milking the no expectations a little bit,” McDaniel said with a smile. “Obviously the competitor in me has expectations every time I play. But, I feel like if there’s one I could qualify for, it would have been this one.”
Something that’s also sure to make this 2023 Barbasol a memorable one for McDaniel? His playing group.
The Thursday and Friday threesome of McDaniel, Matti Schmid and Josh Teater offers a feature group for fans of local Kentucky golf.
Teater is a fan-favorite at the Barbasol and a former Henry Clay High School and Morehead State standout.
Schmid, who was born in Germany, played college golf at Louisville and comes with significant pedigree. He was the low amateur at the 2021 Open Championship and earned 2021 Rookie of the Year honors on the DP World Tour.
Schmid was also tied for the lead after two rounds at the Barbasol last year, and he already has a top-10 finish on the PGA Tour this season.
All of this will be rolled into the lessons McDaniel will take from his latest PGA Tour appearance, and part of the wisdom he hopes to help impart to future Kentucky Wildcats golfers.
“A lot of things that I’m going to teach a young kid is not about a golf swing,” McDaniel said. “It’s about navigating professional golf especially, but also college golf. ... Seeing it from the side of coaching, I think you get an appreciation for how simple golf is supposed to be, and how hard it is.”
When asked what piece of advice McDaniel would go back in time and tell his younger, college-aged self, the response was an ironic one for a man with a reputation for Monday qualifying.
Play less.
“The main thing that I’m going to tell pretty much every kid that asks me is practice and play less on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday,” McDaniel said. “It’s more about preparing the right way, instead of just doing everything.”
On Thursday, McDaniel began his Barbasol Championship with a 1-under par round of 71.
He put together this under-par round in a PGA Tour event in front of quite the gallery of supporters as well: His fiancée (Sara), her family, McDaniel’s parents (Todd and Jennifer) and McDaniel’s brother (Todd, who also played golf at UK) were all among those in the gallery who walked 18 holes with him.
“I don’t think my family, with COVID and stuff, has seen me hit a golf ball in god knows how long. Three-and-a-half years or something like that,” McDaniel said. “So that was awesome. The atmosphere was awesome... The first tee (nerves), hadn’t felt that in a while.”
He sits eight shots back of the lead and is one shot behind the current cut of 2-under par.
When asked how he plans to wind down after the round, McDaniel had his eye toward another UK sport: Kentucky men’s basketball on its current trip to Canada.
“I might go to KSBar and watch the Cats,” McDaniel joked.
Someone will have to tell him tonight’s game isn’t being shown until Midnight on tape delay.
PGA Barbasol Championship
When: Thursday through Sunday
Where: Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville (Champions Course)
TV: 4-7 p.m. Thursday-Sunday (Golf Channel)
Streaming: Peacock
Tickets: Visit BarbasolChampionship.com/Tickets
