How would you react to have earned nearly $400,000, only to be told you will never see it?
University of Georgia senior Lee McCoy is the toast of the golf world thanks to his impressive fourth-place finish at the Valspar Championship.
Of course, as an amateur, McCoy had to settle for just praise instead of prizemoney. And of course, McCoy was going to think about it eventually – even if Sunday’s playing partner and World No.1, Jordan Spieth, did his best to shield the NCAA star from that fact.
“We were sitting in the scoring tent and there was a sheet with the winnings there,” McCoy told reporters at Innisbrook after.
“[Spieth] told me not to look. I looked. I shouldn’t have looked. Lot of money. Lot of money.”
Yep. $390,000 ($US292,800)Â to be exact. That’s a lot of money to anyone, let alone a college senior.
“I think I got, like, 350 bucks in my bank account right now so it’s mostly (petrol)Â money,” McCoy said.
“It hurt but there’s so much going great for me right now. I’m just trying to take it all in, just really grateful to be standing here. I’ve always dreamt of just getting a tee time here on Thursday [at this event]. Being in contention on Sunday playing with the No.1 player in the world was something that never crossed my mind.”
It’s OK, Lee. Judging by your performance over the weekend, we’d say your earning potential upon graduation is pretty high.
McCoy shot 66-69 over the weekend to finish at four-under 280, three strokes back of winner Charl Schwartzel. A first-team All-American who played on the 2015 U.S. Walker Cup team, McCoy was only the fifth amateur since Phil Mickelson won the 1991 Northern Telecom Open in Tucson to finish in the top five in a PGA Tour event, posting the best performance since Justin Rose had a T-4 at the 1998 Open Championship.
