Byron Nelson grad talks TCU, playing Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial
Hayden Springer picked up his first set of golf clubs at the age of 2 and would star at Byron Nelson High School and TCU before embarking on his PGA career.
Springer attended the PGA tournament at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth as a child and talked about what it meant to compete in it now.
“It’s cool. It’s fun. I mean, I definitely dreamed of, you know, having this opportunity and to play the weekend and all that stuff and hopefully win one day,” Springer said. “So, yeah, it’s special. It’s cool and, you know, I try to remind myself that I’m blessed to be able to do it and to have that opportunity.”
The TCU product said he remembered skipping school to watch practice rounds at the Colonial.
“I remember, like we’d come out on a Monday or Tuesday practice round day, you know, back then it was open to the public,” Springer said. “My dad would let me skip school and take me out here and just getting to kind of see guys practicing and kind of more relaxed, I feel like that was nice.”
Springer, who won the Big 12 Championship with TCU in 2019, talked about what the program meant to him and how the Horned Frogs prepared him for success.
“I really enjoyed TCU, and I think that I was able to learn a lot in the two years that I was there,” said Springer. “We had a really good team that, you know, we pushed each other, and had, you know, a couple good years, and I just got, I mean, the experience that you get in college, the tournaments that you play, the guys you’re playing against, like, I mean, it’s the competition is really, really good, and it’s only getting better, you know, and so, yeah, I mean, I think it helped me a lot, and gave me the opportunity to gain a lot of experience.”
The TCU graduate missed the cut at the Colonial last year, but is in the midst of perhaps the most successful PGA season of his career. Springer has three top 25 finishes in 10 events played and is on pace to surpass his career high of four top 25 finishes set last season.
Springer shot a 74 Sunday to finish 8-over par at the Charles Schwab Challenge and talked about what’s allowed him to be more successful this season.
“I’ve probably been a little more consistent. I think some just experienced some kind of knowing what, what to do, how to do it,” said Springer. “Just doing it a little bit better. Yeah, I mean, I’d say that’s really probably just a little bit of that experience and consistency.”
