Vince Whaley was in good company during his childhood, playing golf alongside players who, like him, went onto successful careers on the PGA Tour. He also had a successful college career before turning professional, where his game continues to progress.
Here are 15 things to know about the American.
1. Vince Whaley was born on 14 March 1995 in Lexington, Kentucky.
2. He then moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, and began playing the game at the age of four after his parents sent him to a golf summer camp.
3. His earliest memory in the game is his grandpa caddying for him at an event when he was seven.
4. After another family move, this time to McKinney in Texas, he began playing with local juniors including Jordan Spieth and his childhood friend Scottie Scheffler.
5. He attended McKinney Boyd High School, where he helped the golf team to four district championships.
6. Despite golf playing a big part in his early life, he considered basketball his favorite sport, although he never made it onto his high school team.
7. He enrolled at Georgia Tech, where he studied business administration between 2013 and 2017, and secured two college victories.
8. He credits Ollie Schniederjans with helping him develop his came while at the university. He told PGATour.com: “When I got [to Georgia Tech], I really wasn’t that great of a player. I just hitched my wagon to Ollie Schniederjans because he was No.1 [amateur] in the world at the time.”
9. In his senior year at Georgia Tech, he played Augusta National, but he fell ill with suspected food poisoning from something he'd eaten before he arrived and was sick on the 16th and 17th holes.
10. After turning professional, he initially played on the All Pro Tour, where he was named the 2018 Rookie of the Year.
11. He began playing on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019 and, in just his second start, he finished runner-up at the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic. Two more top-10 finishes came that season, helping him earn his first PGA Tour card.
13. His Georgia Tech profile lists tennis, pool, blackjack and poker among his interests.
12. He has been trading stocks and options since the age of 16. In the future, he’d like to start a hedge fund.
14. One of his superstitions is to always mark his ball with the quarter heads up.
15. Among his favorite courses are Pebble Beach and Torrey Pines.
