Zack Sucher's incredible journey has him leading the Travelers Championship

CROMWELL, Conn. – Give yourself a gold star – heck, two or three gold stars – if you can remember that time from 11 years ago when Zack Sucher shared a golf stage with Andrew Putnam.

It was the 33rd U.S. vs. Japan Collegiate Golf Championship at Tokyo Golf Club. While the 37-23 victory that Sucher and Putnam and teammates such as Kevin O’Connell, Lizette Salas and Sydnee Michaels recorded gathered very little fanfare, it served as a launching pad for pro golf careers that have been a series of ups and downs.

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The most recent upswing? This week’s Travelers Championship, where the 32-year-old Sucher – he of the last-minute spot in the field via the sponsor’s invite to a Korn Ferry Tour member – had an eagle and three birdies over his final six holes at TPC River Highlands to shoot a second-round 5-under 65 to push to 11-under 129 and hold the 36-hole lead.

That Sucher’s lead was threatened by Putnam, who started his second round in the afternoon with five birdies in seven holes before cooling off, was secondary to this storyline: Where has Zack Sucher been and what is he doing in contention at the Travelers Championship?

The smile and Sucher’s answer provided a lot of insight.

“First year I can remember in a long time where I’m pain-free and it’s feeling really good. It’s nice to be out here,” said Sucher, who missed the cut in a Korn Ferry Tour stop in Springfield, Ill., and drove here, assuming he had a good chance to get that sponsor’s spot. His gut feeling has played out nicely, in stark contrast to the way his life has gone since he left the Travelers Championship in 2017.

He missed the cut, played in an outing, but had had enough of constant pain in his left leg. He knew the knee was an issue, but it turns out “his ankle was a mess,” said his wife, Courtney.

Major surgery on the ankle and the knee sidelined Sucher for more than a year and the return to competition has been a mixed bag. In 10 Korn Ferry Tour tournaments, Sucher has two top 10s, but in three PGA TOUR starts, he’s missed one cut and finished T-35 and T-50. In other words, nothing to make Sucher feel that he was ready to break out at TPC River Highlands, but he’s played plenty of competitive golf to know it’s a landscape that cannot be explained.

“The last few years I had on the (Korn Ferry Tour) were a bit of a struggle,” said Sucher, who has a win and 13 other top 10s on that circuit. “And every time I made it here (he’s had PGA TOUR status in 2015 and 2017), it seemed the harder I worked, the more the left leg would hurt.”

An Atlanta native who played at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, Sucher gushes about doctors who repaired “two ligaments and a tendon in the ankle” and his knee problems. He even got plantar fasciitis in his right foot, said Courtney, shaking her head, recalling the mishap that occurred when her husband was shooting hoops during recovery.

That injury probably wouldn’t surprise those who know that Sucher was a high school basketball standout at St. Paul’s Episcopal in Mobile, Ala., and were he “a foot taller,” golf might not have been his calling. But at 6-foot, 210 pounds, Sucher faded from hoops and settled into this competitive PGA TOUR landscape.

Despite all the missed cuts and surgeries and tough times, Sucher can smile, and so can Courtney, who has walked 36 holes in wet, muddy conditions to watch her husband make 12 birdies against a lone bogey. Months ago, he wasn’t sure he’d play again on the PGA TOUR, and seven days ago, he wasn’t sure he had a spot in this field. Yet here he is, No. 505 in the world, setting the pace that those in the top 10, and everyone else, are trying to keep pace with.

The beauty of sports, so unscripted and unexplainable, eh?

“Absolutely. It feels great,” said Sucher, whose best finish in 35 PGA TOUR tournaments across three seasons is a tie for 20th at the 2015 Barracuda Championship. “A lot of work to be done, but right now it’s feeling great.”