Kyle Westmoreland comes full circle at Cadence Bank Houston Open

Kyle Westmoreland was born in Lewisville, Texas, four hours north of Memorial Park, host of this week’s Cadence Bank Houston Open. He lives in Katy, just a 25-minute drive from the Houston landmark where he will make his fifth start of the new PGA TOUR season.

To be sure, Westmoreland, 31, can count this as a home game.

“It’s an incredible opportunity,” he said. “I’ve wanted to play here since I can remember, from the time it was at TPC Woodlands to the Redstone Members course to the Players course to now here at Memorial. Growing up, we play a ton of junior golf events at Memorial Park, and it looks different than it used to about 20 years ago.

“You know, it’s an awesome place and just a dream come true to be able to play here.”

While few can claim to be more local than Westmoreland, fewer still have taken a more circuitous route to get to this point. In September, he made a shoestring tackle for the 25th and last spot on the Korn Ferry Tour Finals Eligibility Points List, 4.5 points ahead of Joey Garber.

It was joyful validation for the long-hitting Westmoreland, who was lightly recruited out of high school. Although he had the opportunity to play for the University of Houston, he said, his dream was to play for Texas. Unfortunately, he wasn’t on the radar in Austin.

“There’s a guy named Jordan Spieth that was a year behind me that I think the coaches were looking at pretty heavily,” Westmoreland said. “Air Force was my best option.”

He won four times, earned All-Mountain West Conference honors, and graduated in 2014. Although he had considered a life in the air, that success opened his eyes to the possibility of playing golf for a living, and he pivoted from becoming a pilot, a 12-year commitment, to a five-year service hitch, instead.

But even that plan was fraught with challenges.

Stationed in Charleston, South Carolina, where he worked in financial management, his schedule was so jammed he hit balls under the lights at a nearby driving range until it closed at 10 p.m. He putted on a yardstick on the floor of his room to improve his alignment and path. He tested himself against the College of Charleston golf team on weekends, and sometimes drove two hours to Myrtle Beach to see his coach.

Once, on the way to a deployment in Africa, Westmoreland spent a week in Roda, Spain, and found a practice facility that allowed players to rent one club per day. So that’s what he did.

“The most important thing,” he has said more than once, “is to put one foot in front of the other.”

Upon completion of his service in the summer of 2019, he turned fulltime to golf. His exit interview was delayed roughly two weeks when he Monday qualified into the Korn Ferry Tour’s Utah Championship, where he finished T25 to earn a spot in the following week’s event.

He earned status on PGA TOUR Canada. He earned Korn Ferry status. Last season, making up for lost time, he didn’t miss a week, even throwing in a PGA TOUR cameo at The Honda Classic (sponsor exemption, missed cut). And when he squeaked through the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, he became the first Air Force Academy graduate to earn a PGA TOUR card.

“I hope I’m not the last,” he said. “Hopefully we can inspire some people to continue playing golf even through their service time, get a little bit better, start putting on those Air Force and Army and Navy putting greens and try to get better and make it out here.”

It’s been a slow start to the season, with Westmoreland missing three of his first four cuts. His best is a T54 at the Sanderson Farms Championship, but the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Westmoreland is not easily moved off his path. (He also served as an instructor in wrestling and ground grappling in Colorado Springs.)

He is confident that with his coach, Jeff Smith, and the rest of his team, he can pivot.

“The PGA TOUR, there’s data points everywhere,” Westmoreland said, “so we kind of look at them and see and kind of figure out what we need to do better to compete at the highest level … and I’m just excited to test it this week on a great golf course with some length. We like to hit it far, so, length’s always good.”

One of the things his time at the Academy taught him, Westmoreland said at the season-opening Fortinet Championship earlier this fall, was perseverance. But that wasn’t all.

“The biggest thing,” he added, “is it teaches you who you are.”

Kyle Westmoreland, patriot, golfer, and PGA TOUR rookie, is a guy who finds a way.