Gerard hopes to keep hot hand

RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico – When the media attention died down and Monday qualifier Ryan Gerard left The Honda Classic on Sunday night, he found himself at a crossroads.

On one hand, his solo-fourth was the culmination of a lot of hard work. He had to survive a 5-for-3 playoff in the qualifier just to get in the field.

But it also felt like the start of something remarkable. It got Gerard, 23, into this week’s Puerto Rico Open, where a three-way tie for ninth or better would earn him Special Temporary Membership on the PGA TOUR for the rest of this season.

“I feel like I learned a lot about myself as a player, how to mentally handle myself in front of big crowds, and just kind of getting that feel of competition at the next level,” he said before leaving PGA National Resort. “I feel like those are all positives I can take away from the week.

“I'm thrilled with the finish,” he added. “I'm thrilled with the opportunities that I get because of it hopefully, and just got to keep grinding and see what happens.”

Maximizing innate talent

Gerard was born August 2, 1999, in Raleigh, North Carolina, and had golf in his blood. His dad, Robert, grew up in Long Island, New York, and was a player and caddie. He played for Florida Atlantic University before embarking on a professional career in the 1980s.

“As soon as I could walk, I had a club in my hand,” Gerard said. “I apparently just loved golf. I was told that as a little kid, I would take shovels and rakes I found at daycare and swing them around like golf clubs. I always got in trouble for doing it, because I nearly took the heads off other kids. Anything that could be turned into a ball or a club was fair game for me.”

Gerard excelled in local junior tournaments from a young age, and the more he got positive reinforcements from others, the harder he worked on his game.

“I just kept at it,” he said. “And here I am today in San Juan at the Puerto Rico Open.”

He found the game so absorbing that it was sometimes easy to focus on process, not results. The first time he broke par, at the 2006 U.S. Kids World Championship qualifier in nearby Durham, he didn’t even know he was playing a competitive round.

“I had no idea what this World Championship was and no idea that it was a qualifier,” Gerard recalled. “I thought I was just playing golf at some course 20 minutes down the road.”

Gerard posted a 1-under-par score in the qualifier he knew nothing about for a U.S. Kids World Championship he also knew nothing about.

“When they put my score up on the leaderboard, it was in red,” he said. “I remember getting mad and telling my mom that it wasn’t fair that my score was red, while everyone else’s was black. I didn’t want to feel left out.” He was “near the top in most” junior tournaments, he added, and in seventh grade when he began his high school golf career at Raleigh’s Ravenscroft School.

“I played all six high school years and absolutely loved it,” he said.

With multiple scholarship offers, he opted for University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“I had a really great time there and learned a lot about myself as a player, person and student,” he said. “Because of Covid, I spent five years there, from the fall of 2017, and I think it really helped put me in the position I’m in today.”

Mastering the intangibles

Gerard is proud of his abilities off the golf course, as well, especially his speaking prowess and his ability to manage his time and energy, money and hotels. He credits his college years.

“It’s just a lot of little, crazy things that stack up from day to day that people don’t really think about at the macro level,” Gerard said. “But, if you don’t know how to do them well, it can really take away more energy and focus than you’d like. … If you’re not taking care of the little things, it makes taking care of the big things so much harder.”

He majored in economics and minored in geography – especially relevant for a golfer who would travel the world. “It wasn’t like they just handed us maps and told us to point to a specific country,” he said. “A lot of it had to do with human interactions in different cultures and places.”

Another intangible that shows up at the macro level: Gerard, an only child, has quality people in his corner. He still lives at home with his mom, Judy, and father, Robert, and the family’s two dogs. Judy named one the dogs “Stevie,” as in Steve Stricker, her second-favorite golfer. (They both went to the University of Illinois.)

In addition to crediting the unwavering support from his mom, Gerard is also quick to admit that without his dad, he would’ve likely never learned the game.

“Not only has my dad always been passionate about the game of golf, but he has made it a point to be there to push me along in any way he could help,” Gerard said. “He would drop anything to come and help me. I have really benefitted from that, and I really, really appreciate him for that.

“My mom and dad both care a lot.”

So does Gerard’s caddie, Austin Nowak.

“Austin had PGA TOUR Canada status last year and is, technically, still a professional,” Gerard said. “We’d been around each other a lot … and I felt like we got along really well.”

They first worked together at the Korn Ferry Tour’s two season-opening tournaments in the Bahamas and had fun even as Gerard missed both cuts. He bounced back with a T41 at The Panama Championship, and then came a breakthrough: Gerard made $44,000 with a T3 at the Astara Golf Championship presented by Mastercard in Bogota, Colombia.

“Let’s just say I didn’t have much in (the bank) before that,” he said.

Nowak also made the trip to Palm Beach Gardens last week to continue with Gerard, who after Monday-qualifying made only his second-ever PGA TOUR start (2022 U.S. Open/MC). The inexperience didn’t show, as Gerard shot 69-63-71-67—270 to finish solo-fourth at 10-under 270. He was the first open qualifier to finish in the top five of a PGA TOUR event since Doc Redman finished runner-up at the 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Enjoying the ride

“I do feel like I am ready to play full time on the PGA TOUR,” Gerard said. “That has been my lifelong dream. I never felt like it wasn’t attainable.”

He admits he’s somewhat surprised to have found this level of success this soon out of college, noting that less than a year ago he was playing PGA TOUR Canada Qualifying School.

“It’s crazy how quick things have started moving,” he said. “But I see those as good problems to have.”

Gerard’s mom was at PGA National all four competitive rounds, while his dad was there for the practice rounds before going back to North Carolina for the funeral of Ryan’s great uncle. His dad and uncle then returned to South Florida in time to catch the final round at PGA National.

“My parents care so much about me playing that it kind of freaks them out,” Gerard said with a laugh. “If they can’t either watch it live on TV or be there in person, they can’t handle only big-picture, periodic updates online.”

The top-10 finish got Gerard into the Puerto Rico Open, and Nowak is still by his side.

“For as long as he wants it, he has got a job,” Gerard said, noting their easy rapport. “I take the game pretty seriously, so if I do hit a bad shot, he’s good about offering something lighthearted or saying something that puts a little air back into the situation. It better allows me to reset and get my focus back on playing like I know I can.”

Having banked a few handsome paychecks, he is close to breaking out and living on his own in or around the Jupiter, Florida area. “I just don’t feel like there’s a better place to be,” he said, “especially in the winter months, when I’ll be trying to practice and improve.”

It would also serve as a reminder of where he claimed his first career PGA TOUR top-10 finish. He was only mildly surprised to have played so well; after all, he’d put in the work.

“In the grand scheme of things, I really did believe I would be here eventually,” he said. “I may not win right away, like some of the other new guys did right out of the gate, but I’ll get there soon enough, and when I do, I’m sure I’ll take care of every opportunity I get.”