University of Oklahoma alum Quade Cummins prepares for home game at Compliance Solutions Championship

Experience and comfort are two things that you can’t measure on the driving range or in the gym, but Quade Cummins knows that it’s been a nice combination of both that has moved him into a solid position to earn a PGA TOUR card for the first time.

And this week’s Compliance Solutions Championship means there’s one extra layer in Cummins’ favor – a return home.

“I feel at home everywhere I go in Oklahoma,” Cummins said. “If it was Tulsa or anywhere else, it all feels like home. But the fact that it’s at Jimmie Austin (Golf Club) where I had to qualify for six years – it just feels like a home tournament.”

Indeed, this week’s Korn Ferry Tour event is hosted at Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club in Norman, Oklahoma, the official club of the University of Oklahoma, where Cummins went for six years.

“It feels good. We’re back at our spot,” Cummins said.

Cummins is in his third year as a Korn Ferry Tour member and is experiencing his best start since joining the Tour. He opened the season going T7-T2 in the Bahamas before finding the weekend in three more events in a row. He went on another three-event streak where he finished inside the top 10 and now sits eighth on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List.

“I’ve just felt a little more comfortable than any other year,” he said. “You know what to expect week to week you’re not wondering what the course looks like. You’re not thinking about it weeks before. You know what the conditions are going to be, somewhat.

“I’m sure the experience has helped me a decent amount this year, but I’d like to think I’ve put in the time to take another step forward in my game, too. It feels nice to have some high finishes this early on in the year.”

Cummins grew up in a small Oklahoma town called Weatherford, about 90 minutes from Edmond, where he lives now. There’s not much there but a single golf course and a community deeply invested in high school sports. Everyone, he says, goes to watch Friday night football and basketball on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Cummins grew up playing multiple sports through high school and admits with a laugh that golf was just not very popular.

“I had to beg my buddies who weren’t playing baseball or running track to be on the golf team to hang out with me,” says Cummins. “We had some good runs. We qualified for the state championships every year I was there. It was fun – golf was the only sport where you got to get out of school the entire day. I don’t go back a whole lot, but when I do, it feels like home.”

Another place where Cummins certainly felt like home was amongst his teammates at the University of Oklahoma. He was supposed to finish in 2020 but after the COVID-19 impacted season, he returned for a sixth year at school. He wouldn’t have changed anything, Cummins says, even going so far as admitting if he had only played four years it was unlikely he would have been playing professional golf right now. Even five years would have been a stretch.

He had a celebrated career at OU, becoming the school’s first four-time All-American. Cummins was also part of the 2021 Walker Cup team and the 2020 Palmer Cup team.

“Everyone has a unique story, and I wouldn’t change anything about my story,” he said. “I knew I was really old in my senior year – but that was about it. I was 25 and playing with 18-year-old freshman and of course you feel like you have the upper hand, because you should have the upper hand. When I turned professional as a 25-year-old, you had all these younger guys and I felt slightly behind because I was in college for so long.

“But you go to college at a high-level program, and you want to be the guy who wins everything and turns pro early and goes to the PGA TOUR – and that basically never happens. You have to find your way and figure it out.”

This week, Cummins has indeed found his way – to somewhere special.

Home.