After nearly dying in car accident, Rick Palonis debuts on Korn Ferry Tour

Some talk the talk when it comes to living life with a positive demeanor.

Rick Palonis walks the walk.

Palonis, with an ever-present smile and free-flowing hair, has been through too much to know any other way. His easygoing disposition comes naturally to boot.

The 30-year-old Monday qualified into this week’s UNC Health Championship presented by STITCH, marking his first Korn Ferry Tour start. He’ll tee it up Thursday afternoon at Raleigh CC, a seminal moment in a climb back from the bottom.

Even if he never made his way to the Korn Ferry Tour, after all, he’d still consider his professional golf journey a privilege.

Palonis nearly died in a car accident eight years ago, fracturing his L2 vertebrae and requiring a one-level fusion (which joins two bones). The rehabilitation process was severe, and it took two years to feel 100%, he said, restrengthening his core through consistent gym work, while cognizant of the “hardware in my back that’s forever with me.”

“I didn’t think I was going to play golf anymore,” Palonis said. “I got a job right after school, and about a year later I started progressing back into it, was still working a job; went full bore in 2020. It was a slow progression back into the game.

“I’m super fortunate and blessed to even be here, in a way. I’ve had some great PTs, love and support from family, and it was just God having my back, literally, to keep strong. Physically I was OK after the fact, but a little bit of recovery time. But we’re here now.”

He came to play Monday in the Research Triangle. Palonis carded 6-under 66 at Bryan Park GC, then survived a 6-for-3 playoff to earn his spot at Raleigh’s long-running Korn Ferry Tour stop, contested this year at Raleigh CC for the first time.

Palonis graduated from Iowa’s St. Ambrose University in 2015 but didn’t pursue professional golf until 2018. He played two seasons in South Africa, moved to Florida in 2021 and has spent time on various mini-tours and trying his hand at qualifying; during the early stages of COVID, he spent time caddying and working in a cart barn. Still, playing professionally has always been his vision. “No Plan B,” he said. He works with a St. Petersburg-based physio, Liz Phillips, whom he credits for helping maintain core strength and keep any lasting effects from the accident at bay.

Now he’ll put his game to the test on the PGA TOUR’s premier pathway circuit.

Although he hasn’t competed inside the ropes on the Korn Ferry Tour, Palonis has familiarity with what is required at this level, as he has previously caddied for Korn Ferry Tour members Shad Tuten and Paul Barjon. Earlier this week, he ran into Tuten; the two exchanged a hug, and Tuten offered his congratulations.

As he readied for an interview Tuesday at Raleigh CC, Palonis asked where to make eye contact during his responses. “No chance I’m staring in one spot,” he quipped. That was OK, he was assured. His eyes could divert wherever they felt like. Not unlike his path in golf. It will unfold as it may.

However that happens, it’s all a bonus. That’s a powerful way to live.

“I get really excited, a lot of adrenaline … it’s just about getting that in a controlled chaos, almost, and using that to my advantage,” Palonis said. “Everyone says cliché, I don’t show up unless I’m here to win; that’s the case for all of us, but it’s really just the corny thing of saying, one step at a time.

“I’m 30, I’m not a spring chicken … I’m grateful for every day that I see, and on top of that, I get to chase my dream, and I’m living my dream. So that keeps me centered, and just super fortunate.”

Elise Tallent and Preston Edwards contributed reporting.