The University of Mississippi Athletics
Randolph Set For PGA Debut
9/29/2010 | Men's Golf
Sept. 29, 2010
OXFORD, Miss. - When he was a teenager, Ole Miss senior golfer Jonathan Randolph got to be inside the ropes at the Mississippi PGA TOUR event as a standard-bearer (walks with each group and tells what each player is in relation to par). This week, the Brandon native will be inside the ropes again - this time playing with the pros.
Last Friday while he and his teammates were in Franklin, Tenn., competing in the Mason Rudolph Championship, Randolph got a call from Viking Classic tournament director, Randy Watkins, offering him a sponsor's exemption to this week's event at Annandale. Watkins said Randolph had "the finest collegiate season of anybody in Mississippi history," last year.
Randolph earned first team All-America honors as a junior, won three times and posted eight top-five finishes. In fact, in six of seven starts last spring, Randolph never finished outside the top three. This summer he helped the United States capture the Palmer Cup in Europe with a 3-1 record.
"It was exciting," said Randolph upon learning of his exemption on a conference call after the first round of the Mason Rudolph. "It's always been a dream of mine to play in this tournament. For it to happen now, while I am still at Ole Miss, is just awesome. I am looking forward to going out there and playing with the best golfers from around the world."
Being inside the ropes years ago as a standard-bearer Randolph said he realized this is where he wanted to end up.
"I loved it. Just watching those guys gave me the bug. I told myself that one day I wanted to play professionally. I got to be inside the ropes when I was 13 and 14 years old. I got to feel the rush of the crowd when they were hitting big shots. It's different from watching (on TV) then when you're standing 10 feet from them and you've been walking with them all day. You can feel the emotions of it. It drew me in."
Randolph got an opportunity this summer to see what it's like out there on the professional circuit, as he and the rest of the 2010 All-Americans earned an exemption into the Nationwide Tour event in Ohio.
"It was really neat. A lot of those guys are one step away or have won on tour before. I'd been traveling all summer and all of a sudden I show up at this event with these guys who have been playing together at tournaments all year. I thought if you make it on tour and only get one exemption this is what it feels like. I really enjoyed it. It was cool walking out to the range and seeing players I recognized from my freshman year who were seniors at Georgia and Florida. It felt like a college tournament. It's really nice to see how close you are to that next level."
Randolph has plenty of support from his coaches and teammates this week. Ole Miss assistant coach Jack O'Keefe, a former Tour player who finished 13th in the 1997 Deposit Guaranty Classic at Annandale, was with Randolph on Monday. Head coach Ernest Ross was there on Tuesday. Teammate Chris Mullhaupt will caddy for Randolph during the tournament.
"As his coach, I am extremely proud of Jonathan. He is a great person and player and is certainly deserving of this opportunity," Ross said. "He is a great leader for our team, with his attitude on and off the course. He works really hard."
Randolph will tee of Thursday's first round at 8:40 a.m., playing with former Rebel, Vance Veazey, and Chris Wilson, a Tour rookie who graduated from Northwestern in 2007.
"I hope I have a bunch of people out there watching me, and I hope I can show them something," Randolph said.
