By Paul Myers
One of the great things about golf is that there are no guarantees. There are no high draft picks who get huge salaries before even playing one day as a professional. Everything in golf is earned through hard work, dedication, and performance. For Cameron Tringale, the path to the PGA Tour has been a steady and impressive one. If golf were run like other sports, he would surely have been a high draft pick coming out of Georgia Tech. Instead, he had to earn his own way, and that is exactly what he has done. Just a few short years after graduating college, Tringale is ranked 58th in the world and would appear to have a long and successful career ahead.
Tringale was a standout junior player in Southern California, and moved on to become a three-time All-American performer at Georgia Tech. He played on both the Palmer Cup and Walker Cup teams, and qualified as an amateur for the 2009 U.S. Open. After turning professional, he quickly earned his PGA Tour card through Q-School and was a member of the 2010 PGA Tour. However, he would finish just 176th on the money list that season, and would be forced to earn his card once more through Q-School. Since then, he has finished in the top 100 on the FedEx Cup points list each season, with a career best 20th in 2014. He is still looking for his first PGA Tour win, but does have two second place finishes to his credit.
Control over Power
There is a misconception that all of the good young players on the PGA Tour hit the ball ridiculous distances. While there certainly are some power players on the Tour, there are also plenty of players like Tringale who favor control over sheer distance. Tringale ranks 162nd on the Tour in driving distance at 280.5 yards. He rarely drives the ball into trouble, however, hitting 66.58% of the fairways for a rank of 43rd on the Tour.
Putting is something that every player on the Tour has to do well in order to survive, and Tringale excels specifically when it comes to one-putt greens. He has managed to one-putt 42.16% of the greens that he has played this year, a percentage that is good for 31st best on Tour. He also has a knack for knocking in some putts from long range, ranking 44th on Tour in making putts from more than 25’. One final stat for Tringale that might be a surprise – he ranks 32nd on Tour in par five scoring average at 4.60. Despite not being among the long hitters on the PGA Tour, he is still able to take care of business on the par fives on a regular basis.
A Class Act
Golf has always been a game about honor and honesty, and Cameron Tringale is a great example of showing those traits regardless of the circumstances. Tringale finished T33 in the 2014 PGA Championship, which was his best career finish in a major at the time. However, several days after the tournament had concluded, Tringale asked to be disqualified because he believed he may have signed an incorrect scorecard. Due to a swing of the putter over top of the ball prior to tapping in a short putt, he felt that he perhaps should have counted another stroke. In requesting his disqualification, Tringale forfeited $53,000 in prize money and the ranking points that would have come with his finish.
Golf is lucky to have competitors that are as upstanding and professional as Cameron Tringale. With plenty of game and several years of PGA Tour experience now behind him, Tringale is poised to continue his gradual progress toward the very top of the pro game. He recently posted a T38 finish at the 2015 Masters, and golf fans should expect to see more and more of the former Georgia Tech star.