Golf Galaxy employee downs 3 beers, qualifies for PGA Tour debut via marathon playoff

As he waited for the final scores to post at Monday’s open qualifier for the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Nick Bienz was working on his second beer.

Bienz had just fired a 7-under 65, tied with two others for the clubhouse lead. With just a few groups left to turn in their scorecards, Bienz, who is from Indianapolis and works at Golf Galaxy to help fund his pro-golf career, was looking like he’d avoid a playoff and earn his first career PGA Tour start later this week at Detroit Golf Club.

“I need every ounce of alcohol to calm the nervous system and not vomit all over myself,” Bienz told Monday Q Info’s Ryan French, who was at the qualifier. “That’s where we’re at right now.”

But then two more 65s came in, and Bienz found himself in a 5-for-4 playoff with Beau Breault, Danny Guise, Brandon Berry and Angelo Giantsopolous.

In regulation, Bienz was bogey-free and 4 under through 14 holed when he stuck his second shot to 3 feet at No. 15 and made eagle. He capped his round by rolling in a 12-footer for birdie.

“I blacked out,” Bienz said of that last putt.

He then downed three beers in total. French reported that as Bienz walked to the first tee for the playoff, he said to him, “Remember how I said three beers would be a perfect amount? Well, I’m perfect.”

Berry birdied the first playoff hole, leaving the other four players, including Bienz, to battle for three spots. On the sixth playoff hole, Giantsopoulos canned a 40-footer for birdie to earn a spot for himself.

And then, finally, on the eighth hole of sudden death, Bienz holed a 4-footer for birdie to get through. Guise also birdied the hole to advance.

Bienz played college golf at Indiana University-Indianapolis (formerly IUPUI), graduating in 2019. He won the Indiana Open last year. He usually works about three days per week at Golf Galaxy during the summer, getting in practice time before or after work on one of his store’s nine TrackMan bays when he can’t sneak away to the golf course. He had planned to work the next three days before leaving for the John Deere Classic pre-qualifier.

His plans, of course, have changed. He’ll now head to Detroit Golf Club to register and start his prep before teeing off in Thursday’s first round, the first PGA Tour-sanctioned round of his career. He’s also exempt from pre-qualifiers for the rest of the season.

“I didn’t even pack clothes for this week,” Bienz said. “Every time I’d go to a Monday for a Korn Ferry Event, I used to pack like eight days’ worth of clothes; never made it through, so now I’ve gone to the strategy of pack just enough for the Monday and we’ll figure it out if we need to.”

Time to figure it out.