Pro golfer breaks down after Monday-qualifying into first PGA Tour event

“I made it.”

Michael Visacki could barely get those words out as he informed his father, Mike, over an emotional phone call that he had qualified for his first PGA Tour event. The 27-year-old Sarasota, Florida, native, who turned pro in 2013 after just one season at the University of Central Florida, earned one of four Monday qualifying spots into the Valspar Championship via a playoff.

Visacki shot 5-under 67 at Southern Hills Plantation to get into a 4-for-2 playoff with Daniel Chopra, Chris Baker and college player Albin Bergstrom, who a day earlier had won the American Athletic Conference individual title while also leading South Florida to the team championship. Chopra birdied the first playoff hole to get the third spot (Jordan Hahn and Brad Adamonis each shot 66 to avoid a playoff) and Bergstrom was eliminated, leaving Baker and Visacki, who drove his ball into a bush, hacked out and made a great par, according to Monday Q Info.

A hole later, Visacki drained a 20-footer for birdie to nab the final ticket to Innisbrook in Palm Harbour, which is about an hour from Visacki’s hometown. After the ball dropped, Visacki raise both hands in the air and then hugged his caddie as he started balling.

A regular on the mini-tours since turning pro, Visacki won seven times on the West Florida Golf Tour last year and owns nearly 40 wins on the tour in his career. He has one career OWGR-recognized start to his credit – a T-27 at the 2018 KC Golf Classic on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Now, he finally gets his chance on the big tour.

“Oh my God. Oh my goodness,” Visacki’s dad could be heard saying through the phone in a video that already has more than 600,000 views on Twitter. “I’m crying. Congratulations.”