A Fast Start Can Lead Places

A Fast Start Can Lead Places

By PAGA President Jeff Ranck

When the 108^th PGA Championship comes to Aronimink Golf Club next week the players who want to get off to a fast start may have a good source for advice. Bucknell University’s Chris Tanabe won the Pennsylvania Amateur in 2019 on the renowned course due in large part to playing the club’s opening nine in 11-under during the three-day event.

One of golf’s four majors visits Aronimink for the first time since 1962 in celebration of the country’s 250^th anniversary and seven years after Tanabe, playing out of Sewickley Heights Golf Club, won one of the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s “majors” by getting out in front of the field and keeping it in the rearview mirror.

His outstanding outward-nine effort was accentuated by a two-under 33 on the final day, bettered only by his spectacular seven-under 28 on the first nine on day two. Tanabe’s low nine holes included five birdies and an eagle, which came on the opening par four.

“It’s sad to say that it seems like so long ago 2019, seven years since that happened. It was an incredible experience,” said Tanabe. That was the best week, I love Pa. Golf events. I haven’t gotten to play too many but I played the state open twice after that week…I guess the last time in ’23, but I loved every one of them. You guys do such a great job with the courses, everywhere you go is so much fun. I really remember back in the day for the juniors. Hershey Country Club is still one of my favorite courses.”

“One thing that still really stands out - and a shout out to Corey Reighard (then PAGA tournament director). He came to Bucknell in the winter to have me recognized for winning the Am at a basketball game – that was such a nice touch.”

Since his title-winning Amateur performance, his golf career has taken some unique turns ending up with his current position with the USGA as Assistant Manager of the USGA’s National Development Program (USNDP) and as Team Manager for the USA Walker Cup.

“I finished up at Bucknell in 2021 and with the whole COVID thing really messing things up the silver lining was they gave us another year of eligibility. So, I headed down to Maryland to get my master’s degree and play another year of golf.  “It was fantastic and I loved every minute of it. I mean I loved my time at Bucknell, but it was a step up in competition and courses.”

“The way I looked at it is I wanted to try to play professionally and it was more time to prepare. I turned professional and headed down to Tampa and was there for almost two years playing in the shadows mainly…the mini-tours, Monday qualifiers, Q school, I did that twice just wanting to test my mettle. I am glad in hindsight I had the vision to see my game might not have stacked up against the best golfers because there are so many of them out there. There were a lot of ups and downs out there, but I had a great time doing it.”

It was a time that he certainly found out a lot about how to cope with the challenges in front of him and his resiliency to bounce to the next opportunity. That opportunity took him back to the relationships he had established at his alma mater.

“After that, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and was kind of looking around. I began by checking in with my Bucknell connections, especially those in the sports industry. I connected with Katie Conway who played field hockey at Bucknell. She works for the USGA as the Senior Director for Partnerships. We eventually hopped on a call and had a great conversation. It led to her calling a few weeks later and saying, ‘hey there’s this role with the USGA in logistics and team management you may want to look at.’” 

“I didn’t think I had the experience in that…I had the playing experience but not those things, but I applied and got the job. It got me involved with the USNDP. I am working mainly on outside the ropes stuff, setting up our training camps, international matches, stuff like that. It has gotten me to some cool places and the chance to meet some great people.”

Cypress Point is a good start for cool places in golf and Walker Cup Captain Nathan Smith must be on a lot of short lists of great golf people to meet.

“I got a look into this year’s Walker Cup which was a phenomenal experience. Cypress Point is the absolute best. “The R & A and Team USA created team assistants so I, along with Scott Langley, USGA Senior Director for Player Relations, supported the captain, team manager….inside the ropes and got to build relationships with the players. Now, since the Fall, I am working as the Team Manager.”

“Working with Nathan Smith takes me back and is kind of funny since we both played out of Sewickley Heights in the day. I have known him for probably 15 years, so it made the transition to this position easy. He’s an amazing guy. One thing I will never forget was seeing him practicing on the range as a 12-year-old at the club. If you have never seen him practice, he would use a Medicus driver and hit a bucket of about a hundred balls never taking a full swing. I would think ‘what is this guy doing?’  I didn’t see him hit full shots for years – I thought the dude was crazy. I finally asked another member at the club what the deal was with him. He asked me if I knew who he was and added ‘he has won three USGA championships and played in the Masters four times.’”

Smith, with Tanabe’s help, is working on plans for the 51^st edition of the Walker Cup Sept. 5-6, 2026  at Lahinch Golf Club in County Clare, Republic of Ireland. It will be the third time the club has hosted the event. Tanabe’s work with the USNDP has also been in full swing with planning for a USNDP match in March for boys and girls with the Swedish National team at The Vaquero Club outside Dallas. The US national junior team used a strong second-day performance to defeat its international opponent 15.5-8.5. The two-day World Amateur Golf Ranking-sanctioned event featured mixed foursomes, mixed four-balls and singles with each team utilizing six boys and six girls. The planning for the event included setting up joint practice sessions for the teams run by both Team Sweden and the USNDP.

“I love what I am doing and absolutely love working in golf. If this type of thing at the state team level was there when I played, I would have done everything I could have to be a part of this.”

This journey could have started with the range at Sewickley Heights, or the double major in Spanish and Economics at Bucknell. Or, maybe professional golf in Florida. Better yet, the relationships that led to today. But, certainly in the mix is that title of “Pennsylvania Amateur Champion” buoyed by a fantastic 28 on Aronimink’s front nine on that July day seven years ago. Want to get off to a fast start and see where it goes? Make a call to Chris Tanabe.