Former Gators golfer Tyson Alexander holds up his PGA Tour card. (Photo courtesy of the Korn Ferry Tour)
Former Gators Golfer Tyson Alexander Adds New Chapter to Family's Storied History
Thursday, August 18, 2022 | Men's Golf, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Buddy Alexander is not one of those helicopter dads who regularly calls to suggest golf-swing tips for his son or who pops into tournaments to offer late-round advice.
That's never been Alexander's style, not today nor in the 27 years he spent as the UF men's golf coach.
Still, there was no way Alexander was going to miss a trip to Elkhorn, Neb., last weekend for his son and former UF golfer Tyson Alexander's career milestone.
The 34-year-old Tyson earned his PGA TOUR card after 12 years as a professional.
"It's been a long journey, and I'll give him a lot of credit for perseverance,'' Buddy Alexander said Thursday from Auburn, Ala., where he now calls home. "I kid him all the time about being a slow learner, but he stuck with it, and he's got a chance to play with the best players in the world.
"He's kind of in the deep end with no floaties now. The good news is there is a lot of treasure if you can avoid the sharks."
Tyson Alexander finished 18th on the Korn Ferry Tour Regular-Season Eligibility Points List. He was awarded his PGA TOUR card during a ceremony at Sunday's final round of the Pinnacle Bank Championship. It didn't matter that he missed the cut. The top 25 players on the cumulative 23-event Kerry Ferry Tour points list earn PGA Tour cards for the next season.
Tyson played three seasons for his father's UF team in the late 2000s, highlighted by an appearance in the 2009 U.S. Open, making the Alexanders only the second family to have three generations compete in the U.S. Open. Buddy played in the U.S. Open twice as an amateur and his father, Skip, also played in the U.S. Open.
Tyson was back on the course Thursday afternoon, playing in the first round of the Albertsons Boise (Idaho) Open. Earning his tour card finally, with his parents in attendance for the ceremony, was a special moment for Tyson after years of grinding away toward his dream.
"It's so special," Tyson Alexander on Sunday. "It's something I've worked hard for a long time, and to have my family and friends here is one of those stop-and-smell-the-roses types of moments."
Tyson Alexander, Billy Horschel and former Gators coach Buddy Alexander, left to right, when the trio called UF's Mark Bostick Golf Course home. (Photo: UAA Communications file)
Born in Gainesville, Tyson began to contemplate a career as a professional golfer as a teenager. He said the idea started to take shape during his time at UF truly. While his father played in various PGA TOUR events over the years – and even battled an 18-year-old Tiger Woods at the 1994 U.S. Amateur – Buddy never earned his tour card. He did win the 1986 U.S. Amateur Championship and made a hole-in-one at the Master's Par-3 Tournament eight years ago.
Tyson is the second member of the family to earn his card.
Skip Alexander was a three-time PGA TOUR winner in the late 1940s and early '50s before retiring and becoming the longtime club pro at Lakewood Country Club in St. Petersburg. Skip's professional career got derailed after his hands became disfigured when he was the only person to survive a plane crash in September 1950.
Tyson turned professional in 2010 and progressed from mini-tours to PGA TOUR Latinoamérica (2017-18) and the Korn Ferry Tour. He never quit trying to make the PGA TOUR despite taking a six-month detour in 2016 when he took a job as an assistant professional at Farmington Country Club in Charlottesville, Va.
The experience allowed him to reflect and renew his passion for the game.
"I think when I first turned pro, and you told me that it was going to take me 12 years to get my card, I would be like, 'no, no way.' But at the same time, I think everything happens for a reason,'' Tyson said this week on the Korn Ferry Tour's podcast. "I just kind of wasn't ready. I believe that you are going to make it when you are good enough and supposed to. This is where I'm at and where I'm going."
His father, who led the Gators to a pair of national championships (1993, 2001), watched as Tyson's game evolved over the years. He has always been a long driver, but in recent years, Tyson has improved his accuracy off the tee, which has helped his game become more consistent.
His work ethic was never in question.
"He's always kind of had the ability to play up,'' Buddy Alexander said. I think the best thing he's got going in his favor is that there haven't really been any slumps, and there hasn't been any regression. He's just kind of slowly climbed the ladder."
The golf roots run deep in the Alexander family.
Listen to Tyson Alexander on the #TOURBound podcast talk all things family, the college golf days and his game.
Tyson's long road to the PGA TOUR wasn't without speed bumps, but in conversations with his father, the journey never entertained thoughts about whether to quit playing or pursue another career.
"He's never said that one time and I've never mentioned it to him,'' Buddy said.
It won't be his Tyson's first event on the tour when he tees off for the first time as a PGA TOUR member. He played in the 2018 Barbasol Championship on a sponsor exemption and qualified for the U.S. Open in 2009 and 2017, missing the cut both times.
But he discovered success along the way.
Tyson won Veritex Bank Championship in 2021 and '22, becoming the first player in Korn Ferry Tour history to win the same event in back-to-back years. He played for the Gators at a time when the UF rosters were loaded with star athletes, including Tim Tebow, Percy Harvin, Joakim Noah, Al Horford and seven-time PGA TOUR winner Billy Horschel, his former teammate.
"We just had a bunch of studs on campus,'' he said.
While many of his classmates' professional careers are over or near the finish line, Alexander's has reached its highest peak. His story made headlines this week in the golf world, adding another chapter to the Alexander family's rich history in the game.
Tyson played for his father and remembered riding in his grandfather's orange-and-blue Volkswagen beetle as a kid. Skip Alexander died in 1997 when Tyson was 9, but his career and life story was the centerpiece of a Sports Illustrated story last year.
There is even talk about a movie.
"It would be cool for my family,'' Tyson said.
Sort of like Tyson earning his long-awaited PGA Tour card.
"I've just gotten knocked down a bunch of times, and I've gotten up,'' he said. "If you play long enough, golf is going to get you. You are going to have to fight and have to battle.
