Phil Bundy Takes Aim at PGA Tour

(Photo courtesy of Phil Bundy)

PHIL BUNDY IS A PLAYER. Now he wants to be a PGA Tour player.

“At midlife [age 43], I am hoping to bring together a unique mix of talent, skills and life experiences to achieve my mission of playing on the PGA Tour and documenting my journey,” Phil says at PhilBundy.com.

My first exchange with Phil was an email. He made a small request that made quite an impression: He asked for a link. Not an unusual request, except that he asked for a link in the players section. I liked that.

So now there are two “Phils” in my players blogroll: Phil Bundy and Phil Mickelson. If Phil’s dream comes true, someday he will walk the same fairways as that other Phil.

Bundy has assembled an outstanding team, including PGA Tour and Champions Tour player Fred Funk and renowned swing coach Jim McLean. And he has the moral support of the King of Golf, Arnold Palmer.

“My best advice to you is to never become discouraged,” Arnold wrote to Phil in a personal note published at PhilBundy.com.

“Keep working at it as hard as you can and, regardless of the outcome, you can be proud of what you accomplished.”

Phil attended Palmer’s alma mater, Wake Forest, where Phil played on the 1986 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship team that included PGA Tour players Billy Andrade and Len Mattiace. He also won the Maryland high school golf championship by a record 10 strokes.

Besides his team, highly supportive wife and the legendary Arnold Palmer, there is someone else who is spurring on Phil: his 5-year-old son, Charlie.

“He also loves golf, and if I don’t do this someday he will ask why,” Phil told Sports Writer HQ.

Whatever the outcome, a father will teach an important life lesson to a son.

−The Armchair Golfer