Florida's Southern Hills Plantation Club has been kind to Jordan Hahn in the past. And it delivered him a milestone moment in his young professional golf career Monday.
In November of 2019, Hahn birdied the 72nd hole at the second stage of Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying School held at Southern Hills Plantation Club, an hour north of Tampa, to advance to the final stage of the Q-School on the number. That guaranteed the former University of Wisconsin golfer status on a PGA Tour-sanctioned developmental tour and the opportunity to compete in Monday qualifiers on the PGA Tour without having to survive a pre-qualifier to get there.
Hahn made the most of that opportunity Monday at Southern Hills Plantation.
He birdied four of his last five holes to shoot 6-under-par 66 to earn a share of medalist honors with veteran Brad Adamonis and one of the four berths in this week's Valspar Championship on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor. It will be the PGA Tour debut for the 24-year-old from Spring Grove, Ill., who shot 66 a week ago in a Monday Qualifier for a Korn Ferry Tour event in Arlington, Texas, but lost in a 7-for-1 playoff for the final spot in what would have been his debut on the PGA Tour's top developmental circuit.
"I know that I’m capable to play at the highest level and it was just a matter of time before I got my chance," Hahn wrote in a text to Wisconsin.Golf. "I’ve been reminding myself that my time will come and it’s just a great feeling to see that through. ... My mindset stayed the same as last week. I’ve been playing some great golf on the road and back home in Scottsdale. I’ve been trying to get on the course and just play a ton instead of working on a ton of things and that has allowed me to get back into the 'scoring mode.' "
Starting on the back nine, Hahn gutted out a 3-under 33 thanks to birdies at Nos. 11, 16 and 18 and didn't vault into contention until after a bogey at the par-4 fourth hole. He bunched birdies at Nos. 5, 6, 8 and 9 around a par 5 on the 567-yard seventh hole to avoid a 4-for-2 playoff among those at 67.
Hahn poured in an 18-footer for birdie on the 212-yard, par-3 eighth hole. He then drove the green on the 330-yard ninth hole and two-putted for a birdie.
"Making the turn at 3-under was a good feeling as personally I felt the back side was the harder side and if I stuck to my game plan there would be a handful of birdie looks on my inward nine," he wrote.
"I actually didn’t know where I stood. Honestly, I thought I needed to make birdie to have a chance at even a playoff, which ended up not being the case thankfully."
And now Hahn gets to measure himself in a 156-golfer field that includes Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Justin Rose and Phil Mickelson.
"I’m just going to go out there and have fun," Hahn wrote. "(I'm) going to get a good game plan for the track these next couple days and stick to it. I know I can compete out there."
