Andrew Kozan was the last man standing Friday on PGA National when Round 2 of The Honda Classic was suspended at 6:37 p.m. ET due to darkness.
The world No. 1,326, who’s playing on a sponsor’s exemption, had just hit his final tee shot on the par-5 18th in the middle of the fairway, 258 yards from the hole, and he needed par to make the cut at 2 over. But his next shot would have to wait 12 hours.
“[I went to bed] probably about 11, I probably fell asleep 11, 11:30 last night by the time we grabbed dinner and went home,” Kozan said Saturday at PGA National. “And I think I was up at 4:30 [a.m.] stretching and stuff, getting ready for today. It was kind of a tough break, I mean I wanted to finish last night, I was excited to get the round over and get ready for the weekend, but I mean it coming down 18 we couldn’t see the balls at all, the other guys I played with were just outside the cut line, so I guess they just kind of wanted to get out of there. So I made the decision to come back this morning and it worked out.”
At the crack of dawn, the 23-year-old hit his second shot 158 yards with a 9-iron and then his third with a sand wedge 116 yards to reach the green. Then, from 20 feet, he two-putted for par and, on the cut line, notched himself an extra two rounds at PGA National in his third ever Tour start (his first being the 2015 Puerto Rico Open at 16 years old after winning the AJGA Puerto Rico Junior Open).
Full-field scores from The Honda Classic
But it was a quick turnaround. The Korn Ferry Tour rookie grabbed breakfast, re-warmed up and was back out on the course roughly 30 minutes later, playing as a single. He fired a third-round 68, moving inside the top 20 at even par, which likely can be attributed to his experience at PGA National.
“I think it was the fact that I played so many times with some great players and you see a bunch of low scores out here,” he said. “I feel like people traveling to this event always think the Bear Trap, the whole course, is super intimidating, so they’re not in a great mindset to start the week. But I’ve seen so many low rounds out here I felt like I could come out here, be aggressive and shoot some low scores.”
The Palm Beach Gardens native was a PGA National member from age 7 to 15 and grew up watching his hometown tournament every year. Now a professional, he was planning to head out to the course — a 25-minute drive from his home — Monday morning for the qualifier, but the night before, he got a special text from Gary Nicklaus, the event’s co-chairperson.
“We were kind of assuming we weren’t going to get (the final exemption spot) just because there was the Monday qualifier on Monday — because you wanted to be in the right mindset that if I don’t get the spot I still need to go out there on Monday and earn it,” he said. “So I was out there doing, practicing, doing a practice round on Sunday, got home Sunday night, was getting the clubs, getting the outfit ready for Monday and then got the text, said, ‘No need to worry about tomorrow, just come on out and enjoy the week.'”
And that’s exactly what’s he’s doing, even if his childhood dream turned out more unique than he could have ever imagined.
“(I’ve dreamed about being inside the ropes here) every day since I was probably 7,” he said. “So every time I was out here … Honda’s in what, February, March? They start putting the stands up in December. You always want to go out and play as close to the event as you can putt with the stands up just to feel like you’re playing the event. I mean, so it’s a dream come true this week.”
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