Maverick McNealy makes strong start to pro career in first round of 2017 Safeway Open

Maverick McNealy, the former Stanford men’s golf standout who is making his first start as a professional golfer this week at the Safeway Open, at Napa’s Silverado Resort and Spa,  brings a unique background and point of view to a pro golf career. McNealy, who ended his amateur career ranked #2 in the world, after a stint at #1, is not your typical highly ranked college golfer using college golf as a springboard to a pro career.

Former Stanford men’s golf star Maverick McNealy lines up his birdie putt on the par three 15th hole at Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, California during the first round of the 2017 Safeway Open. (photo by author)

The 21-year-old graduated from Stanford with a degree in Management Science and Engineering—not a more typical future-Tour-pro soft option such as Communications or Sports Management—and for the first couple of years of his college career had looked forward to following college golf with a career in business.

There’s precedent for his early direction—McNealy’s father is Scott McNealy, co-founder and former CEO of Sun Microsystems, a well-known (if not legendary) figure in Silicon Valley. With a Stanford degree in a rigorous dual-business/engineering discipline, and his father’s example to follow, the younger McNealy anticipated following his college golf career with a career in business.

In a statement he posted on the Stanford’s collegiate sports website, McNealy explained his decision to pursue a professional golf career. “It wasn’t until after my sophomore year that it even crossed my mind that I might be good enough to give it a shot …my top priorities in college lay with my team and my studies. I wouldn't have traded one day with my teammates wearing the Cardinal red for anything.”

A former junior hockey player as well as a golfer, McNealy signed with Stanford in November 2012, and through his sophomore and junior years he stood out even on the traditionally strong Stanford squad. Winning six times in his sophomore season, and four more times as a junior, McNealy won the 2015 Fred Haskins Award as the top male college golfer.

McNealy struggled with his game starting in the spring of his junior year, the result of equipment changes he made in the wake of Nike Golf’s exit from the golf hard goods market. A tough playing schedule combined with a rigorous school schedule saw him stepping away from golf for a rest in the summer before his senior year. He won only once as a senior, which left him in a three-way tie for the school wins record with Patrick Rodgers and another familiar name in Stanford men’s golf, Tiger Woods (who did it in two years, as an Econ major.)

With a frankly privileged Silicon Valley upbringing—wealthy parents, and an education from the Harker School and Stanford—McNealy could coast through life, but that’s not his way. Using the example of his father, whom he calls his “hero”, McNealy wants to use the opportunities afforded him by a pro golf career to grow the game of golf and “…be a role model and an inspiration to young golfers and athletes.” The elder McNealy employed 235,000 people worldwide during his tenure at Sun Microsystems, and his son would like to have a similar positive impact on the world.

Of his father, McNealy says, “If I could work half as hard as he did, and accomplish a fraction of the things he did, I could make the world a better place.”

McNealy brings a certain level of experience in professional golf to his first start as a pro, having played in nine professional tournaments as an amateur, five on the PGA Tour – making the cut in all five of those events. He has also brought a high level of business acumen to bear on his transition into the pro ranks. Working with his management team at P3SportsReps, McNealy has secured endorsement deals with UnderArmour for apparel, financial services company KPMG for hat space, and Callaway for equipment.

The Callaway decision springs from his struggles with the transition when Nike pulled out of the business, and his education in engineering. “I’m an engineer by training, and I love the way they (Callaway) nitpick and try to make the best possible golf clubs.”

The Safeway Open is the first of seven PGA Tour events for which McNealy has secured sponsors’ exemptions, a list which includes the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (where his father will be his pro-am partner), the Farmers Insurance Open, AT&T Byron Nelson, and Dean & DeLuca Invitational.

The Safeway event is a comfortable start for Bay Area native McNealy, with familiar climate, conditions and course—Stanford played the Gifford Collegiate event at Silverado last fall.

McNealy had a strong showing in his first round as a pro, carding a 4-under 68 to finish the round T-8.

Going out in 1-under 35, McNealy was a little wobbly on the greens on the front nine, taking 17 putts, with a three-putt bogey on the par-three 2nd hole, and a handful of just-missed birdie opportunities. He closed out the front side on a rising note with birdies at holes 8 and 9.

A bogey on the 10th hole opened his second nine, but it was the last over-par number he posted on the day. His tee shot at the over-water par-three 11th hole settled 15 feet from the hole, and he slid the putt right into the throat of the hole for a birdie to go 2-under for the round. McNealy then made a run of three pars on holes 12 through 14.

The pressure didn’t seem to phase the the youngster, but after he made a tougher-than-it-looked downhill/sidehill 4-1/2-foot par putt on #12, his father, who had been following Maverick all day, was heard to say, “This is hard, it’s really hard.”

The younger McNealy seemed to get his game dialed in on the back nine, with closer approaches that contributed to a lower putt-count—14 vs the 17 he took on the front side. Firing up just when it counted, McNealy then put together a string of three straight birdies on holes 15 through 17.

On 15, a 189-yard par-three with water in play right, McNealy played a gutsy shot to the tucked right-front flag. His tee shot hit in the 4-foot gap between the flagstick and the edge of the green, carried past the flag, then rolled back, leaving a 7-foot putt for birdie that he dropped with conviction.

A scrambling birdie from the left greenside rough at 16, and another birdie on 17, after stuffing his approach to the elevated green to 2-1/2 feet, saw McNealy move to 4-under, where he finished after closing the round with a par at the par-five 18th hole for a back-nine 33 and a 4-under 68 final score.

McNealy showed his strength in his Strokes Gained: Tee-To-Green and Strokes Gained: Approach The Green stats, where he posted numbers of 4.426 and 3.095, respectively; 3rd and 4th on the day. His Strokes Gained total was 3.965, tied for 8th for the field.

Even a low-key early-season event like the Safeway Open represents a tough transition when making the jump from amateur to professional competition, and if the youngster from Stanford carries on as he began today, it seems a pretty good bet that he will make the kind of mark on the PGA Tour that he did in his Stanford career.