Nick Bienz is supposed to report to work on Thursday morning at 7:30. But the 27-year-old part-time Golf Galaxy employee – he works at one of the equipment and apparel chain’s stores on the northeast side of Indianapolis – won’t be clocking in because he has a 2:22 p.m. ET tee time at the PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit after securing his place in the field via an eight-hole playoff in a Monday qualifier.
Someone please alert his boss.
“I still haven’t made that call,” Bienz said on Wednesday during a phone interview. “I think he knows already. The store’s group chat has been blowing up. They’ve been very supportive but I never technically made that call.”
Who can blame him? At its peak, Bienz said he had 920 text messages to respond to and noted, “I don’t even know that many people. It’s amazing how my life has turned upside down.”
Bienz shot 65 on Monday at The Orchards Golf Club in Washington, Michigan, and was relaxing in the grill room under the impression that his score would be good enough to earn one of four spots into the field – a life-changing moment for someone who had never played in any PGA Tour-sanctioned tournament let alone the big leagues. He said he has played in Monday qualifiers before with no luck but this was his first attempt this year. With multiple groups still finishing their rounds, Bienz enjoyed a celebratory beer or two.
“I need every ounce of alcohol right now to calm the nervous system and not try to vomit on myself,” Bienz told Ryan French of Monday Q in a video shared on X, formerly known as Twitter. “That’s where we’re at right now.”
He downed the third beer after realizing he had celebrated prematurely and he still had to compete in a playoff. Eight holes later, his dream of playing on the PGA Tour became a reality. How many beers did he throw back afterwards?
“Just one,” he said. “I sat in the same chair at the golf course for 2 ½ hours in shock trying to respond to as many texts as I could and all the logistics for the tournament.”
First, he FaceTimed his fiancée on the cart ride back to the clubhouse. She was sobbing. “Do you know that you’re famous?” she asked.
Bienz, who played his college golf at the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), had no idea that he had gone viral. Ever since, fans have been sending him money via Venmo to help with his expenses, a friend at apparel maker TravisMathew sent him a care package of outfits for the week but he said he hasn’t landed a sponsor yet despite several inquiries including a beer company.
“I’m such a rookie at this I don’t even know the logistics of how I’d get a logo on a shirt in less than 24 hours,” said Bienz, who also received a new bag with the logo of his employer Golf Galaxy.
But he already has met Kevin Kisner, who posted on social media that the Tour should pair them together in the tournament.
“He came up to me and said, ‘Are you my beer drinking buddy?’ ” Bienz recalled. “Then he said, ‘The Tour screwed us, bro. I thought they were going to pair us together.’ ”
Bienz said on four occasions he’s flunked out of Korn Ferry Tour Q-School and also tried the PGA Tour Latinoamerica and Mackenzie Tour twice. His game has been in good form. On June 10, he shot 69 at the Northern Open, an Indiana section event, and won the one-day tournament. He has given himself to his wedding next May to determine whether he is going to continue chasing his dream or call it quits and settle down in a real job. Depending on how he plays in the Rocket Mortgage Classic, where the purse this week is $9.2 million, working in golf retail could be in a galaxy far, far away for him.
“Fortunately for me this week has thrown a massive wrench and I really have no idea what’s going to happen from here,” he said.
