There’s one entry under the “Experience” tab on Ryan Hall‘s LinkedIn page.
Aspiring PGA Tour Player
N/A · Full-time
Jun 2022 – Present · 2 yrs 5 mos
Knoxville, TN · Remote
Chasing my dream of playing on the PGA Tour
That last line, that’s the one the 24-year-old Knoxville native and South Carolina graduate made come true again when he shot a 65 in a qualifying round of the Sanderson Farms Championship to reserve his spot in a PGA Tour event for the third time as a professional.
All the play is all the work in Hall’s line of work.
The trip to the Country Club of Jackson is of the day-job variety.
“I view it as kind of owning and growing a small business,” Hall said of his golf career. “Like any small business, the owner has to take a lot of risk. The risk I take on is very expensive — to travel around, play qualifiers, play Q-School, stay in hotels.”
Then a “but” butted in.
“But there’s also a lot of upside,” Hall continued. “If you do well, you can make a lot of money on the PGA Tour. You’re putting in the hard work and you’re hoping to seek rewards out of it.”
‘I’ve got a chance to win on the PGA Tour’
Hall sneaked in the backdoor of the Sanderson Farms field.
He’s hoping to sneak up on the field and sneak out of Jackson with a healthier business. He has yet to make a cut in a PGA event. He knows the odds are pulling the other direction.
Yet . . .
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“I’ve got a chance to win on the PGA Tour this week, and that’s my goal,” Hall said. “If I don’t, then I have to accept the fact that I played well enough to make it here.
“When you’re out here, you’re measuring yourself against them. I just have to understand it’s a journey. As long as I’m showing progression, I’m confident in what I’m doing.”
Hall’s confidence can be traced to his high school days in Knoxville at Halls High School.
He helped the Red Devils to TSSAA team state championships in 2016 and 2017. He added an individual title on the back end of that run.
“Winning as a team, you don’t really get to do that in golf,” Hall said. “Winning as a team in high school is the greatest feeling, because you have four other guys to share it with.”
Ryan Hall’s Michael Jordan card
Ryan Hall aspires to earn his PGA Tour card someday, to build his small business.
But there are other cards that hold Hall’s attention.
Sports cards.
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Hall began perusing some of his father’s cards during the COVID pandemic.
“I flipped through them all and tried to see if any of them were worth a buck, and they weren’t worth a crap,” he said.
Still, Hall was hooked.
His most prized card is a 1996 Michael Jordan insert card.
“Probably a $500-$600 card,” he said. “Cards keep me busy.”
Just like the chase for his PGA Tour card, except that one would be worth so much more.
Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter for the USA Today Network. Reach him at pskrbina@gannett.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina. Follow his work here
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Ryan Hall’s LinkedIn page says a lot about Sanderson, PGA Tour hopes
