David Lipsky is beating the odds
COVER PHOTO: David Lipsky watches his ball fly towards the green after his second shot in the fairway on No. 15. Picture by Michael Reaves/Getty Images.
Sports betting is wildly popular. Always has been. But now with the advent of betting apps conveniently located on your phone where you don’t even have to get off the couch to place a small or extravagantly large wager, it’s become all the rage. So the real question is, how many of you that partake in that kind of activity placed an early bet on David Lipsky to win this year’s Memorial Tournament? If you didn’t, you’re probably kicking yourself. According to PlayPicks, he came in at over 50,000 to 1 odds he’d wind up the victor.
After Thursday’s round at the 48th annual Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, the world’s 160th-ranked player carded a three-under par, 69, which was good enough to tie him with several others for third place. But because his name wasn’t as “recognizable” as others on the leaderboard like Jordan Spieth, Shane Lowry, Danny Willett and Adam Hadwin, his name got lost in the shuffle.
However, Lipsky carded another 69 on Friday to put him at six-under for the tournament, which leaves him tied for third alongside two-time Memorial winner Patrick Cantlay.
To say Lipsky is currently turning some heads in the golf world by not only beating the odds but virtually everyone else in the field might be putting it lightly.
The 34-year-old, 12-year pro out of Los Angeles is looking for his first PGA TOUR win and there's a strong possibility he'll finally get it come Sunday evening.
It’s been a long journey between several different professional tours for Lipsky to get to this point, though. By his account, he’s played in events sanctioned by “almost every tour in the world” and has played on every continent “except for Antarctica.”
“I missed Q-School in 2011 to get into the PGA TOUR or WEB.COM (so I) went to the Asian Tour (and) played pretty well out there. Jumped back to the WEB.COM (then) jumped back to the Asian Tour. Then, got my European Tour card (and) played out there for years.”
Q-School (or qualifying school) are different sets of qualifying tournaments specifically within the Korn Ferry Tour (formerly known as the WEB.COM Tour), which is a developmental tour for the PGA TOUR. Players who aren’t exempted into certain PGA sanctioned events or haven’t obtained their TOUR card must play in a qualifying tournament and achieve a certain score to be able to receive an official invite to a PGA event.
However, those tours in Asia and Europe weren’t cutting it for Lipsky and he decided to take a risk even though his career overseas was going fairly well.
“(I) took a gamble – because I had a pretty decent career in Europe – to play the Korn Ferry Tour (but) this is where I want to be. I took a gamble, it paid off and (it’s my) second year on (the PGA) TOUR, so life's good.”
It’s that kind of resolve that’s led him back to the states after winning the individual Big Ten Championship for Northwestern in 2010. The next year he decided to turn pro but the journey took those aforementioned detours but provided unique experiences. Like the time he tried a unique beverage while on the Asian tour.
“I remember playing in Vietnam and I had snake liquor from a restaurant. There's a snake at the bottom of this barrel and that was it. They were distilling some alcohol and the owner gave us a couple shots. It was terrible. But I still took it,” he said laughing.
Trying new things, though, is deep in his repertoire because of his background.
“I'm from a multi-ethnic background. My whole family is in the restaurant business (and) I think that leads a lot to why I make the choices I do. I don't shy away from too much. There are a few things, but no, not too much.”
Another unique experience was the time he was trying to putt and chanting broke out that nearly distracted him.
“When I was playing the Asian Tour in Indonesia and one of the Muslim prayers kept going off right when I was about to pull the trigger. I never heard that before.”
And playing in Asia makes 90 degree days here in the states feel like there’s a bit of a chill in the air.
“The hotter, the better for me,” he said with a smile. “I played a ton of golf on the Asian Tour and this is like a nice winter day compared to Malaysia or Singapore.”
The high temperatures in Dublin, Ohio the next two days are expected to hover around the low 90’s.
Extreme heat, snake alcohol, Muslim prayer chants. They’ve all boded well for him in the states and prepared him to expect the unexpected. Especially when a loud speaker malfunction on the 18th green pierces the air for a minute or two right as you’re about to approach your birdie putt.
After sticking his second shot from the fairway almost 18 feet above the hole, Lipsky stepped up to his ball ready to hit but out of nowhere, a blood-curdling screech began screaming from the speakers on the hill next to the 18th green.
A couple of initial attempts to cease the wailing failed as confused, irritated patrons as well as Lipsky’s group on the green looked upward towards the speakers and waited for it to stop. Finally after a minute or so, someone came to the rescue and figured out how to turn it off. Lipsky then gathered himself, reapproached his ball… and missed the putt a foot to the left.
“It happens. It's no different than like some drunk fan yelling so it's all good.”
He was able to make the par putt to end the round.
Being able to still make a par after distractions like that are what has fed Lipsky’s resolve the last couple of years on the best golf tour in the world. And he’s ready to show everyone why his name should be atop leaderboards more often.
“This game's tough. I'm coming off of like a little bit of a bad stretch, I would say. But good golf's right around the corner and that's what I kept telling myself. I kept working hard, believing in what I'm doing and that's where I'm at and that's why I'm here.”
It’s unknown exactly when or whom he’ll be teeing off with on Saturday but there’s a very good chance it will be Patrick Cantlay and they will probably be the next-to-last group which would put them around a late one o’clock tee time.