This week’s 3M Open is a massive moment for Ben Warian. The fresh-out-of-college, 22-year-old will play in his first career PGA Tour event on a sponsor’s exemption in his own backyard.
The Stillwater native and Hill-Murray and Gophers alum will sleep at home during the week, just 25 minutes away from the course he has played at countless times over the past few years.
It doesn’t get much cooler than that. The chance to tee it up against some of the game’s great players is the type of opportunity of which you dream.
But not to get lost in the experience is that the result matters. Warian is in the midst of his transitional summer from the college game to the pros. Which is a time of severe uncertainty for players who are often left asking: What’s next?
Warian is trying to provide an answer for himself, and pathways continue to open that could potentially aid in his efforts. In the past, players generally had to wait for PGA Tour Q School to try to secure a spot on a professional tour for the following season. Warian will still likely do that this fall, with designs on grabbing a spot on the Korn Ferry Tour or — if the stars aligned perfectly — the PGA Tour.
But, in June, another opportunity emerged. A Global Amateur Pathway was announced, which will provide exemptions onto tours for amateurs turning pro after collegiate careers.
Warian entered the weekend 50th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. If he maintains that positioning when the exemptions are handed out in mid-October, he’ll secure a spot on the PGA Tour Americas circuit next season. And if he can climb his way into the top 20, he’ll earn a spot on the DP World Tour, the top tour overseas that features a number of crossover events with the PGA Tour.
“I just hope that he has a great tour, great spot where he can play for a full year. Because, over a period of time, he’s going to win out,” Gophers coach Justin Smith said. “And he’s going to find himself in positions where he wants to keep climbing the ladder and hopefully is playing against the best players in the world — hopefully in The Open Championship sooner than later.”
Warian noted a move into the top 20 would require some high-level golf in upcoming tournaments. This is a competition-packed summer for Warian, who completed the Southern Amateur on Saturday.
He still has the Western Amateur and the U.S. Amateur to come. They’re all big-point events that can help you rise up the rankings. But none more so than the 3M Open. Much like the Official World Golf Rankings, the amateur ranking point system is based on field strength. PGA Tour events carry titanic field strengths. So if Warian makes the cut in Blaine, and perhaps even flirts with contention, he’ll shoot up the amateur rankings.
“Which will be a great opportunity, for sure,” Warian said.
And then, of course, if he managed to shock the golf world and win the 3M Open, he could immediately turn pro and cash in a two-year exemption onto the PGA Tour, which then-Alabama golfer Nick Dunlap did earlier this year when he won an event as an amateur.
“That would be Plan A1,” Warian said with a laugh. “We will certainly be doing everything we can to take that route.”
He’s playing well enough for that to at least be a fringe possibility. Warian’s career trajectory with the Gophers was an upward rocket with improvement each season. His senior season was no different. Solid results to open the spring eventually turned into a win in Toledo, followed by a second-place finish in NCAA Regionals and a 25th-place finish at the NCAA Championships.
Last month, Warian fired a final-round 64 to win the Sunnehanna Amateur in Pennsylvania, a prestigious amateur event won in the past two decades by the likes of Collin Morikawa, Rickie Fowler and Webb Simpson. Warian said his game is “progressing nicely.”
“It’s kind of been a bit of a steady climb over the last couple of years, just continuing to get a little bit better each and every week,” Warian said. “And certainly the results haven’t been exactly linear in showing the progression. But I’ve kind of continued to feel a little bit better, a little bit more comfortable, kind of with myself and my game and my ability to play well during tournaments. Certainly hoping to, and looking forward to, continuing that trend.”
He’ll certainly continue the process that has produced said results. Warian utilized a mantra during his time at the U that Smith always wished other players would adopt: Stack days. Every day has a purpose-based plan centered on incremental improvement.
Warian rarely worries about on-course results, because only so much of that is in his control. But he has full sovereignty over the amount of work he puts in to prepare for each opportunity.
Smith said Warian’s preparation is pro ready.
“We’ve seen a lot of players come through our program that have the talent and the skills and can hit the golf ball like he can. He’s certainly tightened it up a lot, but how he goes about his business is very professional,” Smith said. “And that’s what’s allowed him to progress, and that’s what young players, they need to take a lot of notes on that, because that’s what it takes. When you show up to the course and work on your game and you’ve got a plan, you know how to measure it, you’re testing yourself, you’re constantly getting yourself uncomfortable to get ready for pressure situations, that’s what he does really well, and he doesn’t shy away from it. He really takes it head…
