It was the most important day of his golf career so far but Cody Blick’s clubs had been stolen and he was desperate.
In only his third year as a pro golfer, the 25-year-old was supposed to playing the final round of the notoriously difficult Web.com Tour qualifying school Sunday.
His performance would determine how many – if any – starts he would gain on next season’s Web.com Tour, the developmental circuit for the PGA Tour.
In panic at being without his trusty weapons, he took to social media.
“I will give you $5,000 cash no questions asked,” a desperate Blick posted on Instagram.
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Staying at a rented Airbnb in Arizona, Blick was cooking breakfast Sunday morning when he realized the garage door had been opened and his clubs were gone.
Heading into round four Blick was tied for 74th on 10 under par, four shots shy of a top-40 finish that would see him earn a guaranteed eight starts on the Tour.
“I went through a rollercoaster of emotions for about five minutes,” Blick told GolfChannel.com. “I was kinda freaking out, but I had to get it together.”
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Thanks to the kindness of those around him – and a few spare irons from the club shop – the Californian managed to cobble together a makeshift set for his 10:39am tee off time.
Unsurprisingly, he struggled to begin with, but what followed came as a shock to everybody, not least Blick himself.
He eventually shot 63, his lowest round of the tournament, and catapulted himself 49 places up the leaderboard to finish tied for 25th.
It meant Blick secured his place at the first eight tournaments of next year’s Web.com Tour, the first coming in January’s The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic.
“It was an attack mentality all day,” Blick told GolfChannel.com. “Hitting bad shots was OK, almost, like, dude, I have a mismatched set.
“It’s not expected of me to hit good shots. In a weird way, that was comforting.”
Whether or not Blick has decided to keep his hodgepodge set of clubs, however, remains to be seen.