In a 12-year battle to earn a place on the PGA Tour, paying his “dues” was never a question for Steve LeBrun.
Paying his bills, however, was.
There were times when, for all intents and purposes, the Atlantis Classic became the Phone Bill Classic for LeBrun because that’s where the $55 he made playing in it was earmarked that week. The $19.67 from the Falls Shootout becoming, in reality, the Diapers Open.
“Every time I went out on some of the mini-tours I knew I needed to play well just to pay some of the bills for that particular week or month,” LeBrun said. “You pay a $200 (entry fee) for a chance to win, maybe $800 and if you’re not in the top 10, the money you were making wasn’t much at all.”
As LeBrun tees off this morning at Waialae Country Club, rookie PGA Tour status means sponsorships and the realization that he need not stew over the dentist bill sitting on the desk back home in West Palm Beach, Fla.
“It has been a lot of years and a lot of struggles,” LeBrun said. “A lot of the good and bad and the good finally happened.”
The right to finally be called a PGA Tour “rookie” at age 34 has tested his persistence as much as his golf skills. A graduate of Florida Atlantic University, he honed his abilities and hardened his resolve on the Montgomery Sports Tour, the Golden Bear Tour, Web.com Tour, Nationwide Tour, Minor League Golf Tour and just about anywhere else he could pick up a few bucks while working on his game.
Eleven times since turning pro in 2000 he tried the PGA Tour Qualifying School before finally earning his card last month with a second-place finish.
“He was determined to shoot for the stars until he got there,” said Angelo Sands, the FAU coach. “He just hung in there doing whatever he had to do to make it happen. Nobody was writing checks for him.”
In addition to playing mini-tours, he worked as a substitute high school teacher — “science, computers, physical education … you name it,” LeBrun said — cleaned up after the hurricanes that lashed the Florida coast and crewed on his father’s charter fishing boat, all the while chasing the dream.
Fourteen years, 15, “it didn’t matter, I was going to do whatever it took,” LeBrun said. “I felt like it was a matter of time.”
He overcame a severe shoulder injury, surgery and rehabilitation, driven by the belief “that I could play here,” and wife’ Jen’s unflagging support, LeBrun said. A third-round 69 and eventual 46th-place finish in last year’s U.S. Open, his only PGA Tour paycheck, reaffirmed that it would be sooner than later.
Yet the real test came last month, the day before the first round of Q-School when his wife went into labor with their second child. “The baby finally arrived at 9 p.m. and, of course, I had the first tee time the next morning,” LeBrun said. “I spent the night at the hospital, didn’t get much sleep and then got up early in the morning to drive to Fort Lauderdale for the tournament.”
After years of playing for grocery money, “I had something more important to worry about, which is a new baby girl along with a 3-year-old,” LeBrun said.
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Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
