He closed with a 4-under 68 on Sunday to win the Shell Houston Open and earn his first trip to the Masters.
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While talking with Lance McAlister on 700 WLW radio, St. Xavier and University of Cincinnati golf product Jim Herman said Trump’s support helped propel him to his first PGA Tour win last week at the Shell Houston Open. In doing so, Herman earned the last invitation to the Masters, starting Thursday. “I found the lines better today”. He’s such a good guy. A nice person. And he deserves it. Such a great story. He’s what America is all about. He never gave up, never gave up on his dream.
Trump added, “I’m so proud of him”.
Herman was No. 191 in the world ranking.
The American pipped Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, who missed a birdie putt on the last hole to tie Herman on 15 under.
“I hired him as an assistant because I felt the club needed a strong player to play with the members”, said Mickie Gallagher, Bedminster’s director of golf.
“He not only wrote me a check, he gave me some confidence”, Herman said. “We had a good game plan and we really did a good job keeping our game plan”. And geez, look what happened.
“I never thought it was possible after all this time”.
“I worked in New Jersey for two years, worked at Trump National”, Herman explained. One day, he played with Trump. The real estate mogul was impressed from the get-go. “I hit a good drive, hybrid on the green, and two putts and here we are, 2-under through two”. “But Jim was different”. Such an awesome story.
“He got a late start because he had no money and had to teach”. So I staked him. The only disappointment for Herman was a bogey on No. 18 after his approach shot went long of the green. He was closing in on his wits end. Herman has played in 106 PGA Tour events, 118 on the Web.com Tour and for the first time in his career on the PGA Tour he is walking away a champion. “I was planning on flying home last night, and I was going to get home at midnight, see my kids this morning, take my daughter to school and that’s obviously changed”. “Sorry for the tears, but I am pretty happy”.
“It’s a whirlwind, this is insane and I’m going to enjoy it”, he said.
“You want to dream, you want to believe that you’re going to make it”, Herman said. “He wrote me a check”.
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The day before Easter, Herman played a round of golf with Trump at Trump International in West Palm Beach against Dana Quigley, an 11-time victor on the PGA Tour Champions and John Nieporte, the Director of Golf at Trump International. Instead of watching the Masters on television this week, Herman will be among the world’s best golfers, competing in the game’s most prestigious tournament. Trump was winning, to say the least. But there have been some close calls, especially two years ago with Jonas Blixt and Jordan Spieth both tying for second in their debuts and Jimmy Walker and Kevin Stadler finishing T8.
