Playing professional golf demands exceptional skill, mental toughness, and relentless dedication. With many professional golf stages, making it to the PGA tour is every golfer’s dream. With only a few hundred players on the Tour at any given time, the journey demands talent, dedication, and the ability to thrive under pressure. In the last 20 years St. X has been grateful to have had several alumni who have played professional golf and PGA tour level golf. Some of those players include Justin Thomas, Bobby Nichols, Cooper Musselman, and Stephen Stallings.
Justin Thomas is one of the most notable St. X alumni and a very well known player on the PGA tour. Justin Thomas turned pro in 2013 and has won 15 times on tour. Justin Thomas after attending the University of Alabama, Thomas was granted access to the Korn Ferry tour in 2014 and in just 3 years he won the FedEx Cup or end of the season Championship for the PGA tour. After this win Thomas was given the honor of being the number 1 ranked golfer in the world and joined the ranks of the best of the best. With a couple of seasons Thomas wished he could get back he dropped to 45th on the FedEx rankings and with the start of the 2025 season he plans to regain his number 1 position.
The next player who was very successful on tour is Bobby Nichols. While attending St. X, at the age of 16 Nichols was in a car accident and was in a coma for 13 days and was paralyzed from the waist down. He was able to walk all over again and after 96 days in the hospital he was finally released. Without that letting him stop him or deter him from attending a scholarship for football, Nichols attended Texas A&M University for golf and turned professional in 1960. With a successful career on the PGA, Nichols ended with 15 wins and one of them being a PGA Championship against the likes of Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.
A more recent St. X grad who has found recent success in the professional golf tour scene is Cooper Musselman. Musselman graduated from St. X in 2013 and attended the University of Kentucky. After 4 years as a wildcat, Musselman struggled to find his footing in professional golf, but in 2017 he made his first start on the PGA tour. In total Musselman has played in 60 events in his professional career and has made 35 cuts, with 1 runner up finish. With a successful Q school this past year, Musselman has been granted access to guaranteed starts on the Korn ferry tour.
Like Musselman, Stephen Stallings is another St. X grad who attended the University of Kentucky. Stallings was Musselman’s teammate at St. X as well as Kentucky and turned pro in 2018. Stallings started in 29 professional events and made the cut in 14. His latest event was the Isco Championship, which is a locally played PGA event located at Keene Trace golf club. With a 2 under 70 in his first round, Stallings needed a good round to launch him up the standings to make the cut, although putting up a strong 5 under 67 he unfortunately missed the cut.
The journey to the PGA is long and tough, filled with hard work and sacrifice. Justin Thomas, Cooper Musselman, Bobby Nichols, and Stephen Stallings are all deeply thankful for making it to the highest level of golf. Their success stands as a beacon of inspiration for St. X, where the passion for golf continues to grow, and the hope burns bright that future alumni will rise to join them on the professional stage.
