Kevin Foley, Ex State Open Champ, Makes Cut In 1st PGA Tour Event

It was just two-and-a-half years ago that Kevin Foley of Neshanic Valley won the 2011 State Open at Hollywood Golf Club in Deal.

This weekend, Foley walks onto the biggest stage of his career when he tees it up for the first time as a member of the PGA Tour. Foley, a native of Somerville, is in the 144-player field of the Sony Open at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. The event is televised on The Golf Channel.

In his first-ever appearance in a PGA Tour event on Thursday (Jan. 9), Foley fired a 3-under par 67, placing him in a tie for 12th place. His round included an eagle on the par-5 ninth hole, in which he chipped in from 77 feet. He made the cut in his first event and averaged 70 over three rounds. He earned $10,696 at the Sony Open.

VIDEO OF KEVIN FOLEY'S EAGLE CHIP-IN

Foley, who also won an Ike Championship, is joined at the Sony Open by another New Jerseyan, second-year PGA Tour pro Morgan Hoffmann of Franklin Lakes, winner of the NJSGA Junior in 2005 who earned $871,000 in his rookie season which included an appearance in The Barclays at Liberty National. Following Thursday's round of the Sony Open, Hoffmann was at 2-under par, tied for 25th place.

By contrast, Foley, a Penn State graduate, finished the regular season at No. 24 on the Web.com Tour money list with $144.052 in earnings. It included one victory, at the Panama Claro Championship (worth $108,000) and he had another Top 10 finish. PGA Tour cards are guaranteed to the leading Top 25 players at the end of the Web.com Tour regular season.

“My story might be a little different than some of your top tour pros,” Foley told Brendan Prunty of The Star-Ledger/NJ.com. “I started from the bottom and worked my way up. All the work I’ve put in has finally paid off to get to what my goal was, of reaching the PGA Tour. That’s awesome. There were hard times. I always took it step-by-step.”

At the 2013 Sony Open, a tour rookie, Russell Henley, won in his first start by shooting a tournament record 256. Besides Henley, this year’s field includes Adam Scott, Matt Kuchar, Zach Johnson, Jason Dufner and 2013 rookie sensation Jordan Spieth.

Foley had no status on any tour to begin the 2012 season but fought through Monday qualifiers and top 25 finishes and earned full status on the Web.com Tour.

In 2012, he finished 52nd on the money list and had four Top 10s in 16 starts. In his first start that year, Foley was a Monday qualifier at the South Georgia Classic and parlayed a T7 finish into a start the following week, where he finished T7 at the Stadion Classic at UGA.

A solo fifth-place effort at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational had a big enough payday ($32,000) for him to move into the membership category.

Foley, the youngest of eight children and a graduate of Immaculata High School, was a three-time All-American at Penn State where he won a school-record six titles.

"I'm really looking forward to next year out on the PGA Tour and learning what it takes to win at the next level and compete with the best in the world every week," Foley was quoted as saying in an article dated October, 23, 2013 on the Penn State website.

"The biggest thing in my transition from golf at Penn State to playing professionally was really learning to create a routine and process that works and stick with it," Foley explained in the same article. "That goes with preparation for events, analyzing and decision making on the course and putting together a game plan."