Tyler Leach’s path to professional golf began at Spring Valley Golf Course in Wisconsin, a modest public track his parents bought in 1998. Living across from the 12th tee in a town of just 1,400 people, young Tyler discovered the practice green and was immediately hooked.
“I could just walk across the street and tee it up whenever I wanted to,” Leach said. “I basically lived there. I hardly spent any time in my home.”
Spring Valley isn’t exactly a breeding ground for PGA Tour talent. It lacks a driving range and still costs less than $30 for a Saturday morning round. But the tree-lined layout taught Leach valuable lessons that are now paying dividends.
At 25, the Marquette graduate stands on the precipice of realizing his dream. He’s navigated through three stages of PGA Tour Q-School and is now among 176 players competing at final stage in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, where five Tour cards await.
The tight corridors at Spring Valley – which barely stretches to 6,000 yards – forced Leach to develop precision. “The pines taught me how to hit it straight,” he explains. Without a range, he played more actual golf, learning how to score rather than just hit balls. Even with his college credentials, he’s never broken 65 at his home course.
Leach’s talent was evident early at Marquette. He earned Big East Freshman of the Year honors and never missed a start. As a sophomore, he won his first tournament and averaged 71.9 before COVID halted the season. During his five-year college career, he twice earned first-team All-Big East honors and helped Marquette to conference championships and NCAA regional appearances.
But for all his ball-striking prowess, putting nearly derailed his career.
“You might even say I had the yips,” Leach admitted, recalling the 2022 Wisconsin State Amateur where he lost over 16 strokes putting to Tour average across four rounds – yet still tied for sixth. “That was pretty demoralizing.”
He turned pro the following summer anyway.
“My expectations were to put in some work every day and just start climbing the ladder,” Leach said. “I knew I wasn’t good enough when I first turned pro, but I felt like if I kept putting in the work, I could definitely get there. I started to see some progress, but the one thing that just kept lacking was the putter. I just couldn’t quite figure that out.”
He tried everything – left hand low, different shoulder positions, grip adjustments, various face rotations. The one thing he avoided was the long putter.
“I actually made fun of people who used the broomstick or the arm lock,” Leach admitted. “I said, there’s no way I’m going to use that. I’m going to putt conventionally and figure this out.”
The X-Factor
Marquette head coach Steve Bailey points to Leach’s self-belief as his greatest strength.
“Even during stretches of college when he wasn’t playing his best, he had a superpower of being unfazed by adversity,” Bailey said. “Tyler had his unique way of deflecting hurdles and never doubting his ability.”
That stubborn confidence finally gave way this past June when Leach’s wife, Abby, convinced him to try the broomstick putter. He put a center-shafted L.A.B. Mezz.1 Max in his bag and missed his first mini-tour cut by nine strokes. But he stuck with it.
Good thing he did. Leach won the Minnesota State Open in July, his first professional victory, rolling the ball beautifully.
“Once you have a great putting week, you kind of prove to yourself like, OK, I’ve done this once, I can certainly do this again,” said Leach, who has just two PGA Tour-sanctioned starts in his career, both in Canada.
Through three Q-School stages, Leach is gaining over 1.5 strokes per round with the putter – about three shots better than his college average. He’s medaled in two consecutive stages, including last week’s second stage in Tucson, where he fired a final-round 63 that included seven birdies on his last nine holes to advance.
“It was just one of those days where you black out,” Leach said. “You’re trying not to think about anything. I knew there was a lot at stake, but I was so locked in.”
Leach is one of just five players at final stage who started at pre-qualifying. He’s also part of a Marquette duo with a chance to make history. His former roommate and wedding groomsman Hunter Eichhorn also advanced, shooting 21 under to medal at the Savannah second-stage site.
Eichhorn’s story is equally compelling. He hails from Carney, Michigan, a U.P. town of fewer than 200 residents. He won six times for Marquette and was a three-time Big East Player of the Year.
The two friends have already played practice rounds together this week as they attempt to become the first Marquette alumni ever to earn PGA Tour cards.
“And neither guy has ever had a swing coach,” Bailey said. “Such a great story.”
Leach, ranked No. 4,896 in the world, doesn’t shy away from thinking about what success this week would mean.
“I’ve been in some pretty dark places with my putting, and it’s definitely a huge accomplishment to climb out of that because it’s hard to make it in professional golf if you can’t make putts,” Leach said. “I went through two or three years there where I was struggling and certainly had my doubts. But if I could finish in the top five, it would mean I overcame that hurdle and accomplished my dream, which is amazing to think about.”
Though his parents recently sold Spring Valley Golf Course, it will always be home for Leach – and that practice green will always represent the beginning of a dream that now stands tantalizingly close to reality.
