Rozner: How PGA pro makes name for himself

When they weren't getting his name wrong a few weeks ago, the NBC announcers incessantly referred to Keith Mitchell as the 162nd-ranked player in the world.

As if it were a bad thing, or a shock that someone at that number could be in contention.

And that missed a very important point by at least a 3-metal.

The reality is there are that many players in the world right now capable of winning on the PGA Tour, and Mitchell near the top of a leaderboard shouldn't have been surprise.

Already this wraparound season, rookies Cam Champ, Adam Long and Martin Trainer have won events, and Wyndham Clark — in his 19th career start — slept on the 54-hole lead at the Honda.

Clark is more than capable, as is Sungjae Im, who shared 36-hole honors at the Honda, finished T-3 at the Palmer, T-4 at Valspar, and has a chance to win this weekend at Punta Cana, after going wire-to-wire as the top-ranked player on the Web.com Tour last year.

No, it's not a shock. This is not madness in March. It happens every year — and some years every month.

Mitchell, in only his second season and 40th PGA start, stared down three-time major winner Brooks Koepka and fan favorite Rickie Fowler and avoided a playoff by draining a 15-footer to win at the Honda on a course well suited for a U.S. Open.

Even if even those paid to know better didn't seem to get it.

“I play better when people don't expect me to win,” Mitchell said after his victory. “A friend of mine sent me a newspaper article and it said, 'No-name is leading Honda after Friday.' I don't expect to have any great stuff written about me because I've only been out here for a year, so I'm not saying that in a negative light.

“I just used that as a little (motivation). Everyone gets their start somewhere. Everyone gets their first win somewhere.”

Maybe it wasn't what NBC wanted, not with Koepka and Fowler prepping for a playoff, but no one knew who Koepka was when he was toiling on the European Tour's version of the Web, the Challenge Tour, and three years later was winning a major championship at Erin Hills.

Thing is, there's players on tour in Europe, China, Canada and dozens more on the Web that are good enough to win on the biggest stage, and they prove it every year.

Several of Mitchell's classmates from last season won coming off the Web, including Andrew Landry, Austin Cook and Aaron Wise.

There's a razor thin line between those who graduate and those who don't, but once they arrive, these “no-names” are ready to win immediately.

A year ago, Trainer had to Monday qualify for a Web event and won, which is how he got to the PGA, where he won last month in Puerto Rico.

Thin line?

Brady Schnell, who graduated to the PGA this year at age 32 off a win in Wichita last year, summed it up nicely when he was asked about it at Ivanhoe last year.

“I once heard someone say the difference between the Web and PGA is 5 feet,” Schnell said. “They hit it 5 feet closer. That's experience, but that one shot can also be an inch difference.”

Kevin Dougherty actually missed his Tour card by 1 inch last year at the Web Tour Championship. One inch.

Trainer did not have status on the Web last year and this year he's a winner on the PGA Tour.

That's the point, for those still thinking of Mitchell as a nobody.

The Web.com moves from the Rust-Oleum at Ivanhoe to the Evans Scholars Invitational at the Glen Club this year, beginning May 23. The top 25 regular season and top 25 postseason on the Web get their PGA Tour cards for next season, and there will be names in Glenview that you don't already know, but might want to keep an eye on.

Some of the aforementioned will reach the FedEx Cup Playoffs and get inside the top 70 to qualify for the BMW Championship at Medinah in August.

Keith Mitchell was one of those Web.com guys just 18 months ago and now he's got an invitation to the Masters, capturing his first victory on a brutal course against the best players in the world in Palm Beach.

How far he goes from here remains to be seen.

But it's likely he won't have to introduce himself to the network announcers anymore.