Tim Widing, a name you might not have heard but probably want to remember. In the past few weeks, he’s burst onto the golf scene and found himself in the top-120 in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR). Did we mention he calls the Central Coast his home?
The sounds of soft-spoken Tim Widing come in the form of absolutely crushing golf balls off the tee and the occasional dismay of a missed birdie putt turned tap-in par. Tim’s loudest feature is his golf game, and he lets it speaks for itself.
“I don't really think about it. It's just business as usual,” said the 26-year-old Widing.
The 119th ranked player in the world (OWGR) and honorary member at the San Luis Obispo Country Club let KSBY’S Neil Hebert ride along with him for 18 holes and told him he received an exemption into the PGA Championship, one of golf’s four majors. So, what is Widing’s goal in golf?
“Obviously to win PGA Tour events, majors, and play Ryder Cup for Europe – that’s always been a dream of mine,” said Widing, originally from Jönköping, Sweden. “I already know I’m going to get my PGA Tour card at the end of the year, so this year is all about preparation and putting myself in position to win a lot of tournaments.”
Widing is the points leader on the Korn Ferry Tour, the feeder league for the premier tour in the world of professional golf, the PGA Tour. He won back-to-back Korn Ferry Tour tournaments with a combined score of 51-under par. Simply put, that’s making birdie on average more than a third of the time over that two-week stretch.
But even with all the accolades, Widing remains, calm, cool, and collected on and off the course.
“Nothing's really changed in my life other than the wins and obviously the tournaments I get to play now,” said Widing. “As a person, I'm trying to be the same. It kind of led me there to having that success, so why change?”
So, how did a future PGA Tour player make his way to the Central Coast?
“Before I met my wife, I hadn’t heard of this place,” said Widing with a smile.
Widing moved to the U.S. from Sweden in the late 2010s and played golf at the University of San Francisco, where he met his future wife, Jazmine, originally from Cambria.
“It’s definitely a gem. It’s a little more quiet than the big cities. It's nice because I'm already so far away from home in Sweden, so it's nice to actually have found a place that I can call my second home and be able to come home from tournaments and just be able to enjoy the weather and the town and the people here,” said Widing. “Yeah, I love it here. Hopefully we can be here for a long time.”
Living the “SLO life” and spending his off days at home here on the Central Coast at the SLO Country Club, Widing is the ultimate pro’s pro.
“He’s constantly working on his golf game. It's just fun to watch him work hard at his craft because he's trying to fine tune it. It’s very inspiring,” said Michael Valdez, a PGA professional and the lead golf instructor for the SLO Country Club.
“It's not an ‘if’ he goes on tour, it's a ‘when’ he goes on tour. We've said that and thought about it at the same time,” said Connor Bovee, a PGA associate and tournament director for the SLO Country Club.
For Widing, as kids say these days, golf is life.
“Golf is kind of like life. You can hit good shots and have bad breaks; you can hit bad shots and have good breaks,” said Widing.
Hoping for some good breaks in the near future at Widing’s next stop: Valhalla Golf Club for the PGA Championship.
Widing will tee off Thursday at 6:32 a.m. PT in the 1st round of the PGA Championship. His Friday tee time for the 2nd round will be 11:57 a.m. PT. To find the latest on the PGA Championship, click here.
For more on Widing’s golf profile, click here.
Widing’s 31-under finish at the Veritex Championship was the lowest score relative to par in Korn Ferry Tour history, where many current PGA Tour players, including Justin Thomas and Scottie Scheffler, got their start in professional golf.
