MoxVib

He and his parents do not make for “much of a crying family,” Michael Visacki said this week, but you would never know that from his recent displays of emotion. Then again, this has been a week like no other — one that saw the 27-year-old finally qualify for his first PGA Tour event before making a birdie on his first hole.

Visacki went viral on Monday for his tearful reaction to sinking a 20-foot putt that took him from a qualifying tournament into the main draw at the Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla. Actually, make that tearful reactions, plural, because Visacki’s relief and joy had him crying before he left the green.

The waterworks really began to flow, though, when Visacki called his father from the clubhouse with the good news. “I did it,” he said while wiping his eyes. On the other end, “Big Mike” Visacki Sr. acknowledged he was crying as well, and the same could likely be said for many who watched the video online.

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After Thursday’s first round at the Valspar Championship, in which he ended up shooting a 3-over 74, Visacki — who lives in Florida with his parents — was asked what it meant to have his father out on the course following him. He wasn’t far into his answer before he again grew emotional.

“Oh man, what we’ve gone through," he replied. After a pause to collect himself, Visacki said, “Pretty special. I love him to death.”

“And my mom, too,” he added with a smile.

Born in Sarasota, Fla., Visacki played one year at Central Florida before turning pro in 2014, at which point he began striving in earnest to reach a PGA event. However, before this week the highest he had climbed in the golf world was a 2018 appearance at the KC Golf Classic on the second-tier Korn Ferry Tour. Visacki, though, does have a well-earned reputation as one of the better players on the mini-tour circuit, with a reported 37 West Florida Pro Tour wins to his name.

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Opportunities to hone one’s game may be abundant on the West Florida Pro Tour, which has already staged 23 events this year, but prize money is not. Winners’ checks range for the most part from $1,000 to $2,000, going as high as $4,000-$7,000 for the biggest events on that circuit.

Trying to make it as a full-time golfer, at the highest or lowest rungs of the sport, can be a fairly expensive proposition. The parents of Visacki, who said this week he has put 170,000 miles on a 2010 Honda Accord that he has driven as far as Utah for tournaments, have helped him pursue his goals. With a long-awaited spotlight on him this week, Visacki made it clear he is grateful.

“A lot of people give up on their dreams," he said Wednesday with, not for the first time, noticeable emotion. "Probably because they can’t afford it, but I’ve been lucky enough to be with my parents, and they’ve been able to help me out sometimes, to keep living it.”

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In an interview Monday with the PGA Tour, Visacki praised his parents for having “sacrificed everything for me.”

“They have given up everything for me,” he declared. "They knew I was able to do it and they were always there for me. My dad cried, my mom cried, and I cried [after qualifying]. My mom was driving when she called me, she had to pull over and she had to take a minute. She just cried for a couple minutes.

“They know I can do it, and to have it finally happen, it just means the world to me and to them. It was just a really special moment.”

After Thursday’s round, Visacki said, “Everyone’s been so supportive of me this week, and I appreciate that, and I’m going to go out and shoot a low one tomorrow.”

He will need a low score to make the cut, after his 74 left him tied for 129th out of the 156-player field. If Visacki does not make it to Saturday, however, his father won’t be disappointed.

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“It is sweet whether he makes the cut or not,” the elder Visacki said Thursday of his son (via Golf Week). “He made his place in the world. I knew he could do it. It was just a matter of time.”

In some ways, Visacki did well to have righted the ship after bogeying holes 2, 3 and 4. That early stumble could have reflected some understandable nervousness, but then again, Visacki looked very cool at his first PGA Tour hole, a 545-yard par-5 on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club.

Visacki smacked his tee shot 334 yards, then got up and down nicely from a greenside bunker for a birdie. He also made birdie at the par-3 13th hole, with back-nine bogeys at 10 and 13.

Visacki might have been helped by a little course knowledge acquired 17 years ago, when he attended the tournament with his father. Asked for his memories of that experience, he replied, “Just being a little kid and thinking, ‘One day I’ll be here.’ And it was pretty special that it was at this golf course, too.”

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Also cheering Visacki on Thursday, per reports, were some of his fellow competitors on the local circuit.

“He makes us all believe in our own dreams a little more,” said West Florida Pro Tour player Dominic Formato, “and just reminds you that sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is closer than it seems.”

To hear Visacki, much of the credit for his ability to inspire the likes of Formato goes to his parents, who “sacrificed their dreams for me to be able to play professional golf.”

"They’ve given up everything for me,” he said Tuesday. "They pushed me to be the best that I could. … They’ve always known that I’ve been able to do it.”

“We’re not much of a crying family, but this is the first time in a long time I think we all cried,” Visacki added at the time, "because we knew how much work and effort — and blood, sweat, tears — that’s gone into me trying to make it, and finally I’ll be able to do it.

“It’s a dream come true.”

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