Bayley earns shot at pro golf

Derek Bayley has had a lifelong goal of reaching the major leagues of golf — the PGA Tour.

On Friday, the former Lakeland High star qualified for the Double-A equivalent of the pro golf circuit.

Bayley finished in a five-way tie for seventh at a PGA TOUR Latinoamérica qualifying tournament in Mazatlan, Mexico. He shot 70-71-64-68—273, 15 under par.

By finishing between second and 11th place, he earned fully exempt status for the first half (first eight events) of the upcoming PGA TOUR Latinoamérica season.

“It’s pretty exciting, especially with it being my first time in Q-school, and first time trying to make it on a big-time tour,” said Bayley, who went on to play at Washington State. “It’s pretty fulfilling to do what I did this week, and it’s a good start to getting to the next level.”

The tour schedule has yet to be announced. The Mazatlan tourney was the second of four qualifying events for the tour. The schedule will likely be announced after the last two qualifying tourneys.

The PGA TOUR Latinoamérica is one of three tours budding pros can use in their attempt to reach the PGA Tour. The other tours are the Mackenzie Tour (also called PGA TOUR Canada) and PGA TOUR China.

From there, pros can qualify for the Web.com Tour, and from there, qualify for the PGA Tour.

Bayley said he will likely turn pro when he enters his first PGA TOUR Latinoamérica event — whenever that is.

In addition to earning amateur player of the year honors in Idaho and Washington, Bayley twice beat a pro-heavy field at the Rosauers Open Invitational in Spokane.

This fall, he completed work on his sports management degree at WSU. In recent weeks, he’s played in three amateur events and spent time in Phoenix working on his game.

Golfers could enter just one of the four PGA TOUR Latinoamérica qualifying tournaments. The first event was in Florida; the final two are in Brazil and Argentina.

Bayley said he chose the Mazatlan site because it was a short flight from Phoenix.

He was 3-under after 36 holes, then shot 64 on Thursday and 68 on Friday.

“It was good to have a couple weeks in Phoenix to work on my game, and once I got here, things kind of clicked,” Bayley said. “I got off to a pretty average start — I haven’t played in a lot of four-round tournaments, so as long as you don’t shoot yourself in the foot early, you’re going to be OK. After two rounds, I was around 30-35th, and shooting 64 in the third round propelled me up there, and I rode the wave coming in.”

Those who finished between 12th and 35th at Mazatlan earned conditional status for the first half of the tour schedule.

Bayley, 23, plans to head home soon, and get ready for his professional golf debut.

“I’ve always said I’m not going to turn pro until there’s something to play in, and now there’s something to play in,” he said.

Bayley has also signed up to play in a Mackenzie Tour qualifying tournament in British Columbia in late April. That would give him another avenue to advance to Web.com Tour qualifying.

“I’m just taking it day by day,” Bayley said. “As I like to say, you start in Double-A, and work your way up to Triple-A, and see if you can make it to the major leagues.”