Reinbeck’s Austin Peters seeks full week at PGA

HAVEN, Wis. - From Iowa's Cedar Valley comes a professional golfer who said he's 'expecting to do some damage” at the PGA Championship that starts Thursday at Whistling Straits.

Austin Peters is a native of Reinbeck, 74 miles northwest of Cedar Rapids and 22 miles southwest of Waterloo. He said he tries to be confident and humble at the same time, but professes unusual confidence for a player in his unfamiliar position.

Peters, 28, was one of the 20 players to qualify to this major championship from the PGA Professional National Championship June 28-July 1 in suburban Philadelphia. Each year, 20 club pros advance from that tourney to the PGA Championship.

No club pro has made the 36-hole cut in the PGA since 2011. Peters expects to still be playing here come Saturday and Sunday.

'I'm the kind of guy who aims high,” he said. 'I don't want to just make the cut.

'Thankfully, I've had the opportunity to have practice rounds with the best out here - Zach (Johnson), Rory (McIlroy), Ian (Poulter), Rickey (Fowler). I'm hitting the ball the best I've ever hit it, putting it right where I want. hitting it just as well as these guys, and as close. I'm making putts.”

Things get real for Peters Thursday at 7:05 a.m. when he tees off with accomplished pros Thomas Bjorn and Charles Howell III.

The fact he's here at all is a success story in itself. Ten years ago, Peters finished third in Iowa's Class 2A high school state tournament representing Gladbrook-Reinbeck. He attended the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs because of its PGA-accredited golf management program.

Two years ago, he became the head pro at Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley, Calif. Playing the Professional National Championship for the first time, Peters tied for fifth place in a field of 325 club pros, earning a spot here. His parents still live in Reinbeck. They and many other Iowans will be here to cheer him this week.

'Once I got here,” Peters said, 'it was ‘Holy cow, this is cool.' But now I've been here a few days, it feels comfortable.

'I've played golf my whole life. This is just another stage.”

Making the cut Friday would make Peters a story here.

'I think it's doable,” he said. 'I really do.”