Roughly 15 hours after his compelling four-hole playoff with world No. 2 Jon Rahm ended late Sunday afternoon on the PGA West Stadium Course in La Quinta, California, Andrew Landry was teeing it up in a pro-am some 150 miles away at Torrey Pines in San Diego. Not surprisingly, he didn’t play well.

“I’m really tired,” said Landry, while getting his clubs re-gripped Monday afternoon. “I’m looking forward to sleeping in on Tuesday. I am pretty drained mentally. That Sunday round was a lot of fun, but it caught up with me today.”

Landry, who long ago had committed to the morning pro-am on Monday, was greeted at the course by the kind of player plaudits you would expect for his David vs. Goliath battle with Rahm. It was a reflection of a new level of respect he earned among peers for not wilting in the face of his biggest PGA Tour test.

“Everybody was complimentary,” he said. “It was nice. Plus, I received so many texts and phone calls. I would guess there must have been 300 or more. Some of them were from people I don’t even know. I have been trying to get back to most everybody, but I need more time.”

Though what would have been a career-changing moment slipped away when Rahm won on the fourth hole of the CareerBuilder Challenge playoff, Landry was upbeat. He was rightfully proud of the way he played under pressure on a Pete Dye course so difficult PGA Tour players rebelled when first forced to play it in 1986, in what was then called the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

“Andrew certainly earned my respect,” said former Beaumonter Bruce Lietzke, who counted a victory in the Hope as one of his 14 PGA Tour wins. “I vividly remember how much the players disliked that course when it first opened. I can think of few courses that would be tougher to try and protect a lead on Sunday.

“It is just so penal in so many places with water and difficult bunkers. For him to go around that with only one bogey the last two days is really impressive. What he did would have been great stuff for a veteran player. He never blinked. He is going to take away good memories.”

Not only good memories but tangible career rewards. The second-place finish, combined with two earlier top 10s this season, left Landry with enough FedEx points to guarantee his PGA Tour card for next year. He jumped from 41 to 11 in the FedEx standings.

In addition, he soared from No. 184 to 102 in the Official World Golf Rankings and climbed from No. 45 to 14 on the money list with $1,090,606 in official earnings. Being 102 in the world rankings gives him an outside shot at a seeming far-fetched fall goal to get into the top 64 by mid March, thus qualifying for the Dell Match Play in his adopted home town of Austin.

Landry’s No. 1 goal, which also seemed pretty lofty when he talked about it four months ago, had been to accumulate enough FedEx points to assure his card for next year before he and wife Elizabeth’s first child is born in March. He did not seem surprised to have already checked that one off.

“I knew I could compete out here,” he said. “If you are going to be good, you need to have ambitious goals. I wouldn’t be where I am if that wasn’t the case. It is all about aiming high and achieving high.”

Landry’s winner mentality is such that he turned down some endorsement offers last fall because he felt he was worth more than what was being offered. As of now, the only deals he has are with Oxford clothing and local jeweler Stan Matthews whose name is on his golf bag.

“My agent has been working on some other deals,” he said. “I figured being out on tour and not having anything on my chest would be beneficial. I have to think my negotiating position got a lot stronger after last weekend.”

Landry admitted he may rethink his schedule for the remainder of this season because of the guarantee now in place with his card. He’s playing this week in San Diego and next week in Scottsdale, then will probably take a couple of weeks off to recharge.

To be in the mix at this week’s Farmer’s Insurance Open he will have to excel on two vastly different-type courses from what he played last week. The Torrey Pines layouts are long and play even longer because of the usual damp, chilly conditions hard by the Pacific Ocean. The greens will be slower and tougher to putt.

It would be only human nature, given the mental fatigue factor and all the praise coming his way, for Landry to struggle a bit. One thing we learned last week, however, is you don’t underestimate what this guy is capable of doing.

CHIP SHOTS

Christian Truong of Port Arthur scored the first reported hole in one of 2018 at Babe Zaharias when he sank a wind-aided 50 degree gap wedge on the 142-yard, 15th hole. It was Truong’s third ace. Witnesses were Hunter Huff, Jadon Bell and Phong Phan …

Port Neches-Groves placed third in the rain-shortened Klein ISD Millard Roth Invitational last week at Augusta Pines in Spring. The Indians, with a 330 team total, finished eight strokes behind Cypress Fairbanks and six back of Klein Oaks, in what was a 20-team field.

Josh Elmore tied for third overall with a 76. Timothy Feemster tied for sixth with a 78. Other Indians’ scores included an 87 by Chase Selman and and 89 by Bryce Parsley. Victor Aponte carded a 94 that did not count toward the team total …

Team Louisiana took a 4-3 lead over players representing Texas in the opening event of the Texas-Louisiana Junior Tour played Saturday at Frasch Park in Sulphur. Next stop in the series is Saturday at Henry Homberg Golf Course in Beaumont.

Texas winners included Annabel Cardenas of Beaumont (104 in Girls 12-13), Lincoln Parks of Orange (35 in nine-hole Boys/Girls 10-11) and Foster Cecka of Port Neches (26 in six-hole Boys/Girls 7-9).

Other flight winners were Jace Benoit of Sulphur (74 in Boys 16-18), Luke Hightower of Sulphur (88 in Boys 14-15), Collin Jones of Lake Charles (80 in Boys 12-13) and Mackenzie LeDuff of Lake Charles (78 in Girls 16-18).

There were three runner-up finishes among area players. Preston Ricks of Lumberton shot 90 to finish two shots behind Hightower, Xander Parks of Orange posted at 84 to finish four back of Jones and Elizabeth Townsend of Kountze was six back of LeDuff with an 84 in Girls 16-18.

In the Saturday Senior two-ball at Babe Zaharias, the team of Gary Hanan, Harrell Guidry, Charles Leard and Dan Flood won the front in minus-2. On the back there was a tie at plus one between the team of James Shipley, Cap Hollier, Gene Jones and Randy Trahan and the foursome of Ed Holley, Bim Moorow, Brad Royer and Trahan.

Golf news should be emailed to rdwest@usa.net