Golf: Longbella off to hot start in pursuit of Sunshine Tour qualification

Spencer Flaten, The Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, Wis.
·3 min read

Jan. 19—In pursuit of a professional golf career, Thomas Longbella has traded the fairways of the Chippewa Valley for an entirely new challenge. It's still early, but it appears to be working out for the Chippewa Falls native.

Longbella has ventured across the globe to South Africa, where he sits in first place after two rounds of the first stage of Sunshine Tour Qualifying School this week. Through two rounds at Maccauvlei Golf Club in Vereeniging, South Africa, the McDonell graduate is 10-under-par and holds a two stroke lead atop the leaderboard.

The Sunshine Tour is a professional golf circuit in South Africa. The top 40 professionals plus ties from the first stage of Q-School advance to the final stage, where golfers can earn Tour cards. The Sunshine Tour is a founding member of the International Federation of PGA Tours.

Longbella told the Sunshine Tour's website he decided to try his hand there after learning about it from watching former University of Minnesota golfer Erik van Rooyen, who now plays on the PGA Tour. Van Rooyen began his career on the Sunshine Tour, and as fellow Golden Gophers alumni, Longbella thought it could be a fit for him.

"Just watching Erik convinced me that the Sunshine Tour is a good place to come and play," Longbella said in a story posted following the first round of Q-School.

He couldn't have drawn up a much better start to his time in South Africa. Longbella hit an ace with his 9-iron in his first round of Q-School, finding the cup on the par-3 16th hole on Monday.

"I wasn't hitting my 9-iron well all day," Longbella told the Sunshine Tour website. "On the 16th tee my caddie said, 'C'mon, give me a 9-iron in the grooves,' and I was like, 'Sure, I'd love to do that. I've been trying all day'. And then I absolutely flushed it. It pitched 10 feet past the hole and then trickled back in. It was a good day."

Longbella was tied for the lead after the first round, but carded a second consecutive 67 on Tuesday to pull two strokes ahead.

Longbella won the Wisconsin Amateur Championship in 2020 and finished eighth in last year's tournament. He played for Minnesota for five years after earning a WIAA state championship in Division 3 in 2014.

The golfer's goal of playing professionally goes back to last year. Longbella advanced out of a Korn Ferry Tour pre-qualifier last August, and earned conditional status on the PGA Tour Latinoamérica in a qualifying tournament last November.

The Sunshine Tour is the latest opportunity for the 24-year-old to break through into his dream career. Several notable golfers have competed on the tour. All seven PGA major champions from South Africa played on the Sunshine Tour or its equivalent at the time, in addition to several other PGA Tour members.

Play at the first stage of the Q-School tournament wraps up on Thursday.