A day after Braden Thornberry won the 2017 NCAA individual title at Rich Harvest Farms, he and his Ole Miss coach, Chris Malloy, sat together at a private airport in Sugar Grove, Ill., while they waited on their flight back to Oxford, Miss.
With the rest of the team out of earshot, Malloy turned to his star sophomore and said, “All right, bud. Life’s going to change for you.”
In the one-and-a-half years since, it certainly has. A Haskins Award. A top-5 finish in a PGA Tour event. A Walker Cup selection. Several school records.
Now, Thornberry is about to undergo the biggest transformation in his golf career to date.