DI Club pro competes in Senior PGA Championship

Ray Franz’s daytime job is serving as a PGA Professional at the Daniel Island Club.
 
While being a club pro is interesting, it’s what he does in his spare time, his days off, that is intriguing.
 
The 54 year old Lowcountry native crisscrosses the country in planes, no trains and, yes, automobiles to participate in major tournament events. In late May, he flew to Benton Harbor, Michigan to compete in the 2022 Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid.
 
“It was really cool to play in an event like that,” Franz said. “These guys were pretty good. I played in the U.S. Senior Open last year as well, but I didn’t make the cut.”
 
This week, he drove to Charlotte to compete in the North Carolina Open. Also on the agenda in June is an appearance in the South Carolina Senior Open and the South Carolina Open.
 
The Senior PGA Championship, held at the Harbor Shores Golf Club, attracted many marquee players, including John Daly, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Bernhard Langer, Tom Lehman and Vijay Singh.
 
And those heavyweights have a big advantage over Franz and the other 34 PGA club pros who played in the Senior PGA Championship.
 
The big names? All they do is golf.
 
Franz, on the other hand, is a PGA club pro and his day-to-day responsibilities are different, demanding and at times, hectic.
 
“I work,” Franz said. “I do this in my spare time. The tournaments I play in are usually two-day events.”
 
Golfing is fun for Franz. It’s his vacation. While competing against players such as Els, Daly and Langer makes for great conversation around the water cooler, it gives Franz a chance to showcase his skills and hone his game as he continues to recover from a neck issue that required surgery.
 
Franz claimed victory in the 2020 Carolinas PGA National Car Rental Assistant Professional Championship, but was soon sidelined by the neck injury. The road back wasn’t easy as he lost about 20 yards per shot after surgery.
 
“I’m pretty much back to full strength,” said Franz, who won the 2019 Carolinas PGA Section Players Championship. The win gave Franz a berth in the RBC Heritage, which is contested on Hilton Head Island.
 
Franz grew up in the Lowcountry and displayed deft skills as a member of the Wando High School golf team that captured the state championship in 1986. Franz just missed winning the individual medalist honors that year.
 
Franz attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and was a member of the 49ers golf team. He turned professional in 1991, soon after winning his second Charleston City Amateur championship.
 
Franz won three events on the Hooters Tour from 1992-99 and competed in the former Buy.com Tour (now Korn Ferry Tour) in 2000.
 
Franz started working at the Daniel Island Club in 2001 as an Assistant Golf Professional. He was hired by club pro Simons Cuthbert, Franz’s teammate on the 1986 Wando state championship team.
 

Daniel Island Publishing

225 Seven Farms Drive
Unit 108
Daniel Island, SC 29492 

Office Number: 843-856-1999
Fax Number: 843-856-8555

 

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