Insider: Win sends Jesse Mueller to Phoenix Open

Come February, Jesse Mueller will bring Grand Canyon purple to "The Greatest Show on Grass."

Mueller earned an exemption to the PGA Tour's 2018 Waste Management Phoenix Open by winning the 60^th PING Southwest PGA Championship on Wednesday.

Mueller, the GCU Golf Course's PGA Director of Golf and Lopes men's golf volunteer assistant, shot 15-under over three rounds at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa, Ariz. It was his first time playing in the event after earning his PGA of America membership in August.

"Right away, when I started the tournament, I was playing well so I knew that I had a chance to win the tournament because of the shape that my game was in," Mueller said.

The victory is all the more impressive considering Mueller took a five-month break from competitive golf to start this year. Even after resuming play, Mueller only played two rounds per month with occasional driving range sessions. He played competitively once in June and twice in August before the Southwest PGA Championship.

The tune-ups sharpened his mechanics after the layoff provided a mental respite from the grind of weekly competition.

"I was a little bit rusty but those events helped me get ready for this event," Mueller said. "I was playing better as I got into it and then this week was the best I've played in a while."

Mueller is a former Web.com Tour player with 22 previous professional victories and an appearance in the 2012 U.S. Open. Wednesday's championship was more special because it qualified the Valley native to play in the tournament that he grew up attending at TPC Scottsdale since age 10.

Mueller has gone to the Phoenix Open about 10 times but now will be on the other side of the ropes, perhaps prompting "G-C-U" chants at the raucous 16^th hole.

"I'll have a lot of purple on," said Mueller, who plans to play with a purple GCU bag. "It's going to be a lot of fun. With my parents, brothers, wife's family and so many friends here, it's going to be fun to play in front of everybody."

Mueller drove and putted consistently throughout this week's tournament with rounds of 66, 69 and 66. His final round included seven birdies, three of which came consecutively on the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th holes to give him a two-stroke lead with three holes to play. He finished conservatively to protect his lead, laying up on the par-five 16^th hole that he had eagled in the first round.

Although he had played less golf this year, Mueller said being around the game in his GCU Golf Course and Lopes men's golf roles helped him return to competition strongly. He played in purple with a GCU visor Wednesday but kept that representation out of his mind otherwise.

"I try not to think about it because I try to not put any more pressure on myself than there already is," Mueller said. "But after the fact, it's an honor. It'll be fun to play out there at the Phoenix Open with a GCU bag and representing the university."

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Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.

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