Argentine feeling optimistic entering 2020-21 PGA Tour season

Emiliano Grillo is already a winner on the PGA Tour but he still has a lot to live up to.

The Argentine golfer was part of a revered 2011 high school class that produced Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth and Daniel Berger who between them have registered many PGA Tour wins.

Spieth won the FedEx Cup, the equivalent of the PGA Tour's league table, in 2015 and Grillo was the next to break out at the first event the following season, winning the Safeway Open after sinking a birdie on the second playoff hole to outlast Kevin Na.

Grillo, 28, is still well in the early stages of his tenure on the PGA Tour but, as Thomas commented, he kind of appeared out of the blue.

“We always joke that no one ever knew how old he was,” Thomas said.

“He just showed up out of nowhere and started winning tournaments.”

With that early success in the Safeway Open, Grillo made sure to find a proper balance off the course for sustainability. He has joked in the past that if he could earn as much in fishing as he does in golf, he would consider giving fishing a shot as his sport.

“Golf is a passion, yes, but it’s still a job for us,” Grillo said. “When you’re back home, you want to get away from it.”

Grillo’s first Tour Championship appearance and subsequent rookie of the year award was evidence that the balance was working, and also put him even higher in the echelon of that famed 2011 class.

Added Thomas: “Grillo has had the same game since we played junior golf. He has always just striped it. He hits every fairway and every green.”

Schauffele added: “He’s an unbelievable ball-striker. Not a very good putter. He would sit here right next to me and tell you the exact same thing.”

Though he has seen spurts of success with the putter, Grillo finished outside the top 125 in seven prominent statistical putting categories in three of the next four seasons, which ultimately led to a four-year winless drought following his rookie campaign.

Grillo: “I got everything I could have asked for in my first year.

“I achieved my highest ranks in every single aspect of the game. It’s just a shame that I haven’t been able to get back where I was.”

He doesn’t have to look very far for motivation. For example the likes of Thomas who won three times last season and finished runner-up to Dustin Johnson at the Tour Championship.

“It’s great to see guys like Justin basically dominate golf nowadays,” Grillo said. “It gives you a little extra motivation.”

Progress has been made. Grillo finished third at the Puerto Rico Open before the covid-19 pandemic sent the sport on hiatus, and he returned with another third-place finish at the 3M Open in late July.

Thomas again: “He is a part of our class of 2011 and hasn’t played as well as I know he can and he knows he can.”

Grillo knows that, too.

“I’m very confident,” he said. “My putting has been improving and I’m starting to put the pieces together.”

That includes enjoying the little things away from the golf course, too, like taking a moment to swim in the serene lagoons at Punta Cuna after a practice round of a Carribean tournament in the Dominican Republic last month.

“It’s a 50 percent balance off the golf course,” he said. “I spend half the year on the road, so the other half I want to spend it for myself with my friends. That’s important to me.”

That outlook rolls on as part of Grillo’s continued fresh start and promising return to golf prominence.

“Being okay with who you are and with your game and being positive around here is everything,” he said. “I always set the bar high, so I expect a lot from myself, especially when I put the time in.”