The most nervous Justin Hastings has ever been? The second round of last year’s Puerto Rico Open, where he had a 5-foot putt to make the cut in his PGA Tour debut. The San Diego State product from Cayman Islands missed that putt, but he left that day better prepared for the next time.
In his second PGA Tour start, this week at the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld, Hastings – with his dad, Rich, on the bag – comfortably punched his ticket to the weekend, by four shots.
He then followed with a 6-under 65 in Saturday’s third round to move into the top 10.
“Now that I made the cut, which I think was a big goal this week, it took a lot of stress off, and I felt like I played a lot more free today,” Hastings said. “Yeah, I think it showed on the scorecard.”
Hastings opened his scoring with a 17-foot birdie make at the par-4 first hole. Nearly top 10 in both strokes gained approach and putting, Hastings added a 31-footer for birdie at the par-3 11th. His birdies at Nos. 15 and 17 were from 11 feet and 9 feet, respectively.
While Hastings is likely too far back to have a shot at winning on Sunday – leader Aldrich Potgieter is eight shots clear of the amateur – he can still rack up points toward his PGA Tour University ranking; he entered the week No. 15 in the seniors-only race, where the top 10 after the end of the NCAA Championship earn Korn Ferry Tour status (the top player gets his PGA Tour card).
Also, any valuable experience is welcomed considering what Hastings has coming up on his schedule. The recent Latin America Amateur champion, Hastings will play the Masters in April. He said Saturday that he plans to make his first scouting trip to Augusta National before teeing it up in the Puerto Rico Open, which is in two weeks and overlaps with San Diego State’s start at the Southern Highlands Collegiate.
“I’ll definitely miss the boys, but hopefully they
understand that I’ve got some cool stuff to do,” Hastings said of his teammates.
Same goes for his professors.
“Graduating, that’s going to be a difficult one,” Hastings said. “I’m home for about three days after this, and I have to take about three or four exams, and I only have three classes, so it’s going to be a tough one school wise the last couple months, but obviously do my best. At three and a half years, let’s complete it obviously.
“No, it’s obviously been more busy, a lot of time on the road, but I think the best part of practice is playing in tournaments anyway. You learn a lot about yourself under the pressure because that’s where the real things come out, right? So, I think I like to learn as I play these tournaments, and I can take these things into the next week and improve on them.”
