It was the 72nd hole at the TPC Twin Cities. Jhonattan Vegas lined himself up for a birdie shot to clinch a possible victory at the 3M Open. He went ahead to beat Max Greyserman by a single stroke. Well, even the golfer wouldn’t have thought, back in 2002 when he was just 17 years old moving to the United States by himself, that he’d be raking in his fourth win on the PGA Tour in 2024.

The golfer had been introduced to the game at a young age, according to Sean Martin (Editorial at PGA TOUR). His life growing up in the Venezuelan oil camps included riding his bike to the local 9-hole course to play with the kids living there. However, even he wouldn’t have imagined the life waiting for him after winning the 2001 Venezuela Junior. The victory earned him an invitation to the Junior World Championships at San Diego’s Torrey Pines where he would eventually finish T6. Little did he know that the trip to the States would pave his way to become a PGA Tour player.

The athlete’s father, Carlos Vegas, after reaching America with his son, went to Houston and met teaching pro Kevin Kirk. “I’d like to leave him with you,” said the parent, referring to his golfer son. The result? He took the young one under his wing, allowing him to bloom into a promising Venezuelan golfer, joining many others who came to Houston for the same purpose.

“There were times, especially during the holidays,” recounted Jhonattan Vegas once, “you miss your family, you miss your friends, you miss everything about your country.” But the four-time PGA Tour champ was focused on his aim, “But I always kept my goal in front of me and knew that I wanted to do this. That’s why I always stayed positive, worked hard, and kept getting better.”

After moving to the United States, Vegas stayed with his old swing coach, Franci Betancourt, at his home. The soon-to-be professional took classes in the English language at a local college in the mornings while practicing his game at night. That is exactly how a 17-year-old with just a handful of clubs, a bag of clothes, and 10 English words in his vocabulary became a successful PGA Tour pro who raked in his fourth win.

Jhonattan Vegas and his 3M Open win

The golfer was able to garner a whopping $1.458 million along with 500 FedEx Cup points with the help of the score he put up over the four days of play at TPC Twin Cities. Vegas carded a 17-under 267 to finish on top of the scoreboard. He did so by dishing out 25 birdies, 7 bogeys, an eagle, and a triple bogey, the last two of which came at the par-5 6th on day two and par-4 7th on day one.

The victory marked an end to his winless drought of seven years, the last of which came at the 2017 RBC Canadian Open. “In my house we’ve had a lot of talks,” divulged the athlete, “my boy’s 5, hadn’t had a win since he was born. Lots of pictures of my daughter with trophies around the house, so my boy was asking me when am I going to have a picture with a trophy.” Well, Jhonattan Vegas’s son can now rest easy, for he was able to witness his father’s achievement on the course. Take a bow, Vegas!