The headlines are brimming with the name of David Skinns since Thursday. The 42-year-old Englishman went completely bogey-free, carding twelve birdies in the first round of the Sanderson Farms Championship. He is currently at an impressive 12-under and will enter the Friday round, enjoying the solo lead, three strokes ahead of Michael Thorbjornsen. Will this finally mark his first win on the PGA Tour?

David Skinns has been a part of the world of professional golf for over two decades now and has never made it to the top. He went to the University of Tennessee and had a dream of becoming a golfer. This is why, despite not being able to make it, he has not given up.

“Straight out of college, I was promised a bunch of invites on the Challenge Tour. Then I missed a cut and I never saw another one. So I gave up on the Challenge Tour pretty quickly,” Skinns said. While this might sound like giving up, it was not the case!

David Skinns came back to America and started playing on the Hooters Tour, where the players had to pay an entry fee of $700 to play for $200,000 every week. Robert Brooks, the owner of the Tour, was exceptionally supportive. He had put in a lot of money to keep the Tour going.

The English star played there from 2008 to 2012 and even won seven times on the NGA Hooters Tour. In 2012, Robert Brooks passed away, and the entire Tour came to a close. “He died in about 2012, and when his son took over, he didn’t want to fund the tour anymore, which was fair enough,” the golf pro revealed.

So how then did David Skinns keep his dream alive? “I’d gotten some status on what was the Nationwide Tour back then, didn’t get in many events, but there was mini-tour stuff all around to keep me going,” stated Skinns. On the side, he also kept making attempts at qualifying for the Tour through the Q School. Even though he made it to the final stage multiple times, he never made it all the way.

Through that struggle, though, Skinns finally found his way to PGA Tour Canada in 2013, getting through their Q school in the first year itself. Three years later, he finally found a groove and had an exceptional year getting him an exemption through to the second stage of Q school. He continued his form in the final stage, too. After his exceptional performance there, Skinns earned himself a full-time exemption on the Korn Ferry Tour (where he played for 6 straight years). He was now just one step away from his childhood dream!

David Skinns finally makes it to the PGA Tour for the 2022 season

David Skinns bagged his first Korn Ferry Tour victory at the 2018 Pinnacle Bank Championship. Three years later, at the same championship, he opened the final round with an impressive birdie. Going bogey-free in the front nine, he ended up carding two of them in the back nine. However, six birdies from the round easily offset those two. He finished with a win, 14-under, running one stroke ahead of Dou.

Well, this victory was what grabbed him a PGA Tour card for the first time. However, he could not maintain his status for long. But again, he didn’t give up. Skinns relentless efforts finally helped him return to the Tour and live out his dream once more. For the 2024 season, he qualified through the top 25 at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship.

Now at the Sanderson Farms Championship, he’s making waves. A win would no doubt help him live out his dream on the Tour for a lot longer. However, David Skinns needs multiple more magical rounds like his first for that! Tune in to find out if he has it in him.