Billy Hurley has revealed he could turn down his place in the Open at Troon following his life-changing maiden PGA Tour title in the Quicken Loans National on Sunday.
But considering what has happened to the 34-year-old American in the last year, it would be tough to blame him for putting family before golf and attending his sister's wedding instead of competing in the game's oldest major championship.
Twelve months ago, Hurley used an impromptu press conference at the same tournament to appeal for the safe return of his father, who had gone missing. Willard Hurley Jr was found a day later on July 31, but on August 13 was discovered dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 61.
Hurley attempted to play through the grief in a last-ditch attempt to save his PGA Tour card, but missed the cut in the Wyndham Championship and then failed to regain it by just 394 US dollars (£298) via the four-week Web.com Tour Finals.
That left the former naval officer - who trained in Annapolis, a short drive from the scene of his win in Bethesda - reliant largely on sponsor's invites this season, one of which he used to such good effect in an event which honours military veterans, a nod by tournament host Tiger Woods to his late father, Earl.
"It's been a hard year. It's been a really hard year," Hurley said with considerable understatement. "So it's nice to have something go well. Ernie (Els) said after I holed the last putt something like, 'You know, I think your dad's looking down really proud of you'.
"It couldn't be a better tournament to win from all the facets of it. From us being close to home, being close to the academy, close to where I grew up. I mean, it's just perfect."
Hurley's win not only lifted him from 607th in the world to 169th, but it also secured his place in this week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, the Open and US PGA Championship and next year's Masters at Augusta National.
"I guess I've got to cancel my ticket to Reno (for this week's Barracuda Championship)," Hurley added. "I'm s o excited to play Firestone, excited to play The Open Championship at Troon.
"I'm going to have to get a pass from my sister who gets married that Saturday, though, so we'll still have to talk about that. I t's in Leesburg, Virginia. Something tells me it's going to be a pretty hard sell. We'll have to figure it out.
"Some of my team kept telling me, if you get in the Open, you're going. I said, I don't know. T hat's definitely not a foregone conclusion that I'm going, to be honest with you."
Source: PA
