Playing in the PGA Championship at 61, golf teacher's biggest lesson is the power of perseverance


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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — At first glance, it's easy to pick out the most unlikely entrant in golf's second major of the year. He is a 61-year-old club pro out of Oklahoma named Tracy Phillips. A deeper look into Phillips' pedigree suggests that the only fluke about the 5-foot-4 golf instructor teeing it up at the PGA Championship this week is that it took him 40 years longer to get here than anyone expected. Back in 1980, Phillips was the country's top-ranked junior, had notched a win at the PGA Junior Championship and was fully expecting to play on the PGA Tour once he was done in college. Almost 45 years later, he is one of the 20 club pros who qualified to play in one of golf's biggest tournaments of the year.

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