Awesome Burnett’s play at the Billy Horschel APGA Tour Invitational didn’t live up to the hype of his name. The 15-year-old amateur from Flower Mound, Texas, shot 89-83 at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in the 36-hole tournament.
“I call him average this week,” his father Mark joked afterwards.
Ah, but this is a legal name, not a nickname, that his father said people will not forget.
“I’ll tell you where I got it from,” he said. “I was watching (ESPN’s) Dick Vitale and he said, ‘It’s awesome, baby, with a capital A!’ I told my wife, we should name our son Awesome and have a daughter and name her Amazing.”
Amazing, 13, was back at the hotel.
As for Awesome’s middle name? “Xavier Richard,” his mom, Brittany, said. “We gave him two names just in case he hated Awesome.”
But not to worry because he says he loves his name – and how could he not? He loves it almost as much as he loves golf.
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Awesome started swinging a club at age 2 or 3 and playing tournaments at age 6. He finished second in the Mac Champ Invitational to qualify for the APGA Tour (the winner chose an exemption to a different event).
So, there was Awesome, thin as a 1-iron, palling around with members of the Florida A&M team in the field, paired in the opening round with Kamaiu Johnson, who received a couple of exemptions to play on the PGA Tour this season. He also beat Horschel, a winner of six PGA Tour titles and more than $28 million in earnings, in a putting contest.
Awesome, who has been battling a neck injury but wasn’t about to miss the opportunity to play the famed home of the Players Championship, struggled off the tee. He did, however, chip-in for birdie at 15 in his first round, landed safely on the famed island green at 17 both days and learned how his game stacks up against a field that consisted primarily professionals. He also learned where there is room for improvement.
At the end of his round, his dad asked him if he was OK, and Awesome confirmed that he was fine but he was “baffled” by the course. Pete Dye, who designed the famed layout, has a way of doing that to golfers. Awesome grew up a Tiger Woods fan. “To see someone who looks like me because I’m black, white and Asian like him be the greatest of all time in the sport I play is pretty cool,” he said.
If anything, the opportunity to compete in the inaugural year of Horschel’s tournament only fueled his fire to earn his way back next year. Awesome thought it was awesome that he got a chance to be the lone junior golfer in the 18-man field, the tournament’s very own “Diaper Dandy,” and he tried to soak in the whole experience.
“I tell him all the time,” Brittany said to PGA Tour.com, “you have a chance to wake up in the morning and be Awesome.”
Added Awesome’s dad: “If he makes it, it’s a very marketable name. You’ll never forget it. He might suck at golf, but you’ll never forget it.”