PGA Tour rookie’s dramatic first made cut story will make your week

Taylor Dickson knows what a spot in the Sony Open means better than perhaps anybody else in the field.

Dickson, 32, has played exactly 10 years of professional golf, and Thursday morning at the Sony Open was his first day as a full-timer the PGA Tour. Before Thursday morning, he’d fought through 10 years in the golf wilderness — five on various mini tours, and five more competing on the Korn Ferry Tour — and gotten only one sponsor’s exemption into last year’s Myrtle Beach Classic.

This is perhaps why Dickson’s family decided to hop on a flight to Waialae for the second week in January: Taylor had finally made it, and the Sony Open would be his big debut.

A dramatic qualifying experience through the Korn Ferry Tour Championship gave Dickson’s one of the KFT’s coveted few PGA Tour cards for 2025. He would be able to play most tournaments on the Tour in the new year, which left only one question: Where first? The season-opening Sentry is a Signature Event with a limited field, which took it out of the question. But the Sony Open, the second event of the Tour season, was up for grabs.

It takes a village to climb through the ruddy depths of pro golf into the high-priced excitement of the PGA Tour, and it seemed only fitting that Dickson’s village would be there in person as he took on the biggest accomplishment of his pro life. About a dozen members of the Dickson crew joined him in Waialae, and he rewarded the cheering section with an opening-round 69.

It seemed the high would end there for Taylor. He started his second round at the Sony Open with two early bogeys, pushing him to 1 over for the tournament and four shots off the cutline. It looked like Dickson was headed for a missed cut, his grand PGA Tour debut over after just two rounds.

But then a funny thing happened: Taylor Dickson started making birdies. The first came on the 17th, a par-3, then after the turn on the 1st, a par-4. Then, on the 8th hole, another par-4, Dickson drained a long putt for another birdie, earning a tremendous ovation from his small gallery of supporters. He walked to the 9th hole, his 18th, with the stakes set: a fourth and final birdie on the par-5 and he would make the cut on the number at 3-under, a par or worse and he would go home early.

Dickson did his job from tee to green on the 9th, putting himself 20 feet from the hole with a putt for birdie. He surveyed the putt up-and-down, and finally struck it, sending his ball to the hole. A few seconds later, it fell in, and the crowd on the 9th hole went bezerk, including Dickson, who tossed his putter in the air in celebration.

“Just rolled it in, and people went nuts,” Dickson said afterward with a grin. “I kinda went nuts. Threw my putter in the air, didn’t catch it — unathletic — but it’s awesome man.”

As he made his way from the 9th green back to the clubhouse, Dickson’s fan club swarmed with hugs.

“It’s my family, they’ve been with me the whole time,” he said. “And it makes the week better, no doubt. We’ll be playing the next two days and it means the world. We’re gonna have fun.”

Now Taylor Dickson has secured his first PGA Tour paycheck of 2025, and has the chance to make a run on the weekend in his first full-time PGA Tour start. It was the comeback of the week on the PGA Tour — and the continuation of a career built on a single unifying premise.

“Just know never quit, just keep going.”

You can watch Taylor’s dramatic run to the cutline in the video below.