Checking in on: Mike Miller
by Hank Gola
Mike Miller is hoping that two straight victories to close out the 2017 Minor League Golf Tour season will get his professional career moving in 2018.
The two-time MGA Player of the Year, who turned pro at the 2013 Met Open, is finding the path to a PGA Tour card more challenging than he expected.
“It hasn’t been the route I thought it would be when I turned pro,” Miller says. “Everyone’s story is different and I’m very confident moving forward and hope that this is my year and everything falls into place.”
Miller had hoped to be at the final stage of Web.com Q School in early December, but after cruising through first stage he stumbled in the second, finishing in a tie for 52nd, thirty spots from advancing. Instead, Miller was honing his game in Florida on the Minor League Golf Tour, hoping to follow the same path that has taken some players like reigning U.S. Open champ Brooks Koepka to the PGA Tour.
“It’s a nice way for me to get ready, they play some good golf courses,” he says. “If you go and play well, you’ll get rewarded. If you’re struggling a little bit, you’ll lose some money but at the same time, it’s good competition.”
Playing in one- and two-day tournaments, Miller has won seven times since 2016, including five wins in 2017. He finished out of the top three only once in the last 10 events from October on, with two victories in early December.
“Winning breeds winning. I’m learning that,” he said. “It gives you so much confidence. Even if it’s a small event with only thirty guys, winning feels good. It’s something that I’ve really not done much as a pro and I really want to do.”
Miller played a full 2017 season on the Mackenzie Tour in Canada, where he finished 47th on the Order of Merit. He cashed in nine of the ten events but didn’t have a top-10 finish. The highlight of the year was a 24th-place finish at the Australian Open in November, in a field that included Jordan Spieth and Jason Day.
“That was a huge step for me proving to myself,” he said. “Other people believed in me but I was having some doubts. I now know that I can do it and at least play, contend, and compete.”
He’ll try to Monday-qualify for Web.com events once the Tour returns to the U.S. in March. He thinks his game is close to where he wants it.
“Right now, it is. I’m very excited,” he said. “It hadn’t been with the driver, but I put a new shaft in my club when I got to Australia and saw immediate results. I stuck with one putter for the last couple of months and my putting has been great. One thing I’ve always done is change and I finally found some stuff that I really love.”
He has no regrets about turning pro at 21.
“I wouldn’t change a thing,” he said. “I just wish turning pro I would have done a lot better.”
That may come yet.