Zac Blair: "Eat, sleep, golf, repeat"

I'm catching up on some post-Sony reading and it was nice to see solid features from Sean Martin and Tim Rosaforte on Zac Blair, a real likeable chap who has gotten the golf architecture bug.

From Rosaforte's item, a strong endorsement from legendary looper Andy Martinez:

With no status, Blair played his way on the PGA Tour’s Latinoamérica and Canadian circuits, ultimately needing a second-place finish at the Web.com Tour Championship to lock down a tour card.

“It was a long 15 months, kind of always on the bubble, in that zone where you never know,” Jimmy said. “He just had to keep grinding through it.”

Having Andy Martinez, Miller’s former caddie, on the bag, helped Blair deal with the grind of being in the last group on Sunday with proven-winner Brandt Snedeker and FedEx Cup points leader Kevin Kisner in contention. While coming up a stroke shy of the playoff between winner Fabian Gomez and Brandt Snedeker, Blair’s best career finish on tour brought with it confidence.

“This won’t be the last time he’s in contention,” Martinez said. “I expect to be knocking on the door a lot of times with this guy.”

And from Martin, Blair's interest in golf and architecture:

Then there are the marathon days of golf. Zac is usually the one to call for an E9, or emergency nine, to extend the day's play. He hasn’t slowed much, even though his 34 starts were the second-most in the 2014-15 season. He also squeezed in recreational rounds at Pine Valley, Cypress Point, The Country Club of Brookline and Los Angeles Country Club during tournament weeks in 2015. That's a list that would make even the most privileged player envious.

Like his father, Zac wants to do more than play, though.

He's looking for land in Utah on which to build his dream course, a layout that will draw off the design principles of architecture’s golden age. He wants to build a course that's wide enough for high handicappers while challenging better players to make strategic decisions.

“I think Utah deserves a course that has those principles of the old architects,” Zac said, citing Mackenzie, MacDonald, Seth Raynor and Harry Colt as his inspirations. “You have to think your way around those courses.”