Portola Valley native Maverick McNealy stood inches from a cactus and stared down a treacherous third shot at the par-5 13th on Friday at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
“It was just a little touchy wedge where so many things could go wrong,” McNealy said of the 78-yard shot he faced.
But this time, things went perfectly right. His shot took one hop on the green and spun in the hole for eagle. The miraculous holeout – and deft cactus avoidance – near the end of his first round energized him for a marathon day of golf.
“I was like, OK, it’s going to be one of those days,” McNealy said.
The Stanford alum’s day began at 4:30 a.m. It ended near dusk. In between came 28 holes of golf, as he had to complete the last 10 holes of his first round and play his entire second round after weather cut Thursday’s action short. But the effort was well worth it – McNealy sat alone in third with a score of 10-under at the conclusion of Friday’s action, two shots behind co-leaders Nick Taylor and Andrew Novak.
Return from injury
He likely won’t begin his third round until late in the afternoon on Saturday – if at all. The 28-year-old is looking forward to a quieter day.
“Probably watch a TV show with my wife and eat some takeout and sleep as much as I possibly can,” McNealy said of his plans after Friday’s round. “This is my fifth week in a row. I’m pretty excited about a little bit of downtime.”
McNealy had a long stretch of unwelcome downtime last year, as he missed much of the PGA Tour season with a torn ligament in his shoulder, suffered during the 2023 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last February. He tried to play through the pain for months but finally had to shut down his season in June.
He returned in November fighting for his PGA Tour card. He finally secured it for the remainder of the 2024 season with a T-37 performance at the Farmers Insurance Open in January. McNealy sits at 99th in the FedEx Cup standings after making the cut in three out of the first four events this season.
Leaderboard after Round 2 was suspended due to darkness:
T1. @AndrewNovakGolf (-12)
T1. @NTaylorGolf59
3. Maverick McNealy (-10)
4. @DougGhim (-9 thru 16)
T5. Scottie Scheffler (-8)
T5. @JustinThomas34
T5. Cameron Young
T5. @RyanFoxGolfer (thru 15)https://t.co/g7zwkvu4GN
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 10, 2024
But keeping his status on tour was far from the biggest development in McNealy’s life in the past few months. He got married in December. His wife, Maya, has brought a new relaxing hobby into his life: watching TV.
“I’m basically TV show illiterate,” McNealy said. “I’ve watched one TV show in my life.”
The couple is now watching Modern Family together, a routine that helps him recover from the notoriously rowdy crowds at the Phoenix Open – particularly its legendary 16th hole.
“It’s really nice to go from one extreme, which is the circus on 16 – which is so much fun and I love it – to sitting in the hotel room eating takeout and watching TV,” McNealy said. “You need both for balance.”
Christian McCaffrey connection
The Phoenix Open typically wraps up shortly before the Super Bowl kicks off. That might not be possible due to the lengthy weather delays on Thursday. Some golfers have yet to begin their second round, and there could be even more rain on Saturday morning.
But McNealy has a vested interest in completing the tournament as scheduled – he wants to watch a fellow former Stanford athlete play.
“I’m a huge Christian McCaffrey fan,” McNealy said. “I had a few classes with him at Stanford, and honestly, he was an inspiration to me with the way he trained and worked and what kind of a teammate he was.”
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Perhaps McNealy can provide McCaffrey a bit of inspiration with a Phoenix Open win just before the 49ers kick off. But that would likely require another long day of golf on Super Bowl Sunday. McNealy and the other leaders will be lucky to get a few holes in on Saturday.
It would also require outdueling some of the biggest names in the sport, including Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas, both tied for fifth, two shots behind McNealy. But after making some minor swing changes – moving to a more reliable left-to-right fade – he feels confident heading into the weekend.
“I’m really excited about the shots I’m starting to see come out,” McNealy said.
But first, he has some TV to catch up on.
“I don’t really watch TV,” he said. “But I’m finding it’s a nice decompress, and definitely going to look forward to that tonight.”
King Jemison is a graduate student at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.
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