Valspar Championship Monday qualifier unites two PGA Tour careers

Brendon Todd, left, and Charlie Danielson [JACK RYAN]

Life is a long and winding journey, framed by memorable forks in the road.

One such through-line for an accomplished PGA Tour player and his now-manager: The 2017 Valspar Championship’s Monday qualifier.

The paths of Brendon Todd and Charlie Danielson converged on a March Monday in 2017, as Todd and Danielson were two of four players to successfully qualify for the Valspar. Todd was amidst a potentially devastating mid-career slump that included the driver yips, while Danielson was an up-and-coming star via the University of Illinois.

Their career paths diverged from that point but are now closely intertwined, a product of golf’s enduring magnetism. Todd is now playing some of the best golf of his career, while Danielson has since retired due to chronic knee issues and now works for Professional Advisory Group as Todd’s agent and manager, alongside Thomas Parker.

From his early days as a touring pro, Danielson remembers Todd being a go-to veteran presence, always willing to lend a hand. Now it’s Danielson helping Todd navigate the myriad challenges of Tour life.

“It’s tough for somebody in his situation, but he was always gracious and would help out kids like me fresh out of school in whatever regard he could,” Danielson said. “I’ll remember that forever, and it’s come full circle.”

Todd earned back full Tour status in 2019, won twice that fall, and currently stands at No. 63 on the Official World Golf Ranking (in 2018, he ranked as low as No. 2,006). Danielson made his final competitive start in 2019, due to a left knee that has required seven surgeries —including an artificial cartilage implant, a full-donor bone and cartilage transplant, and eventually, a partial knee replacement.

It’s not a conventional sight around Tour circles, a promising young pro-turned-player representative: working the ranges, coordinating travel and sponsor engagements, negotiating contracts and arranging media obligations. Danielson was a four-time All-American as a Fighting Illini., including First Team honors as a senior in 2015-16, and he was seemingly destined for a fruitful pro career —“I think he’d probably be playing this tournament if he was (still playing),” Todd said at last week’s Players Championship.

The progression, rather, speaks to Danielson’s perspective and enjoyment of the professional game.

“I think it speaks to his humility,” Todd said. “He’s just a guy that never thought more of himself than he needed to, and he’s willing to go to work at a different job around the PGA Tour, and so I think it just speaks to what a great guy he is.

“Charlie’s the best. He’s just this awesome Midwestern guy that always has a smile on his face and is eager to do his job really, really well.”

Danielson, who battled knee issues since age 12, opted for career-ending knee surgery after the 2019 Korn Ferry Tour Finals and joined Professional Advisory Group in the fall of 2021. Danielson, 30, went four years without touching a club; he now can play nine holes casually, sacrificing 30 or 40 yards off the tee and taking two more clubs on his irons.

The firm’s clients include Todd, Russell Henley, Webb Simpson, Cameron Young, Sam Stevens, Jimmy Walker and Trey Mullinax, with some up-and-coming players. Danielson and Parker rotate weeks on the road. Danielson was on-site at last week’s Players Championship, coordinating Todd’s week as he tackled TPC Sawgrass' Stadium Course. Todd missed the cut but stands No. 40 on the FedExCup; at age 38, he has firmly established himself as a steady Tour veteran and familiar presence on leaderboards’ front pages.

Todd’s comeback story is well-documented but worth revisiting in this context. After making just four of 29 cuts on the 2016 PGA Tour, he was relegated to past champion status; he got into a handful of events on his number in 2017 but also hit the Monday qualifying circuit, relishing the grind. Todd remembers meeting Danielson at that year’s Rockford Pro-Am, shortly after the John Deere Classic, and being quickly impressed by the sweet-swinging Wisconsin native.

“I was like, ‘Dang, here’s this tall, lanky stud from college that hits it 300 yards,’” Todd remembered with a laugh. “Another one of those guys.”

Todd made just one of nine Tour cuts in 2017, still amidst the slump, but that fleeting moment of success at the Valspar’s Monday qualifier helped to preserve the spark. Todd remembers a squirrely drive early in that qualifying round at Southern Hills Plantation Club, but he, fortunately, found the ball and was able to save bogey. He rebounded with a birdie on the next hole and carded six-under 66 — matching Danielson for medalist honors at the qualifier.

Even though Todd missed the cut at the Valspar, that Monday’s success was a reminder that he still had the game worth fighting to resurrect.

Danielson’s pro golf journey featured a start-and-stop cadence, often battling his left knee, before things came to a head during the 2019 Korn Ferry Tour Finals. He had earned a spot in the three-event Finals on the strength of two top-15s in four Tour starts that season, and he opened with a respectable even-par 71 at the Finals-opening Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship.

Then, after eight holes of the second round, he got to the point where he couldn’t finish his downswing, unable to shift his weight to his front foot due to his left knee. He withdrew, then took a cortisone shot before the next week’s Albertsons Boise Open presented by Chevron (missing the cut), and he tried again to play the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance, but the knee refused to cooperate. He withdrew after an opening-round 78, his final competitive start as a touring professional.

Rather than any lingering bitterness of being removed from competition, Danielson feels only appreciation.

“Obviously you can look at it like, ‘How unfortunate,’” Danielson said, “but at the same time I feel very fortunate for where I am now and the players I get to work with.”

Golf refused to abandon Danielson, nor did it to Todd. It’s a reminder of the unique convergences that occur weekly at a Monday qualifier and in professional golf at large.

This story was originally published on PGATour.com

BY KEVIN PRISE [kjdsports@joongang.co.kr]