Michael Weaver is no stranger to second tries. He’s on a quest to play big-time amateur golf again, 10 years after turning professional.
Weaver graduated from the University of California in 2014, then bounced around the Web.com and Latinoamérica tours for five years before quitting professional golf. He had failed to secure full Web.com (known today as Korn Ferry) Tour status for 2019 and was done going through the motions of pro golf.
Or so he thought. Weaver had taken a job in supply-chain operations but lasted only a few months before the professional golf bug bit again. Weaver quit his well-paying job and made another run at the PGA Tour. He finished tied for ninth in his first PGA Tour Latinoamérica event back, followed a few months later with a tie for seventh.
“Literally three weeks prior, I was sitting at a desk and then I almost won a double-A-level tournament,” Weaver said. “That was reassuring that I wasn’t a total lunatic for leaving a job I liked.”
His comeback success would not last, though, as Weaver failed to earn significant status at Korn Ferry Tour Q-School in the fall of 2019. The lack of starts, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, left him unwilling to spend a year practicing without a tour to play, especially after having enjoyed the corporate world.
Weaver is one of only four golfers to compete in the Masters, U.S. Open, Walker Cup and Palmer Cup in the same year.
Weaver played sparingly in 2020, and his professional golf career finally ended when he failed to qualify for the 2021 U.S. Open. He took a job as a certified financial planner in his native Fresno, California, and applied to have his amateur status reinstated by the United States Golf Association.
The two-year reinstatement waiting period ended last June, and Weaver jumped headfirst into trying to re-create some of the immense success he had as an amateur before his trek through professional golf.
By the time he graduated from Cal’s prestigious Haas School of Business, Weaver had compiled an enviable golf résumé. He had played in a Masters, made the cut at the U.S. Open and was on the victorious U.S. team in the Walker Cup at National Golf Links of America, all in 2013. That same year, Weaver co-medaled at the NCAA Pullman Regional.
Weaver reached those elite events by finishing runner-up at the 2012 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills in Colorado. He vanquished then-University of Alabama star Justin Thomas in the semifinals before falling to Steven Fox on the 37th hole of the championship match. That runner-up finish fueled Weaver’s competitive fire, especially after his 4-foot par putt to win agonizingly lipped out on the 36th hole. It made his singles victory over Matt Fitzpatrick in the 2013 Walker Cup that much sweeter, as Fitzpatrick was fresh off winning the 2013 U.S. Amateur.
“There’s no doubt that Michael was one of the focused players on the team,” said Jim Holtgrieve, Weaver’s Walker Cup captain. “He was a great teammate and brought great alignment to our team.”
Weaver’s talent for team golf helped as he played among a modern-day murderer’s row at Cal that included Max Homa, Michael Kim and Brandon Hagy. In 2012-13, Weaver played a crucial role in a lineup that won 11 tournaments and finished first in stroke play at the 2013 NCAA Championship (losing to Illinois in the match-play semifinals).
Reflecting on his Cal career, Weaver said: “I graduated – it’ll be 10 years in about a month – and it’s one of those things that I can’t believe that happened. It was pretty cool.”
Weaver now turns his focus and discipline to two primary goals in his second turn as an amateur golfer: make another Walker Cup team and play in another Masters.
He has played well in a handful of events since regaining his status, with a tie for 10th at the 2023 California State Fair Amateur (including a second-round 65) and a tie for fourth at the Grapevine Amateur in Napa after holding the lead entering the final round.
After Weaver competed at last week’s Terra Cotta Invitational, the Sunnehanna Amateur and USGA qualifying events loom on his schedule this summer. Weaver is seeking entry into other elite amateur events, but with few World Amateur Golf Ranking points he must make the most out of each start to appeal to tournament directors.
Weaver knows he has lofty goals for the second stage of his amateur career, yet understands the process required to reach the pinnacle of amateur golf once again.
“I was not on [the 2013 Walker Cup] radar at all. And then it happened. I worked hard, I had a goal and just went straight for it,” Weaver said. “That’s always been a common theme with golf. I’ve always been very disciplined and focused on what I want to accomplish.”
E-MAIL jake
Top: Michael Weaver during the Web.com Tour's Bahamas Great Exuma Classic in 2018.
Ryan Young, PGA Tour