The American fell into the arms of his caddie and burst into tears after sinking his final qualifying putt at the Valspar Championship before calling his dad to tell him the good news.
The heart-warming moment of Visacki crying on the phone to his father has since gone viral and has underlined just how hard the 27-year-old has had to work.
It’s quite literally been a long road for Visacki to get to this point. He’s traveled over a hundred thousand miles in his Honda Accord in pursuit of his sporting ambitions.
As a promising junior, he turned pro in 2014 but has since been struck by misfortune. He came close to making his first cut in 2019 but missed out by one shot after his ball got stuck in a tree.
He says that moment nearly crushed him, but with the support of his parents, he was able to keep fighting.
“Just a lot of people give up on their dreams, probably because they can’t afford it,” Visacki, who has worked multiple jobs and lived with his parents to fund his dream, said in a press conference Tuesday.
“But I’ve been lucky enough to be with my parents and been able to help me out sometimes to keep living it.”
Now that he’s qualified, the new fan favorite will have the chance to make a real living as a professional golfer and has earned the right to play through pure grit and determination.
“I never once thought about quitting,” he added, in an emotional press conference. “I know I have the game to compete out here and I never once thought about quitting. I said, ‘I got to keep going, I’m not getting any younger so just keep on fighting.'”
This week’s Valspar Championship is being played in Florida, US, and has a prize fund of $6.9 million.
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