West Newsmagazine 10-11-17

28 I SPORTS I
October 11, 2017
WEST NEWSMAGAZINE
University of Missouri–St. Louis College of Business Administration
@WESTNEWSMAG
WESTNEWSMAGAZINE.COM
Shawn Jasper returns to amateur
ranks with impressive win
By WARREN MAYES
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T h e B a n k o f T r a d i T i o n a n d p r o g r e s s .
Priorities have changed for Shawn
Jasper. The former professional golfer
gave up the sport after seven years chasing
that dream. He now is an amateur golfer.
According to Jasper, time moves on
and things have changed.
“I still love to compete but my career
and family are priorities over golf now,”
said Jasper, a Francis Howell and Missouri
graduate. “My amateur status was
reinstated in November 2016.”
That was two years after his last professional
round. Interesting enough,
Jasper didn’t twist himself like a pretzel
deciding on what to do.
“The decision wasn’t as tough as you
might think. I had always had a plan out
of college to give it my all for five years
and re-evaluate,” Jasper said. “After
those five years, I had played a year on
the then Nationwide Tour [now Web.
com] and really felt like I was improving,
so I committed to giving it two more
years. I obtained Web.com Tour status
again, but lost it in 2014.”
That makes it tougher to play. No card
means having to qualify for each event.
“Having no status anywhere at the end
of my two-year window, I had to ask
myself if I was still enjoying the grind,”
Jasper said. “And I didn’t like the thought
of playing mini-tour golf in my 30s. I
had also met my now wife, Kristen, and
priorities were changing, so I decided it
was time to settle down if you will.”
Jasper played professionally for seven
years. It was a good ride, but it was up
and down.
“I played for two-and-a-half years out of
college on the Canadian Tour, then a year
on various mini-tours in the U.S., The
Adams Tour and The Hooters Tour primarily,”
Jasper said. “In 2011, I had full status
on the Nationwide Tour, which I did not
keep my card that year. The last few years,
I played on the Adams Tour, Hooters Tour,
and Web.com Tour primarily.
“I absolutely enjoyed it. I was able to
see a lot of the U.S. over the seven-year
period. I think I have been to all but 10
states now. I was able to compete in
Canada, Mexico, Panama, Colombia and
Peru professionally – all amazing countries.
My brother, Kyle, and I drove the
first year of the Canadian Tour in 2007,
driving from St. Louis to Vancouver for
qualifying and then going from coast to
coast in Canada playing the schedule
that summer. It was quite the road trip
for sure.”
Along with the sightseeing, there were
Shawn Jasper at the 2017 Metropolitan
Amateur
some nice moments for Jasper on the
links.
“I was able to win a couple Adams Tour
events over my professional career [Louisiana
and Texas] as well as capture back
to back Metropolitan Open titles [2010
and 2011]. In 2010, I was able to get all
the way through PGA Tour Qualifying
School and had a chance of a PGA Tour
card entering the final round of Final
Stage, but settled for a full Nationwide
Tour card,” Jasper said. “The number
of great players at all levels of professional
golf was the hardest thing I think.
I came out of college after a successful
career and thought I was pretty good …
I learned quickly [that] in professional
golf, par is not a good score.”
Earlier this summer, he made his
comeback in the 27th annual Metropolitan
Amateur at Norwood Country Club.
His three-round score was a 2-over par
215, but he said his “favorite parts of the
event weren’t really golf related.” For
him it was about family.
“My brother, Kyle, caddied for me all
three days, so it was great to walk and
spend time with him,” Jasper said. “On
Saturday, Kristen, my dad [Karl], Kyle’s
wife [Lauren] and my nephew [Keagan]
all came out to watch. It was the first
time my nephew [age 2] had been on a
course and Kristen had never seen me
play in contention for an event before, so
it was great to have them all there.
“I remember caddying in this event for
Roger Null when I was younger and then
played a few times in high school and
college, but it eluded me. To be able to
have my name on the same trophy as Don
Bliss and Jim Holtgrieve is very special
and something I can cherish forever.”