Maverick McNealy: Poised To Build On His 2021 Season
Alex Elias
Last February, Maverick McNealy found himself in contention at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where he carded a Sunday-best 31 on the back nine. Experiencing the pressure of a Sunday finish for the first time in his career, McNealy admitted he learned as much from how he started the round as from how he closed it.
“I actually learned more from my bogey on the opening hole than anything else. It was a very timid bogey. I made four decisions, four swings that I wasn’t proud of, and I realized that for the rest of the day, I didn’t care what happened. I just said, no matter what happens, I’m going to go about it in a way that I’m proud of,” said McNealy. “From there, I played seven under over the next seventeen holes. I don’t think I backed down from a single shot the entire year after that, which I’m really proud of.”
Pebble Beach marked a true turning point for McNealy, who went on to record a career-best eleven Top-25 finishes and place 58th in the FedEx Cup standings.
“Pebble made me realize how badly I wanted to win. The only true measure of how much you want something is what you’re willing to sacrifice for it. I realized there wasn’t anything more important to me than giving myself the best chance to win,” said McNealy
“I finished my year with nine Top-25s out of the last fourteen events and had numerous chances to win. From Pebble onwards, getting that close and seeing how near I was to winning, I was really proud of that and built some really good habits that I hope to continue improving on.”
Even after his breakout campaign, McNealy acknowledged the mental toll of life on the PGA Tour—and the mindset required to consistently put himself in the best position to succeed.
“The biggest challenge in golf is that, in the short term, your input and the output you get are so loosely correlated. You can do everything right and get nothing for it, and you have to continue to work in good faith that it’ll pay off. You have to invest by the day and measure by the decade. You have to give your best every single day, even when the results don’t immediately reflect the work you’re putting in,” said McNealy.
“You can do the same thing two different weeks and get completely different results, but that doesn’t mean you need to change what you’re doing. You need to continue doing what you firmly believe is best, be honest with yourself, and trust that it’ll pay off.”
Building on the momentum from the previous season and the lessons learned, McNealy opened 2022 with four Top-25 finishes in his first six starts, highlighted by a runner-up showing at the Fortinet Championship.
“I’m really excited about my game, but even looking at my stats, there are some things I think I can improve on. I can improve my fairway and bunker play, and I’m continuing to work on my physical fitness. I’ve been in the gym four times a week this entire offseason, trying to stay injury-free and ready for a long career,” said McNealy.
“There’s always something to improve on. Every time I go back to a tournament, I want to say I’m better prepared than I was a year ago.”
