Nate Lashley has a share of the lead through two rounds of the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship, and he's seeking a second win in Charlotte after winning in 2019 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Lashley is 40 years old, and he has status on the PGA Tour after finishing inside the top 125 in FedEx Cup points during the 2021-2022 PGA Tour season.
For the Nebraska native Lashley, his journey to the PGA Tour and being on the precipice of a life-changing PGA Tour win is a remarkable story.
A tragic plane crash killed his parents, girlfriend
As a rising junior at the University of Arizona, Lashley's parents and girlfriend were killed in a plane crash in Wyoming on their way home to Nebraska from watching him compete at the 2004 NCAA West Regional in Oregon.
"It was just shock," Lashley said to ESPN in 2017. "Shock and disbelief. It was a really tough time, especially that week with the funerals and the memorial service. I was just kind of out of it."
The tragedy affected his life, but it also made golf an escape and a release from the tragedy he's faced. He remained in Arizona after college and still lives in Scottsdale now.
Lashley is a late bloomer
Nate Lashley has won at every level -- mini-tours, PGA Tour Latinoamerica, Korn Ferry Tour -- but it has taken him a long time to get to this stage. In 2006, Lashley earned conditional status on what was then the Nationwide Tour. He missed the cut in 12 of 14 events, forcing him off the tour and into the world of mini-tours and local events in his native Arizona and around the country. He won on the Gateway Tour and it helped his experience.
He earned his was onto PGA Tour Latinaomerica in 2015, and a season later he won three times and was the Tour's player of the year winner. His season earned a place on the Korn Ferry Tour, where he won once in 2017 and finished third as part of five top-10 finishes. He wound up the season 13th on the money list and earned his way to the PGA Tour for the 2017-2018 season.
Lashley did not play well in his first season, making just eight cuts in 17 starts, playing himself quickly into the back end of the PGA Tour reshuffle. By the time it was June, Lashley was injured and couldn't play in other tournaments, having missed his first four cuts of the year and three in a row in the spring. Lashley finished 172nd in FedEx Cup points and was destined for the Korn Ferry Tour and partial status on the PGA Tour, getting in weaker fields. After winning in 2019, though, Lashley enjoyed a multi-season exemption that gave him stability.
Entering this week, Lashley was 94th in FedEx Cup points and ranked 209th in the Official World Golf Ranking. This season, he has two top-10 finishes in 17 starts on the PGA Tour.
What a win at the Wells Fargo Championship means
With a win today, Lashley would become a multi-time PGA Tour winner and again get him the benefits of being a PGA Tour winner, including berths into the the Masters next April and the PGA Championship. He would gain fully exempt status for the remainder of this season and the next two after that. And, according to the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship payout, he would win $3.6 million to top it all off.
