ARKANSAS SPORTS HALL OF FAME BRYCE MOLDER

Green keeper

Molder doesn’t always make the cut, but when he does …

Bryce Molder, who has 25 top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour and is one of only four players to ever receive first-team All-American honors for four years, will be among 11 inductees who will be enshrined in the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame on March 4.
Bryce Molder, who has 25 top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour and is one of only four players to ever receive first-team All-American honors for four years, will be among 11 inductees who will be enshrined in the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame on March 4.

Georgia Tech golf Coach Bruce Heppler has had 20 players chosen first-team NCAA All-American in the past 16 years.

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Bryce Molder of Conway, Ark., waves to the cheering gallery as he walks onto the fourth green after hitting his fairway shot near the cup during the third round at the U.S. Open at the Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla., Saturday, June 16, 2001.

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Bryce Molder reacts to a missed birdie putt on the 17th hole during the second round of the 2010 PGA Championship golf tournament at Whistling Straits in Haven, Wis.

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Bryce Molder hits out of the bunker on the fourth hole during the final round of the 2009 St. Jude Classic golf tournament in Memphis, Tenn.

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Bryce Molder celebrates after sinking a putt on the sixth hole of a playoff to win the 2011 Frys.com Open golf tournament in San Martin, Calif.

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AP

Bryce Molder, who is going into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame this year, has won one PGA Tour event in 238 career starts.

Seven of Heppler's former players are on the PGA Tour, including Bryce Molder, a 1997 Conway High School graduate who will be among the 11 inductees going into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame on March 4 at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.

Bryce Molder at a glance

AGE 37 (Born Jan. 27, 1979

HOMETOWN Conway

COLLEGE Georgia Tech

FAMILY Wife, Kelley; daughter, Jules (16 months)

NOTABLE Born with Poland Syndrome, in which he was born with no left pectoral muscle and his left hand smaller than his right. … One of 4 four-year NCAA first-team All-Americans, along with Gary Hallberg, Phil Mickelson and David Duval. … One of seven former Georgia Tech players on the PGA Tour including, Roberto Castro, Chesson Hadley, Matt Kuchar, Troy Matteson, Nicholas Thompson and Cameron Tringale. … Turned professional in 2001. … Only PGA Tour victory came in 2011 Frys.com Open, defeating Briny Baird on the sixth playoff hole. … Has earned $9,765, 365 on Tour. … Shot a 12-under 60 at Chenal Country Club in 1999 while playing a round with President Bill Clinton.

Molder, 37, is one of four players, along with Gary Hallberg, Phil Mickelson and David Duval, to be named a four-time, first-team NCAA All-American in golf. He also was the ACC Player of the Year three consecutive years (1999-2001) and was the NCAA Collegiate Golfer of the Year in 2001.

"Here's a guy that made first-team All-American four times and academic All-American twice," Heppler said. "It really set a culture here with our recruiting. Being an All-American in both areas, academically and athletically, sent a message that you can become both of those in college. We'll never be able to repay him for that."

Molder, with 1 PGA Tour victory, hasn't enjoyed as much professional success nor received the notoriety as his former Georgia Tech teammate Matt Kuchar, who has seven PGA Tour victories.

But Molder has become an eight-year PGA Tour fixture by playing his best on the weekend.

Molder missed the cut Friday at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego after a rough opening two rounds, leaving him at 134 made cuts in 238 PGA starts, a success rate of 56 percent, in a career spanning 15 years.

But Molder has finished in the top 25 in 61 of his 134 made cuts (46 percent), including 25 top-10 finishes.

"I think a little bit the nature of my game is I am going to be more consistent than some guys, yet I haven't played really well a lot," Molder said. "It is my nature and my personality in that I am not a person with a lot of high highs and low lows. I'm a grinder. I don't hit the ball a long way. I think my way around the course. I am good with the putter in my hands which keeps me in a lot of rounds. I think that's why you don't see a lot of lows [scores] or a lot of highs [scores]."

Molder's lone Tour victory came in 2011 in his 132nd career start when he won the Frys.com Open in northern California after a six-hole playoff with Briny Baird. The victory culminated a career year in which he won nearly $2 million.

He has nearly $10 million in career earnings.

Molder said he believes he still possesses the skills that made him so successful as a collegian, but said he is much better at handling failure than he was early on in his career, when he did most of his playing on the Web.com, the PGA Tour's version of AAA baseball in the major leagues.

He played 22 PGA Tour events in 2002, his first year as a pro, and came within $200,000 earning his card.

"I played really well my first couple of events as a professional and I just kind of thought that the game really wasn't that hard, then I found out that it was," he said. "It was really frustrating. I had about a four- or five-week stretch where it was a real struggle. My golf swing kind of left me and I never really struggled enough to know what to do when that happened, so I had to get some fundamentals back in shape. It took me a long time to get through it."

Indeed, Molder spent most of the next five years playing on the lower-tier tour, where he scuffled to earn his PGA Tour in 2006 and 2008 when he finished in the top 25 on the money list.

It wasn't until his second year on tour, in 2009, when he learned what he had to do to be a Tour regular, and a second-place finish at the 2009 FedEx St. Jude Classic in Memphis was a sign he was back to stay.

"I am proud of where I am now, but some people really go through that and don't come out the other side," Molder said. "I have and I am proud of that. There are some heights I have not reached yet that I am still capable of doing and that is what is driving me and keeps me motivated and interested to keep getting better."

Molder and his wife Kelley have been married almost 10 years. The couple has a 16-month daughter, Jules. Molder said his focus is on his family and having a successful 2016 season. He currently sits 107th in the FedEx standings and has earned $193,140 in the wrap-around season including a tie for fourth at the Sanderson Farms Championship in November and a tie for 28th at last week's CareerBuilder Challenge.

"I haven't won a golf tournament in a few years so I'd like to have another win and I would like to make the top 30," said Molder, who has finished as high 60th in the FedEx Cup standings. "I haven't made a Tour Championship yet. I have made it to the third round of the FedEx [playoffs] I think four or five times, but I have never broken through to the top 30. That would be a nice way to finish off the season."

Sports on 02/01/2016

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