Surratt has a home game – and that’s good news for his suitcase
COLLEGE GROVE, Tenn. – Caleb Surratt, the youngest LIV Golf player, is five months into his professional career. So far, he’s competed in six different countries across three different continents and traveled more than 50,000 air miles.
Evidently, his biggest challenge is packing a proper suitcase.
“That's been quite a stressful process for the first seven events,” said his Legion XIII teammate Tyrrell Hatton.
Evidently, Surratt’s not the only member of his team who struggles in that department.
“I know there's other people sitting here that did not pack everything they were supposed to this week,” Surratt said, shooting a glance and a sly smile at his captain, Jon Rahm, during the team’s pre-tournament press conference for LIV Golf Nashville.
“Yeah, but when you're the captain, I'm always right, so it doesn't matter,” Rahm replied. “I would be second on the team for forgetting shirts and belts and shorts. He's definitely by far the worst.”
Things are better this week, if only because Surratt didn’t have to catch a plane for LIV Golf’s ninth tournament of the 2024 season. A resident of Knoxville since his college days at the University of Tennessee, Surratt made the 180-mile trip in his car for the tournament at The Grove.
“We’re getting there,” reported Hatton, offering positive reinforcement, “but I think it’s only because he’s been able to drive himself here.”
From a golfing standpoint, Surratt is making even more progress.
Last December, he was still a college student in the midst of his sophomore year at Tennessee. The school’s first men’s golfer to earn first-team All-American status, Surratt won the SEC individual championship. He was ranked inside the world’s top-10 amateur golfers.
A month later, at age 19, he jumped on the opportunity to join Rahm’s expansion Legion XIII team. His first tournament was the season opener at Mayakoba. Legion XIII won the team title and Surratt tied for 13th, shooting a final-round 4-under 67 that was vital to the team’s success. He bounced back that day from a late triple bogey that threatened the team’s position, finishing his round with five consecutive birdies.
It's been a whirlwind ever since for the now 20-year-old, who originally hails from North Carolina. Surratt posted a second consecutive top-15 finish in Las Vegas (T12) and has finished inside the points (top 24) in four of his first eight starts. He’s currently 35th in the league, safely inside the Open Zone.
Meanwhile, his game continues to develop, thanks to having mentors like Rahm and Hatton, as well as other LIV golfers who have taken the time to work with him. In Hong Kong, for instance, he received a short game lesson from HyFlyers GC Captain Phil Mickelson.
“I think I've learned, in my four or five months on LIV now, what I fully believe it would have taken me many years as a professional doing it on my own to learn,” Surratt said.
Rahm said Surratt has only scratched the surface after jumping head-first into life as a pro golfer.
“You go from being around your teammates, perhaps being the best around the people you play with in college golf, so now you're put in a world-class stage with world-class players and major champions...[it's] not only a bit of a reality check sometimes that we all need at some point, but it's also a lot of new information that is coming to you and you need to learn how to process. That's not easy to do, and I think he's doing a great job.
“Once he learns how to apply a lot of those things that he's learning to his game, I think we're going to see a massive jump on what he can do. We still haven't seen what he can do. We saw it on the last four holes at Mayakoba and there's been moments here and there, but I can't wait to actually see him put 54 holes together. It's going to be eye-opening for a lot of people that haven't seen it.”
Through the first eight starts, Surratt ranks 13th in driving distance with a 306.4-yard average and is middle of the pack in the other key categories. He’s made 99 birdies this season, ranking 24th in the league.
But beyond the numbers, there are other encouraging signs. The biggest may be his performance on Sundays when every score counts for the team. His final-round scoring average is 69.125, and he’s a collective 15 under. Only once has he failed to break par, and that score was just 1 over.
“I feel like I can compete, and I feel like I'm good enough to be out here,” Surratt said. “I'm excited to feel like I'm in a spot to start going head-to-toe with a lot of the best players because I want to take advantage of that knowledge. It's not just for fun.
“I'm working hard, and I'm trying to learn from the best. I think I can confidently say that I am taking advantage of the resources of players out here rather than just kind of putting my head down all the time.”
While Surratt is mostly in learning mode, he also finds the opportunity to teach – especially this week in the heart of country music.
Surratt’s favorite artist is Zach Bryan. He wants the rest of Legion XIII to enjoy the Grammy Award nominee but is meeting some resistance. It’s tough when your teammates are from Spain, England and Zimbabwe.
“Like the rest of the internationals on this team, country music isn’t the sweet spot for us,” said the Zimbabwean, Kieran Vincent. “We’re getting there, though.”
Rahm does enjoy listening to another artist, Luke Combs, and even saw him in concert a month ago. “I can’t say I’m a full-on country fan yet, but Luke is somebody that I really enjoy,” Rahm said.
Surratt, full of youthful enthusiasm, will keep trying.
“I’ve got to get them turned on to Zach Bryan,” he said. “I’m the biggest Zach Bryan die-hard in the world.”