Doc Redman

Yes, Doc was Redman's given name. He was born Doc Hudspeth Redman and his parents gave his sister an unusual name, Karma. His grandfather worked in the Pentagon. His father, John, has been the biggest influence on his golf career, along with his mother Jude's unconditional support. Doc discovered his love for golf at an early age, hitting balls when he was 3 or 4 years old. His passion for math came later while taking an AP calculus course at Leesville Road High School in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Redman transferred to Leesville, a public high school, after not liking the private one he attended his freshman and sophomore years. He chose Clemson over the more traditionally prestigious University of Virginia because it felt right. And had Redman not been playing the weekend at the U.S. Amateur, he likely would have been caddying back home to make some extra spending money before heading back to college.
When Doc Redman was 14, he decided he was tired of not being a great putter. For a whole year, he hit 1,000 putts every day and focused only on hitting the ball on the center of the putter face. The next year, he worked solely on his distance control and hitting straight putts. By the third year, he was perfecting his stroke on breaking putts. Amateurs have three strokes, depending on how the putt breaks. Redman's father, John, estimates his son hit about 7,000 putts a week in those three years. Dad would fish nearly every putt out of the hole.
Redman works with two mental coaches at Clemson and also scours golf books for advice and tips on how to improve his game and develop a winning mentality.
At Clemson, he is majoring in Mathematical Sciences, displaying an interest in the stock market, and securing a math internship at the institution.
Golfwise, 2017 was a good year for Redman. He won twice as a freshman for the Tigers while posting six other top-10s, a school record for a freshman. In the summer, he notched top-10s at the Northeast and Southern amateurs and was runner-up at the Western Amateur, so he was in good form going into the U.S. Amateur.
Doc Redman's first taste of USGA match play came at the 2014 U.S. Junior Amateur at The Woodlands, Texas. Wearing a bucket hat, the 16-year-old defeated future college All-Americans Justin Suh and Braden Thornberry before facing Andy Zhang in the round of 16. Redman lost to Zhang, 1-up, that day. But from that point, he knew he belonged.
Redman came very close to not getting into match play at Riviera Country Club. He made double bogey on his 17th hole in the second round and was in a 13-man playoff for the last eight spots. Redman secured one of the spots with a par on the first playoff hole.
Redman sailed through his first match 4 & 3, and won his round of 32, 1-up over Walker Lee. In his next match against John Oda, he won the 16th and 17th holes to notch a 2 & 1 victory. He had another tight match in the quarterfinals, defeating Travis Smyth on the 18th hole to win 1-up. His semifinal match against Mark Lawrence also went to the 18th hole, and he won that hole for another 1-up victory.
In the final against Doug Ghin, Redman shot 66 over the first 18 holes and only led 1-up. Fifteen of the 18 holes were halved, with each golfer facing one putt after another simply to tie the hole. Both routinely made putts from six, eight, 12 feet and longer. It seemed that any putt that made a difference ended up in the hole. Along with the good putting, both players were a combined 8 under par on the back nine, which was an example of what was ahead in the afternoon portion.
Redman went 2-up with a 35-foot birdie on the second hole, but Ghim picked away and went 1-up with a par on 13, and then 2-up with two to play with another par on 16. So Redman had to win the next two holes. On the par-5 17th, he hit his second shot just over the green. Ghim was close to the hole in three, but Redman didn't give him a shot at the winning birdie putt when he drained his 60-foot putt. On the 18th hole, Redman hit his second shot seven feet away and made that putt to send the match to sudden death.
On the famous drivable par-4, 10th hole at Riviera, Redman hit a perfect tee shot just short of the green. Ghim hooked his drive into the left rough and was not able to get his ball on the green in two, hitting instead into a greenside bunker. His next shot went bunker to bunker, and with Redman close for birdie, he conceded the putt and the match.
It was a pretty impressive finish for a 19-year-old who only made it into the match play as the No. 62 seed after getting through a 13-man playoff for the last eight spots.
In his five matches leading up to the 36-hole final, he won three of them on the 18th green. At one stretch of that championship match against Doug Ghim, he sank 12 consecutive putts. Redman joins Chris Patton as the only Clemson Tiger to win the U.S. Amateur.
With the victory, Redman earned berths at the Masters, the U.S. Open, and the British Open. He will be the 13th former Clemson golfer to compete in the Masters.
A month later, Redman played in the Walker Cup matches that were held at Los Angeles Country Club. Redman lost all three of his matches.
2018 Notes: Over the year, has worked hard to put great emphasis on his breathing as a way to control his nerves. He focuses on slow, deep breaths and positive personal encouragement. Has confessed to nerves once: When the Clemson team played Augusta National, he got jittery on the first tee and especially on the 16th, when he was 3 under par. But he parred the final three holes to break 70.
Played at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and finished 71st. Playing at the Masters missed the cut, T-50th at the RBC Heritage. After the NCAA Championships, he turned professional, making his debut missing the cut at the Memorial. Was T-32nd at the Quicken Loans and missed the cut at the Wyndham. Played in four Korn Ferry Tour events, only made one cut T-21st at the Price Cutter Charity.
2019 Notes: Started the year on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada, earning Mackenzie Tour status with a T-6th finish at TPC San Antonio. At the Bayview Place DCBank Open, opened with rounds of 64-65-65 and took a two-stroke lead into the final round. Battled Paul Barjon throughout the final day. Made a late charge with back-to-back birdies on holes 16 and 17 but finished the tournament one shot short and alone in second place. Played at the Wells Fargo Championship and finished T-18th. After advancing through the Monday Qualifier, finished 2nd at the inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic, earning enough non-member FedExCup points to qualify for Special Temporary Membership. Received one of two exemptions to The British Open through The Open Qualifying Series. Was T-20th at the British Open and played in the Wyndham Championship missing the cut. If Redman would of been a member of the PGA Tour he would have received 300 FedExCup points for his runner-up points for the Rocket Mortgage, with his other good finishes he racked up 400 points which would have placed him 120th on last year's FedExCup list so he gets a Tour Card for 2020.
2020 Notes: His best finish before the break was T-13th at the Houston Open and after the break T-11th at the Travelers Championship.