He鈥檚 just 34 years old, but Isaac Weintraub鈥檚 golf story is a weathered tale worth telling.
The Gorge Vale Golf Club assistant pro earned an exemption into this week鈥檚 Bayview Place Cardtronics Open presented by the sa国际传媒 by way of Order of Merit points on the Bayview Place Vikes Performance Tour.
It will be his first appearance on a more recognized tour since 2010 when the Santa Cruz, California, native, who now calls Victoria home, played the Frys.com Open on PGA Tour, where he recorded rounds of 79-69 and missed the cut.
鈥淚鈥檓 really excited. I haven鈥檛 played a Canadian tour event, which is now called PGA Tour sa国际传媒, since 2009 when I was on that tour. I was on the tour for five years,鈥� said an elated Weintraub, who played this Victoria stop five times over his pro-playing career.
It was a career that was cut short in 2009-10 due to an ankle injury. He did manage to make that 2010 appearance at the Frys.com and Weintraub also previously played two seasons on what was then the European Challenge tour.
鈥淭hat was the last PGA Tour-sanctioned tournament I played in until now, so I鈥檓 stoked, actually,鈥� said Weintraub. 鈥淭hat PGA Tour event had four sponsors鈥� exemptions. Basically there were a bunch of local guys from central California writing in for the last exemption and instead of giving it out to one person, they decided they were going to invite a whole bunch of pros from the area to have a shoot-out for it, sort of making a media event out of it.
鈥淚鈥檓 from Santa Cruz originally and went to school at San Jose State. The Frys.com Open was in Gilroy, which is basically San Jose, so they invited me,鈥� recalled the left-hander who was a two-time All-Western Athletic Conference golfer from 2001-04.
He was living in Victoria in 2010, a choice he made after his pro-playing career had abruptly ended.
鈥淪o I flew down. I think the day before I had just finished second to Adam Hadwin at the 2010 Vancouver Open. I lost to him on the last couple of holes.鈥�
Weintraub was successful at the shootout, however.
鈥淚 lit up the front there, shooting something like six-under and I was even on the back and won by four and snuck into that event in 2010.鈥�
His career has taken plenty of twists and turns since then.
Once he left competitive golf, Weintraub entered the turf industry and was working toward becoming a golf course superintendent. He did that for three years and eventually received his masters degree from Penn State University in turf science.
He just graduated in April, but managed to work at Augusta National (home of The Masters) and Los Angeles Country Club for about a year each in 2015-16.
鈥淚 bounced around and decided I want to be back in Victoria so I moved back in October, joining the PGA of sa国际传媒,鈥� said Weintraub. 鈥淚鈥檝e been playing events around town and this is a total bonus to sneak into this [Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour sa国际传媒] event.
鈥淚 worked as an intern at Augusta on the grounds crew in what they called the golf course department. I woke up and watched the sun rise for seven straight months at Augusta. As a professional golfer it was like a dream come true. It was a special place,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 really enjoyed it, but I kind of realized I didn鈥檛 want to wake up at 4:30 in the morning every day for the rest of my life, so I decided I was going to go back and become a golf pro,鈥� he said of returning to the Island.
鈥淚 basically fell in love with Victoria the first time I came up here in 2005 with my brother. My older brother was in graduate school and he took the summer off and caddied for me for my rookie year on the Canadian tour.
鈥淲e fell in love with Victoria. I love Canadians and the pace of life on the Island. I grew up in a little surf town in Santa Cruz in Northern California, which is very similar to Victoria. With everything that鈥檚 going on in the States now, I feel lucky to be here, to be honest with you. To top it off it鈥檚 a great city for golf.鈥�
And he鈥檚 been great for the local game. His 73 on a windswept day at Bear Mountain last week was four strokes better than anyone else in the field at the most recent Vikes Performance Tour event.
鈥淗e could have been four or five strokes better, too,鈥� said Royal Colwood head pro Jason Geisbrecht, who played alongside him. He had already clinched the pro exemption thanks to his previous play.
鈥淚鈥檓 going to be happy to go play at Uplands and then go back to work the next week,鈥� said Weintraub, in all honesty. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a tough life. I did it for seven years where that was my primary source of income. I basically gave it seven years and got into the turf industry and thought I鈥檇 get into a real job.鈥�
He tells the story of placing fifth in Argentina on the European Challenge tour where he made roughly $8,000 and compared it to where he finished up his career in Winnipeg, suffering the ankle injury and having to call his parents, asking if they could place $400 in his account so that he could come back home.
鈥淭his is a bonus,鈥� Wentraub said of the chance to tee it up back on tour. 鈥淚鈥檓 just happy to be playing in it.鈥�
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