Andre Metzger in a great spot, on the course and off

Andre Metzger is rich.
Not because he’s been afforded the luxury to continue chasing his golfing dreams into his 40s, long after leaving Norman High to play golf at Texas Tech and, soon after, Lamar.
Not because 54 holes into the Korn Ferry Tour’s Compliance Solutions Championship taking place at Jimmie Austin Golf Club, his childhood course, he sits tied for ninth place at 12-under-par 204, nine strokes back of leader John Pak, but just two behind Braden Thornberry, in second place.
Not because should he eclipse the field for a solo second-place finish in today’s final round, he’d cash a $90,000 check, the largest of his professional career, one that already includes about half a hundred victories on tours below the one he’s playing this week.
Metzger is rich, instead, because those kids following him Saturday, the oldest just 9 years old, are his.
If you were there, you saw them, mostly orbiting around his wife, Kim, who many in this town first met at a long ago Westwood Invitational, years before she and Andre married, when she was still a member of Texas Tech’s women’s golf team.
He’s rich because that was his brother JonDavid on the bag, talking him through every shot with all the confidence anybody could ever want in their caddy.
“Best coach in the world,” Andre said.
And he’s rich because, when asked how a huge finish might change his life — the big check, the continued playing privileges, the continued confidence of his benefactors who’ve helped him when he needed it to keep his dream alive through the years — this was his answer:
“I don’t actually think anything’s going to change my life at this point in time,” he said. “As much as the money’s great, being able to play golf longer is great, I’m pretty settled with the fact that I have an amazing wife [and] two incredible kids.”
So, don’t worry about him.
He’s rich.
Still, root for him, because as stories go in worldwide golf this week, his might be the very best one.
He arrived at the course Saturday 8-under par, having already carded rounds of 66 and 72 and again he made the most of the front nine, making birdie at Nos. 3 and 7 and even better than that on the 608-yard par 5 fifth.
There, he drove into the left rough, just short of the cart path, popped his second shot 255 yards into the middle of the fairway, leaving him 106 to the hole.
Actually, the software that charts the rounds of every player claims it was 106. Metzger said it was 103, though he adjusted that number to 108, hoping to carry the hole and suck the ball back toward it and, finally, given the windy conditions, he decided the real number ought to be 112..
See how precise tour golf is?
“When I hit it, it felt like it was kind of sailing through that wind just a little bit, but it was right on the mark we were trying to hit,” he said. “And once it caught and swung back, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s good,’ and then it went in and we went nuts.”
An eagle 3.
He got to 5-under on the day and 13-under for the tournament with a two-putt birdie at No. 12 — typically the par 5 13th — only to give the stroke back after a wayward drive on No. 16.
Though he made birdie on the par 5 17th Friday, this time his birdie putt slid by the left edge and for the third straight day a birdie on the short par 4 18th proved elusive.
But all of that’s all right.
Because Metzger is rich.
Mentioning the tickets he was able to reserve for friends and family, he said the list reached 88 and, yes, he felt their presence.
“You don’t [usually] get to feel that momentum,” he said. “And I’ve been able to, like, really, fire into it. It’s been fun.”
Metzger’s aware of his age, 42, but only in the best possible way.
“I’ve been down and up enough times that every year I just keep fighting and every year I get older,” he said. “I keep getting a little longer, and so as long as Father Time takes his time with me, I’m good.”
He freely admits he doesn’t work out, because if he were to start “I’ve got to do it every day.”
As he continues to gain distance nonetheless, nor will he pick up a razor and rid himself of the gray hair on his face.
“That’s why I keep the beard long,” he said, “to make sure they know that I’m old so that when I pump it by them, they feel it a little bit … I’m a competitor, through and through.”
Today, he competes again.
Today, he could win $90,000.
Or, if his plan to shoot 59 comes to fruition, even $180,000 with all the perks and exemptions victory might afford.
His golfing life could change.
But not his life life.
Because Andre Metzger is already rich.