Inside viral road trip that took Ontario Boys to Players Championship

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University students routinely need beer money, but cash is not usually offered to them by a PGA Tour pro, and it’s not usually offered to them on the golf course in the middle of the final round of the Players Championship.

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Somehow, that’s just one of the scenes Caleb Patry, Liam Fischer and Beck Ljungberg found themselves in after a series of unusual events led them on a wild road trip from Ontario to Florida over the weekend.

Along the way, they’ve also been VIP guests to a TGL event, hosted for two rounds at the upscale Hammock Beach Resort, and were invited back to TPC Sawgrass to cap off the trip with a round at its Dye’s Valley Course.

Life for the three University of Guelph golf team members has been a blur ever since they responded on Saturday morning to a social media post from Ryan French, the man behind the popular Monday Q Info account on X.

French has carved out a successful niche in the golf world where his chronicling of the PGA Tour’s Monday qualifiers has proven there is a voracious appetite for underdog stories of the thousands of golfers fighting tooth and nail to make a living. His honest look at the often incredibly difficult and expensive life of hopeful tour pros has resonated not just with golf fans but with many of the players at the game’s highest level.

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“I don’t know where or how it started but players send me their extra tickets a lot of weeks,” French said over the phone on Tuesday. “So after Thursday’s round, which is a bit unique because usually I get tickets after they miss the cut or before the week starts, but Patrick Rodgers sent me a bunch of tickets. I’ve always tried to give them to kids, or just people that wouldn’t normally go.”

When French received a message about the tickets from Patry asking if he and his golf team buddies could have some tickets, it sounded like a good fit.

“That’s how it started,” French said. “I’ve done it a lot, so it was very typical until they told me they were 18 hours away.”

Back in Ontario, members of the Guelph Gryphons golf team were going about their Saturday when a message from Patry landed on their phones.

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“Caleb texted our entire golf team group chat saying, ‘Hey boys, anyone interested in going to the Players tomorrow?’ ” Fischer told the Toronto Sun. “I had just made plans with my family to go to downtown Toronto, and I came back downstairs and said, ‘Hey, I think I’m going to Florida tomorrow.’ Beck and I responded to Caleb’s text, and said it seemed like a once in a lifetime opportunity. We’re in.”

Like most great adventures, that was the extent of the planning as the trio stuffed some clothes in a bag, hopped in the car and started driving south.

One problem.

“We realized quickly that none of us had our passports,” Fischer said.

New plan.

“Caleb is from Kingston, Beck is from Burlington, and I’m from Markham.”

New and complicated plan.

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After some good fortune (a thoughtful girlfriend driving Caleb’s passport from Kingston to Markham), the Ontario Boys were on their way at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Ontario Boys would be their official name for the rest of the trip — and maybe golf eternity — seeing as they wrote it in black marker on their white golf shirts.

The group’s next hurdle was that due to an ominous forecast, Sunday tee times at the Players Championship were moved from afternoon to morning.

“I thought they would give up honestly, I thought they would never make it on time,” French said. “Then it kind of started to be like, uh-oh, if they don’t make it I’ve got to try to make this trip worth their while.”

Living in Northern Michigan, French has a soft spot for Canadians.

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“Unfortunately in this political environment, and I don’t know why we’re in this position, but Canadians are really good people,” French said.

It also doesn’t hurt that Corey Conners helped put Monday Q Info on the map in 2019 after the Canadian became the first Monday qualifier to win a PGA Tour event in nearly a decade.

“When Conners won in Valero, it legitimized my account. I was always telling people that guys they didn’t really know of could win on the PGA Tour. It sped up things for me and I haven’t forgot.”

As the Ontario boys drove, French was looking into hotels, and even ended up paying out of pocket for their accommodations. When his pal Joel Dahmen sent a message asking him to tell the boys to say hello during Sunday’s round, things were really shaping up.

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That is, if the Ontario boys could make it in time.

“We drove all night, rotating drivers, trying to keep two of us awake at all times,” Fischer said. “It was a lot more challenging than we thought, but the sheer adrenaline kept us going.”

They arrived to TPC Sawgrass in perfect time, with eventual winner Rory McIlroy’s round just getting going. The Ontario Boys had made it and were soaking in the grand atmosphere at the PGA Tour’s flagship event. They caught up to Dahmen as he hit his tee shot on the eighth hole.

“He turns around and walks over and says, ‘Hey boys, how was the trip down here?’ ” Ljungberg recalls. “We told him it was awesome and then he pulls out his wallet and slips us $100 bill and says, ‘Go buy some beers.’ We were like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ ”

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Which leads to the most unbelievable part of an unbelievable story.

“Actually, we haven’t had a sip of alcohol yet, we’ve been so busy,” Ljungberg said from the car as the crew drove four hours on Tuesday to attend a TGL playoff match as guest of the high-profile upstart indoor golf league.

“We have had to drive here and there constantly, but tonight at TGL we were thinking we should have one and send a pic out to Joel as a thank you for buying us some beers.”

None of these extras were expected, or asked for, by anyone. Like French’s career as the man behind Monday Q Info, it all grew organically from a social media message.

“We are really just so blown away by the extreme generosity that we’ve experienced,” Fischer said. “It just shows how special the golf world is. Everyone is just following along and offering to help us out. Just seeing that come to fruition is so awesome to see.”

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“It’s just been an amazing experience and we can’t thank Ryan French enough,” Patry added.

For French, whose Drive Fore the Future foundation providing equipment and apparel for golf teams from underserved communities has recently cracked the half-million dollar mark, it’s encouraging stories like this that fuel his passion.

“I hate where pro golf is right now, it’s pretty gross,” French said. “It’s kind of made me lean into these stories. There’s a lot of good people in golf, and 90% of pro golfers don’t live like what is portrayed to the public. I think it’s important to show that, especially with where the game has been the past three years.”

As for the Ontario Boys, they might be young but they are wise enough to see the moral in their unlikely adventure that is set to make its way back to Canada sometime Wednesday afternoon.

“Honestly, it’s just to be able to appreciate being able to do this stuff when we’re young,” Ljunberg said. “Just kind of spur of the moment, taking that chance. So, just take every opportunity you get, you’ll figure it out. We packed for one night, and we just had to stop in a Walmart to pick up underwear and socks.”

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