‘Do you know you’re famous?’: Behind the beer-drinking, Golf Galaxy-playing Rocket Mortgage Monday qualifier’s wild 48 hours

Nick Bienz is scheduled to report to work at 7:30 a.m. Thursday morning. But the 27-year-old part-time Golf Galaxy employee – he works at one of the equipment and apparel chain’s stores in northeast Indianapolis – won’t clock in because he has a 2:22 p.m. ET tee time at the PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit after securing his spot in the field through an eight-hole playoff in a qualifying match on Monday.

Can someone please alert his boss?

“I haven’t made that call yet,” Bienz said in a phone interview Wednesday. “I think he already knows. The store’s group chat blew up. They’ve been very supportive, but technically I never made that call.”

Who can blame him? At the peak, Bienz said, he had to answer 920 text messages and remarked: “I don’t even know that many people. It’s unbelievable how my life has turned upside down.”

Bienz shot 65 on Monday at Orchards Golf Club in Washington, Michigan, and relaxed in the grill room, believing his score was good enough to secure one of the four spots in the field – a life-changing moment for someone who had never competed in a PGA Tour-sanctioned tournament, let alone the major leagues. He said he had unsuccessfully competed in Monday qualifiers before, but this was his first attempt this year. While several groups were still finishing their rounds, Bienz enjoyed a victory beer or two.

“I need every ounce of alcohol right now to calm my nervous system and not try to throw myself up,” Bienz told Monday Q’s Ryan French in a video shared on X, formerly known as Twitter. “That’s the state of things right now.”

He drank the third beer after he realized he had celebrated too early and still had a playoff to play. Eight holes later, his dream of playing on the PGA Tour became a reality. How many beers did he drink after that?

“Just one,” he said. “I sat in the same chair on the golf course for two and a half hours in shock, trying to answer as many text messages as possible and deal with all the tournament logistics.”

First, he FaceTimed his fiancée on the golf cart ride back to the clubhouse. She was sobbing. “Do you know you’re famous?” she asked.

Bienz, who played college golf at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), had no idea he had gone viral. Since then, fans have sent him money through Venmo to help with his expenses, a friend at clothing manufacturer TravisMathew sent him a care package with outfits for the week, but he said he has yet to find a sponsor despite several requests, including from a beer company.

“I’m such a newbie in this field that I don’t even understand the logistical task of getting a logo on a shirt in less than 24 hours,” said Bienz, who also received a new bag with the logo of his employer, Golf Galaxy.

But he has already met Kevin Kisner, who posted on social media that the tour should have the two compete together in the tournament.

“He came up to me and said, ‘Are you my beer drinking buddy?'” Bienz recalled. “Then he said, ‘The tour screwed us, buddy. I thought they were going to bring us together.'”

Bienz said he has been knocked out of Korn Ferry Tour Q-School four times and has also tried out the PGA Tour Latinoamerica and Mackenzie Tour twice. His game is in good shape. On June 10, he shot 69 at the Northern Open, an Indiana Section event, to win the one-day tournament. He will decide between now and his wedding next May whether to continue pursuing his dream or give it all up and get a real job. Depending on how he fares at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, which has $9.2 million in prize money up for grabs this week, working in golf retail could be in a galaxy far, far away.

“Fortunately, this week has thrown a wrench into my plans and I really have no idea what will happen next,” he said.

The story originally appeared on GolfWeek