In mid-September, the staff at AmateurGolf.com did a double take on the final leaderboard of the Trans-Miss Amateur. Could Chris Devlin really have posted a 14-shot win in a 54-hole tournament? Sure enough, Devlin had posted 20-under par at Brasada Ranch in Oregon, firing 63 in the first round and backing it up with rounds of 67 and 66 in the final two. We decided to look him up and learn more about the Irishman who attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham with Graeme McDowell. The pair have a unique connection. We learned about that and Devlin's run at the pro game in the latest in our "Quick 9" series of player profiles.

1. When did your golfing career start?

I grew up in Ireland and was born and bred there, and then I moved here in 1996 to go to UAB. I was just lucky to be recruited by a bunch of coaches over here; I didn't know, really, as I was playing golf in Ireland, and then recruited by a bunch of coaches from the United States and didn't really know anybody, as I have never been here before. And so ended up getting recruited to UAB, and decided the only place I wasn't going to go was up north because I was, I was leaving Ireland for a reason, because I wanted to play golf all year round, and I wasn't going to go somewhere where it was snowing half the year. So I was looking for somewhere in the south or somewhere with a warm climate.

2. Where did you play your college golf? And what is your connection to Graeme McDowell?

I was due to get a raise over my scholarship that year, and our coach was struggling to make the financials meet to get another player on there, and Graeme needed some more scholarship money. I just told him to take my raise and give it to Graeme to make sure he was here. Because I wanted Graeme to come, and I wanted us to have a better team. I wanted us to be more competitive, and I thought he would be a great addition to our team and a good fit. And I want to try to help Graeme as much as possible.

3. What do you do for a living?

I had played professionally for a number of years, mostly in Europe. I played some nationwide events, and I played, obviously, the U.S. Open and some other events. But it was hard because I had a young family, and I was traveling back and forth across the Atlantic to play in Europe a lot. So it was getting more and more difficult. I was very, very injury-prone and had a neuromuscular disease that sent me back for a number of years. At that point, I just retired from playing golf, and I hadn't picked up a club for about eight months. Fortunately, my back just got better by itself, and I got a job in the healthcare world. It has kind of grown and grown from there to where I now an owner of my own software company that manages high-risk patient populations for physician groups all across the nation.

4. Balancing a career and golf?

(My career) It kind of takes up all my time right now and all my commitments. So, I don't get to play golf anywhere near as much as I would like to. It's very I
would love to play more than I do, but unfortunately, these business commitments take up a lot of my time.

5. What was the game like heading into the Trans-Miss?

When I go to play now, I've played well. Since I got my amateur status back, I haven't really played in anything. It seems like every time I went to try and qualify for something, I did, and I've played in the U.S. Amateur for the last number of years. When I do go to play, I have been playing really well, and I know my games better than I have ever known them.

6. What is it like leading by 14 shots in a tournament?

You know, the second day it got really, really cold and windy when we were teeing off, and it was raining for about the first 13 holes. So that kind of brought me back to my old Irish roots, where I was used to it everybody else kind of wasn't. So it didn't really bother me so much as it probably did most the other players. My goal the whole week was really to not let up once I got the big lead. My goal was I wanted to try and have the lowest score for the tournament every single day. My goal was to keep trying to go lower and lower. So I'm glad I did that, because it worked.

7. What is working when you are 20-under and the rest of the field is over par?

The strength of my game as I drive the ball very, very straight, and my iron games has been solid, and I just feel like right now, I don't have very many weaknesses in my game. And when I get tournaments like that, I feel like I'm always going to be one of the favorites to win it. You know that obviously, the first day when you go out and shoot a 63, Posada Ranch was scoreable in that fashion. As long as you kept it out of the desert, and as long as you hit it in the fairway and hit it straight.

8. What’s in the bag currently?

I've got a set of Srixon ZX5 irons that I that I use, and I have Stealth TaylorMade woods. I have a Cleveland 60 degree wedge, and then some TaylorMade wedges, that I use in a 52 and a 56 degree. Driver is the Stealth Two. 

9. What is next in your golf career?

I've been getting more engaged in it this year, just simply because I'm 49 now, so I turn 50 next year, and I'm very intrigued by the Champions Tour, and I've got a lot of people trying to push me to go that direction, and I haven't taken it out of the equation. In fact, I will probably go to Champions Tour Q-School this year, just because I have been playing so much better, and I feel like the games in good shape, and I still hit the ball a long way.

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