Tracy J. Chappelle 
As a youngster growing up in New Jersey, Ryan McCormick once told his mom about his life’s dream and he thought it was pretty simple. He will first play for the New York Yankees. Then a change – he would dress for the New York Giants. After a decades-long career in two sports, he would move on to PGA TOUR champions.
Easy, right?
Instead, McCormick found that over time he couldn’t jump as high or run as fast as the other kids. His passion for other sports faded. It was going to be golf.
“I went to college and was exposed to high-level competition, and I was always like, ‘Man, I can play with these guys. I can beat these guys. And I just started getting better,” he said. “In the professional game, every year I felt like I was getting better and I love the competition.”
The 30-year-old is more motivated than ever to make the jump to the PGA TOUR, and he’s riding a wave of good play at the start of the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour season.
McCormick has missed just one cut so far this season and is comfortably inside 25. The start of his 2022 campaign was marked by a tie for second place at the Astara Golf Championship presented by Mastercard .
He says that for the past few years he has been working with World Long Drive competitor Justin James to gain more distance. Over the past half-decade, he’s also gone through the process with Bernie Najar, who works at Caves Valley Golf Club (last season’s BMW Championship host, part of the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup Playoffs) . McCormick recently gained 40 yards, all things considered, and says his “whole game” has been better since he started working with Najar. McCormick now lives in the Jacksonville area, but returns to the northeast quite often, especially when it’s time to go to work with someone who was so instrumental in his recent golf career.
“Without him,” McCormick said, “I would be working right now.”
