Four years after he won the Alabama High School Athletic Association Class 6A boys’ golf individual championship, former Mountain Brook High School star Gordon Sargent will tee off as a pro for the first time on Thursday.

Playing in the group with Niklas Norgaard and Johnny Keefer, Sargent has a 7:35 a.m. CDT tee time for the first round of the PGA Tour’s RBC Canadian Open on the North Course at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley.

“There are pictures of me on the golf course, not playing, but with my dad when I was 6 months old,” Sargent said on Wednesday about his dream come true. “I don’t know exactly when it became a dream, but I’ve always been the type that if I’m going to do something, I’m going to kind of do it as best as I can.

“I remember I played baseball through when I was 13, and I just remember every single year come May I was excited for baseball to end so I could go play golf. I kind of knew that golf was what I wanted to do. …

“I wanted to get better each and every day. Enjoyed that about golf. Obviously, when you play golf as a 14-year-old, you see the PGA Tour, and especially when you see guys that are — when I was 14, you’ve got guys like Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth that are out there that aren’t that much older than you, so you kind of pictured yourself being that guy in 10 years or so.

“Definitely a lifelong dream. I’m excited to live it out and just see where it takes me.”

Sargent became the first player to qualify for membership on the PGA Tour through its University Accelerated initiative. The program awards points to college freshmen, sophomores and juniors for accomplishments in college and other amateur and professional tournaments.

“Definitely a lot of different feelings,” Sargent said. “Excited, nervous for a new journey. Yeah, just can’t wait for what the future holds. I’ve been waiting for this moment for a while. I tried to prepare myself as best as possible, but yeah, it’s a different animal. Trying to take it step by step, learn as I go, and just see how good I can get.”

A former Alabama All-American, Thomas has been among the PGA Tour members who have shared advice with Sargent.

“There’s been a lot of pros that have reached out,” Sargent said. “Obviously, as you know, it’s kind of a big brotherhood out here. You’re competing against each other, but you want to see other guys succeed as well.

“Justin Thomas has been really good to me, kind of taking me under his wing. If I reach out to him, he’s always got a lot of advice. Billy Horschel is another guy that’s reached out. Just guys that there’s obviously going to be plenty of ups and downs. Just trying to figure out where your feet are really.”

Sargent had enough points to join the PGA Tour at the end of his junior season at Vanderbilt. But he delayed his pro debut so he could play his senior season with the Commodores.

It didn’t turn out to be a victory lap.

Sargent was No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking when he qualified for the PGA Tour. He had won the NCAA individual championship as a freshman in 2022, represented the United States at the Walker Cup and the Palmer Cup and earned All-American recognition three times.

But Sargent posted a 73.63-per-round average this season – four strokes above his career average entering his senior year with the Commodores. When Vanderbilt played in the NCAA championship tourney, Sargent was not among the five golfers who competed for the Commodores.

Sargent doesn’t regret his decision.

“Vanderbilt is obviously a place that’s been special to me when I committed there it seems like forever ago,” Sargent said. “Close to seven years ago, I committed to play four years of golf there. That’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to get my degree, spend time with some teammates and try to get better at golf.

“It was definitely kind of a roller-coaster year. Didn’t go exactly how I planned or expected it to, but I feel like it prepared me for the future. Just going to lean on those experiences, whether good or bad, and see how I can learn from them.”

The University Accelerated qualification gives Sargent PGA Tour membership through the end of the 2026 season. Sargent said that gives him time to learn.

“Obviously, you want to show up each week and play as well as you can,” Sargent said. “But yeah, it definitely takes a little pressure off knowing that I can use this summer to try and learn as much as I can and figure out what I’m going to do on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, kind of how I’m going to handle that day.

“It’s definitely a lot of learning, so you have that kind of freedom a little bit to experiment with some things and know that it’s not life or death if you miss a cut or whatever that may be. It’s nice, but yeah, also trying to not put too much pressure on yourself to feel like you’ve got to go out there and perform to impress other people, whatever that may be. We all kind of deal with it.

“You definitely have your rough moments, but trying to use every experience as a learning curve and get my game sharp for every single week, but also, yeah, I feel like it’s nice feeling. Like, I can learn some stuff and learn from those failures and be better prepared for next year, too.”

Sargent has played in six PGA Tour events and made the cut twice. But those outings came as an amateur.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.