Cliff Kresge played golf at UCF from 1988-1990. He is one of just a handful of Knights with multiple career victories, winning two during his final campaign in 1990 in the Budget/UCF Golf Classic and the Music City Invitational in Nashville, Tennessee.
Kresge's season total of 72.12 in 1989-90 was the third-lowest single-season average in school history and, in his time in the Black and Gold, UCF had its first two NCAA East Regional appearances and first NCAA Championship round appearance in 1990.
After UCF, Kresge moved onto the Nationwide Tour, where he accumulated three professional wins before ultimately playing on the PGA Tour.
Kresge opened the 2007 PGA Tour season by finishing tied for sixth at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. In 2008, Kresge finished third at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and fifth at the Verizon Heritage Classic. Kresge, along with fellow professional Robert Damron, are the only men's golfers in the UCF Athletics Hall of Fame.
"Being inducted into the UCF Athletics Hall of Fame was one of the greatest honors I have ever received," said Kresge. "The way UCF went about it was incredible, and I could see all the other guys around me feeling emotional and heartfelt about their time with UCF, I think it changed my whole image of myself. It was a great honor and I felt very fortunate."
Kresge and teammates posing for a team photo before the Southeastern Intercollegiate Invitational (1989)
Although Kresge has enjoyed over 20 years of playing professional golf, things did not always come easy.
"When I first graduated, I worked odds and ends jobs just trying to get by. That was anything from working at a golf course to being a valet. I also played in mini tours just trying to make ends meet. Finally, I made it and got my tour card after ten tries and I was able to, in a span of ten years, get seven years on the PGA Tour.
"It really taught me the importance of perseverance. I felt like I had the ability to do it, and the only person that was stopping me from making it was me. It was up to me to get better mentally and physically. I am a self-taught golfer and didn't have too many people helping me. It took me a while to figure some things out, but there are a couple of different instances where I was forced to mentally change my outlook and the way I went about things, and it made a difference. In the long run, that's what helped me get over the hump."
When Kresge was a young boy, his family moved to Orlando, where Kresge grew up on the 13th hole of the Dubsdread Golf Course. There, Kresge was exposed to the game of golf at a young age and was able to practice whenever he wanted to.
"The golf course was accessible on a daily basis because of where I lived," said Kresge. "I took tips from guys here and there. I can still remember the days when I would sell golf balls to make some money and rent one of those big, old cameras so I could film my swing and work on some fixes. That's how I got started."
Kresge credits a lot of his professional success to his mental outlook and his ability to hit a 'power fade'.
"Around 1993-1994, I was trying to qualify for the U.S. Open over at Innisbrook, and I wasn't playing too well in the practice round. The first hole was a Par-4 and I botched it and bogeyed. Then, we had a pretty long wait before the next hole, so I had to sit and stew over this bogey I just made.
"While I was sitting there, I first thought about how upset I was, and then I finally realized it was in my head more than anything. I told myself from there, I was going to have a good, clear visual of what it was I was trying to do and, sure enough, I ended up hitting this perfect drive, birdied the next hole, finished the day with a 69 total to win the qualifier, and that propelled me to some pretty good golf for a while.
"I played most of my career, up until about 2002, trying to hit a draw, and then I figured out how to hit a good strong power fade where it wouldn't hook. Once I figured out how to do that, I was able to compete against anybody."
Although Kresge enjoyed a lot of success at the professional level, there were still moments that stand out to him where he was 'star struck.'
"There were several players that I would put up on that pedestal that would maybe intimidate me or make me nervous to play in front of. I remember one time, I was playing with Gary Nicklaus, Jack Nicklaus's son. We had played college golf against each other, so I knew who he was. We were hitting balls on the range and he asked me what I was doing later that day and I told him I was going to just go out and play a few holes by myself. He asked, 'Do you want to go play a round with me and Greg?' and I asked, 'Greg who?'. He said 'Greg Norman!'
"On top of that, Jack Niklaus was out there following us around. That was the most nervous I had ever been in a practice round. I had Jack Niklaus and Greg Norman watching me hit golf balls. It was a cool experience for me and was something I'll never forget.
"Also, playing with Tiger Woods at the Western Open in front of a whole crowd was one of the best moments of my career because, at that point, I had my mind in a good place. I wanted to see what Tiger had. I was ready to compete against him. I shot 69 playing with him on the first day and then was paired with him again the next day and so I had two days in a row with him.
Kresge considers his best professional performance to be when he shot 273(-7) to finish tied for third at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Kresge finished just two spots behind Tiger Woods, who took first place with a 270(-10) total.
"[The Arnold Palmer Invitational] was a hometown event for me because I grew up in Orlando. I used to go and get autographs from all the players when I was a kid and then the next thing I knew, I was chasing down Tiger Woods trying to win the tournament."
In Kresge's final season in 1990, the Knights won six tournaments, including five straight. Their feat landed them at 21 overall in the final national poll, peaking at No. 6 during the year. UCF was voted the nation's most improved team in 1990 and Kresge would end his career earning second-team All-America honors.
"We had won five tournaments in a row toward the end of my senior year and we were ranked sixth in the nation heading into regionals (Savannah, Georgia). We were playing okay out there but on our last day, we were not doing too well. Me and another senior on the team looked at each other and said 'well, it looks like our college playing careers are over unless we make about 10 birdies.' We only had about four holes left between the whole team so that was going to be tough.
"Sure enough, between the five of us, we made 10 birdies on the last four holes. I was the last one coming in and I had about a 20-foot putt on the last hole and everybody was telling me 'you've got to make this putt.' And I sunk it! It was pretty exciting, and my parents had the whole thing on tape, so that was an amazing memory."
Kresge moments after sinking the putt that secured the regional victory
Today, Kresge has used his community influence and professional relationships to help him create a foundation called Kresge's Krew. The foundation was founded to help build awareness for a cause that is close to Kresge's heart: autism.
"My son, Mason, was born in 2000, and at about two and a half years old, the doctor noticed something, and he told us he thought Mason had autism. Our first thought back then was 'Oh no, what does that mean?' So, we started doing some more research on it and we put him in all the therapy we could.
"He has come so far, it's incredible. He graduated high school with honors, he is driving a car, he has had a couple of different jobs and is getting ready to go to college! We are very proud of him.
"I am a firm believer that what we did for him as a young kid, by putting him through therapy, that helped to change his life. We really feel that early intervention is the key."
"When we first moved to East Tennessee and we saw that there weren't a lot of resources for him up there, we knew we needed to do something about it. I was able to leverage where I was and got some of my buddies from the PGA Tour to get together and help me raise some money and we raised about $350,000 over the years.
"The foundation, called Kresge's Krew, just recently sent a check to an organization called Wilderwood Dogs–the organization provides service and therapy dogs to special needs children. They told us that the check was difference between staying open and closing. So, it was so gratifying to be able to do something like that to help out."
PGATour.com wrote an in-depth piece on Kresge's contributions to autism awareness. You can read the full article here.
Left to right: Cliff Kresge, Mason Kresge and Judy Kresge at Mason's high school graduation
When asked what advice Kresge could give to an up-and-coming UCF student athlete, he had this to say:
"Believe in yourself and go after your dreams... you have to really want it if you want to get where you want to be."
Despite the hardships and uncertainty that came with the life of being a professional athlete, especially early in his career, Kresge persevered throughout it all to leave a legacy on both his community and the game. Kresge is truly Built by UCF.