‘Older player’ Watts placed fourth at Indy Amateur

HSE and Ball State grad having more fun

By RICHIE HALL
sports@readthereporter.com

INDIANAPOLIS – Here’s a message to the young golfers of today: if you keep playing, you’ll eventually became one of the elder statesmen.

It happens sooner than one would realize. Not too long ago, Johnny Watts was fresh out of Hamilton Southeastern High School. Watts would go on to play at Ball State University and spend a few years in the professional ranks.

Today, Watts lives in Fort Wayne, is married with children and has a sales job, but he still has his golf game intact. He proved that by finishing fourth at the Indiana Amateur Championship, which concluded Wednesday at Broadmoor Country Club in Indianapolis.

“I’ve turned into the older player out here, seeing a lot of the high schoolers and college players, reminiscing on how it was back when I was in high school,” said Watts.

Even at age 30 – which is not old, of course – Watts can still keep up with the youngsters. After a first-round score of 70 on Monday, Watts vaulted into the top 10 with a seven-under par score of 65. He followed that up on Wednesday with a final-round total of 67, five under par.

For the tournament, Watts finished 14 under par with a score of 202. He made seven birdies in his final round and 17 for all three rounds. Watts also eagled hole No. 12 during the second round.

“Definitely got off to a bit of a slow start on Monday,” said Watts. “There are a lot of birdies to be had out there, so we knew coming in the last two days that we had to go as low as we could. It was a lot of fun playing the back nine pretty well coming down the stretch.”

Watts graduated from Southeastern in 2014 and went on to play at Ball State, graduating from there in 2018. After that, he joined the PGA Tour Latinoamérica, playing on that tour from 2018 to 2020. (PGA Tour Latinoamérica merged with PGA Tour Canada in 2024 to form PGA Tour Americas.)

“It was a lot of fun, a lot of travel,” said Watts. “But it was a grind, too. It’s not as glamorous as it seems on TV. When you’re at that level, you’re sharing hotel rooms with friends and eating fast food and trying to save money wherever you can.”

After his pro days were finished, Watts reapplied for amateur status. Doing so meant a two-year wait where he could not play any tournaments, so he was happy to get back.

“It’s a lot more fun now when it’s not my livelihood and I can actually play a little looser and know that my paycheck is not dependent on how I play on the golf course,” said Watts.

Watts is a family man now. He married in 2023 and has two children, ages 2 and 6 months, and works in medical sales. Watts also finds time to play in tournaments, saying his job “allows me to play some golf here and there.”

“I’ll play in a handful of events now throughout the year, this being probably the largest of the year,” said Watts.