SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - Kenny Pigman honed his golf game on Inland Empire courses from the time he was in high school.
 
These days, the former Cal State San Bernardino all-American in men's golf is not only the head professional and golf instructor at Arrowhead Country Club in San Bernardino, he makes his presence felt in tournaments against fellow club pros.
 
It's been an interesting month for Pigman, 34, starting at the PGA Professional Championship in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M., near Albuquerque, where he shot rounds of 73, 70, 70 and 69 to finish tied for fourth place with a 72-hole score of 282 on May 3.
 
He and 20 other club pros qualified to play in the just-completed PGA Championship at Oak Hill Golf Club in Rochester, N.Y. Pigman shot rounds of 81 and 78 for a 36-hole total of 159 and missed the cut along with some of golf's big names – Jason Day, Matt Kuchar and Rickie Fowler.
 
Pigman was competing in the PGA Championship, one of four majors on the PGA tour, for the second time. In 2017, he once again qualified for the major by finishing 16^th with a 72-hole score of 289 at Sun River Resort in Oregon. He missed the cut with a 76-79-151 score for 36 holes, joining such golf luminaries as Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose on the early departure.
 
"I started playing golf at the age of three and never looked back," said Pigman.
 
He played his high school golf at Norco High School where he was the team's most valuable player and did the same for Riverside City College his freshman year of college
 
As a sophomore at Cal State San Bernardino where he would earn a bachelor's degree in marketing, Pigman was part of perhaps the best golf team the school has ever produced – a runner-up finish in the NCAA Division II national championship.
 
That team was led by three-time NCAA Div. II all-American Gene Webster who finished third as an individual and all-American Micah Burke, who finished ninth in the 72-hole tournament. Joe Alldis was 14^th. CSUSB and Sonoma State wound up tied with 1,179 strokes apiece but the Seawolves won the championship in an extra-hole playoff. Pigman averaged 73.4 strokes per round that season to earn All-CCAA honors and all-West Region honors.
 
The Coyotes won four tournaments, finished second three times and fourth place three times in 2008-09.
 
In 2010, Pigman won the UC San Diego Triton Invitational with a 54-hole score of 202 after rounds of 73-65-64 at Riverwalk Golf Club. He finished second with a score of 214 at the Chico State Wildcat Tournament at Butte Creek Golf Club in Chico.
 
As a senior in 2010-11, Pigman won the Cal State East Bay Pioneer Shootout at Hidden Brooke Golf Club in Vallejo with a 54-hole score of 212, took second in the CSUSB Coyote Classic at Arrowhead CC with a 206 score on rounds of 70-66-70m and placed third in the Grand Canyon University Thunderbird at the Wigwam Resort in Litchfield, AZ with a 215 score for three rounds.
 
He took second at the Hanny-Cal State Stanislaus tournament with a score of 211, including a 67. He was fifth at the CCAA conference championship with a score of 213 at Hunter Ridge in Paso Robles. He placed 28^th at the NCAA West-Central Super Regional in Albuquerque.
             
His record was good enough to earn 2011 CCAA Player of the Year honors, GCAA-PING all-West Region and second-team All-America honors, averaging 71.7 strokes over 21 rounds with five top 10 finishes, six top 20 finishes and 1 medalist title. He is one of only 10 CSUSB golfers to earn all-America honors since the program started in the 1980s as a Division III independent.
 
After graduation, Pigman resumed his job as an assistant in the pro shop at Goose Creek Golf Course in the Mira Loma area of Jurupa Valley. He started the PGA program to be a club professional in 2013 and received his Class A membership in 2015.
 
"Starting the PGA Program made me look into growing the game and furthering my knowledge," he said. "This is what I was born to do and pursued by career in helping people achieve their goals."
 
Pigman was also accomplishing things in competitive golf along with teaching youngsters and adults how to play the game.
 
Currently, Pigman has 20 students under his tutelage.
 
"…achieving goals for my students gave me the passion to teach," he added.
 
Ironically, he is currently serving as the head pro at the home course of the CSUSB Coyotes golf team. Two other CSUSB golfers went on to become club pros – Eric Lippert, the 1998 all-American, was head pro at Pebble Beach Golf Links near Monterey for several years and CSUSB Athletics Hall of Fame member Lee Kinney was a two-time all-American in 1997 and 1998.
 
The CSUSB men's golf program also produced the athletic department's only individual NCAA champion in Scott Householder who won the 1997 NCAA Div. II championship tournament with a 15-under par score of 273, which still ranks as the lowest Division II championship tournament score for 72 holes relative to par. Householder was inducted into the CSUSB Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009.