Johnny Keefer tied for seventh Sunday at the RSM Classic, his final start of a dream year. The Korn Ferry Tour’s points winner won twice on the development circuit and posted 10 worldwide top-10s to skyrocket in the world rankings, and on Monday morning, he reached a career-best No. 47. There are still tournaments to be played across the globe before the calendar flips, but the 24-year-old Keefer won’t sweat a potential Masters invite, which would be extended to him should he remain inside the top 50.

“Either way, the beginning of next year is super important,” Keefer said. “If I don’t get it, then I still have a few months to go get it. And if I do, then I have that in the back pocket, but I still need to keep playing good golf.”

While Keefer has played the best golf of his career since turning pro two summers ago, he’s also endured easily his biggest hardship. As Keefer, fresh off a dominating summer in Canada, was preparing for the final stage of PGA Tour Q-School last December, his cousin, Robbie Urban, was undergoing several tests to figure out the root of some health problems.

Urban, the only son of Rob and Chi Urban, was a star lacrosse player at St. Anthony’s, a catholic high school in South Huntington, New York, on Long Island. He opted to pursue a finance degree at Providence College last fall, and Keefer said Urban was considering trying out for the Friars’ lacrosse team. But Urban never returned to campus for his second semester, as doctors diagnosed him with Burkitt lymphoma, an aggressive type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and ordered treatment immediately.

Keefer kept in contact with Urban during his cousin’s cancer battle, though phone calls eventually turned into texts, which got more infrequent as the cancer and chemotherapy weakened the once vibrant athlete, who spent considerable time in the intensive care unit.

“There were days where he didn’t even have the energy to hold up a phone,” Keefer said. “It was just really hard to see him as a shell of himself.”

Keefer paused to swallow before continuing, “It was quick.”

Urban died on Feb. 25, about three months after being diagnosed. He was just 19 years old.

Keefer was flying to South America for the fifth KFT event of the season. While his parents, John and Judy, flew from San Antonio to New York along with other family members, Keefer couldn’t get back in time. He remained in Argentina and tied for 37th. Meanwhile, hundreds of students attended a memorial at Providence’s St. Dominic Chapel. When Urban registered for classes in June 2024, he was photographed holding a postcard that read: What do you hope to find at Providence? To learn to be independent and build a successful career in life.

St. Anthony’s added Urban’s initials and jersey number, 52, to their helmets for the remainder of its season. The Friars, the same nickname at Providence, went on to win their sixth straight Catholic High School Athletic Association Class AAA title in May, rallying from three goals down at halftime.

“Robbie was taken from his family and friends too soon,” said Rev. Simon Teller, the college’s chaplain. “As I was standing at the altar on Friday, praying and mourning for Robbie, I was overwhelmed with one thought: For every one of us, life is fleeting.”

Keefer, who wears a green ribbon on his hat during rounds in Urban's honor, realizes that now more than ever.

“Life is precious and golf’s not everything,” Keefer said, “and I had my fair trials in college with not playing very well and identifying myself with just golf, but this serves as a really good reminder on a daily basis that there is a lot more than just scores and to just enjoy life, because it can be taken away at any point.”

A couple months after Urban’s death, Rob and Chi Urban traveled to Arlington, Texas, in late April to watch Keefer compete for the first time. Keefer fired a second-round 61 before finishing the Veritex Bank Championship at 30 under to win his maiden KFT event by three shots.

“A lot of things went my way that week,” Keefer said. “That was a sign from Robbie.”

Keefer already has at least one major start locked up for next year, the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, which is just 50 miles from where Urban grew up. The Urbans will be in attendance there, too.

And like he has for the past nine months, Robbie will be looking down, sending signs.