Golfers don’t always retire. Not clearly and publicly, at least. Because they don’t need teams to sign them to contracts, because tour status has plenty shades of gray, because the physical demands of the sport are lesser than, say, football, professional golf careers can just…keep going.
We do sometimes get chances to bid farewell to our big-time golf stars, if decades later than we would in other sports; think Arnold Palmer in his final U.S. Open at 64 or Jack Nicklaus in his final Masters at 65. But the rank-and-file players who compose the fields of the biggest tournaments in the world? They might eventually play a reduced schedule, or on a different tour, or set their sights on the senior tour, perhaps slightly less each year until it’s finally time.
And so I found it unexpectedly moving to listen to the post-round interviews of several PGA Tour Champions players after last week’s SAS Championship, the final regular-season event, as they considered the ends of their respective careers. The average NFL career is a little over three years; the longest ones run 15 or so. But most guys on the senior tour have been pro golfers their entire adult life. There’s something that feels bigger about considering the end. And it comes with a mix of gratitude, sadness, peace, longing, acceptance, resistance.
Scott Dunlap was wistful about the passage of time but sounded remarkably grateful for a second phase of his career that exceeded all expectations — even if it still feels a bit surreal.
“You know, when it’s time, it’s time. It’s been a whole lot better run than I ever thought it would be,” he said. “And looking forward to the next thing, which won’t be making three-footers … I mean, you know, you age out. I saw it when I got out here, guys that were near the end, and lo and behold it happened to me.”
It’s hardly all been sunshine and roses — “you know, it’s always fun to compete but it hasn’t been fun to not play well,” he said — but big-picture?
“Well, I feel like I robbed a bank. This post-50 thing has been amazing,” Dunlap added. “Did okay on the PGA Tour, not a great career, had to go to the qualifying school to make it.
“But my time out here has been a blessing … make a whole lot more money playing golf post-50? I can’t think of any other sport where this opportunity avails itself to somebody. I couldn’t be happier. Now it’s time to go have some fun.”
Mark Walker expressed gratitude, too, but sounded less at peace with the idea that this could be it.
“What now? Not sure,” he said. “I don’t know what this is going to look like moving forward. May be done, golf may be over. Not sure yet, but we’ll see.”
Here Walker seemed to be referencing the PGA Tour Champions’ latest decision to eliminate Q-School — effectively closing off access to those not otherwise qualified.
“Just because they’re limiting the spots, there’s nowhere to play. It’s just getting harder and harder to even get a start out here,” he said. He’s still clearly a competitor with plenty of self-belief — but the realities of the game have caught up to him.
“I didn’t give up,” he said. “Really struggled with my game, tried to just keep fighting, working on it. For 75 percent of the year I didn’t have my game. Kind of started coming around at the very end, but a little too late. A little too late in the year.”
What would he miss, if this is the end?
“It’s been wonderful,” he said. “[I’ll] just miss the competition, miss the guys out here. Competition, mainly. That’s what gets you up in the morning, waking up and knowing you have a place to compete and test your game.”
Brandt Jobe still has some competitive golf in his future — but he, too, is coming to terms with a more limited schedule.
“You know what, take some time off and reflect a little bit, see next year what tournaments I get in. Obviously I still have the desire to do it, so we’ll see. I don’t know where that’s going to land me or how many opportunities,” he said.
“I remember coming out here saying if you give me five years, that would be great, and I got 10. If next year’s 10 tournaments, 12 tournaments, whatever it is, embrace it.”
And then there’s Kirk Triplett, who said with a warm smile that he’s doing everything he can to resist that final day coming.
“I’ve talked to a few guys that I always try and learn from, the people that came before, and to a man they say, ‘do not stop playing until your eligibility is up because you will miss it.’
“So if I had something to do, like if you need an assistant or you know anybody, right, maybe it would be easier,” he said, addressing the interviewer with a laugh. “But for right now I’m a PGA Tour Champions professional. And when’s the next tournament?”
For Triplett, though, there’s good news: the next tournament is this week. He snagged the final spot in the Schwab Cup’s playoffs, finishing No. 72 on the money list, just a couple hundred bucks ahead of Jobe.
Another start. At a point in his career where they all start to feel a little more precious.
