Dream week finally ends for Gaffney
SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — Brian Gaffney’s excellent PGA Championship adventure came to an emotional and climactic close on Sunday with a finalround 1underpar 71 at Whistling Straits, his second subpar round in the biggest tournament of his life.
On Tuesday, it will be back to the reality of his day job — head pro at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale.
“It’s going to be great, I imagine,’’ Gaffney said Sunday. “Reentry is going to be a little bit difficult, because I want to tell every person every story. It’s going to be awesome going back home and reconnecting with everybody.’’
Gaffney, 44, finished 71737871 — 5over for the week — as he became the first club pro to make the cut at the PGA Championship since 2011. He was the only club pro to make it to the weekend, and he earned $17,900.
Each year, 20 club pros get into the PGA. Gaffney, in fact, was the last to get into the field, winning a fiveman playoff for the final spot.
This was the fifth time Gaffney had played in a major championship, and he had never come close to making a cut in the previous four — three PGAs and a U.S. Open. Gaffney entered the week having gone 44over par in his three previous PGAs, spanning six rounds.
His thirdround 78 derailed any chance of finishing under par for the week. Gaffney went bogey, doublebogey, bogey on Nos. 10, 11 and 12 in his third round Saturday.
“In that third round, I just had a train wreck in the middle of the round that I just couldn’t slow down,’’ he said.
Asked if he feels as if he “won’’ a major this week by virtue of his unlikely accomplishments, Gaffney said: “I don’t feel like I’ve won, the competitor in me … but I’ve got plenty of things that are positives to take with me.’’
Gaffney took in the moments on Sunday, fistbump ing cheering fans along the way.
“I tried to get as much out of it as I could,’’ he said. “They were cheering and no one ever cheers for me, so it just felt great. And I thought, ‘Well, I’ll get them riled up, because they got me riled up.’ ”
Gaffney said he “lost count’’ of how many fist bumps he made with fans.
“I kept seeing my arm going and I said, ‘Let’s just stop, that looks goofy,’ ” he said. “But I don’t get to experience this very often, so it was great.’’
It was an interesting moment for Gaffney, who usually is somewhat stoic and was trying with all his might to keep his emotions in check.
“I mean, it’s just golf, but as a player you just try and trust all your feelings and your emotions, and towards the end they just … you can’t hold it in,’’ he said “It’s exciting.’’
Asked what message he would deliver to his fellow club pros who make it into the PGA field, Gaffney said: “It would be believe in yourself. You can do this. We’re good enough players. And I proved to myself that I don’t have to play like amazing golf to be here. We’re all good enough. We just never get the opportunity.
“I’m the guy who got all the attention this week, but there’s so many of those guys that are good enough, if not better than me, to be in this position and it’s worth the sacrifice.’’