Ghim’s pro debut comes with easy and difficult decisions

CROMWELL — He played a practice round with Jordan Spieth on Tuesday, but he will not play with his dad on the bag this week. Doug Ghim, one of golf’s rising young stars, is making his professional debut at the Travelers Championship.

With it comes difficult professional decisions. Like a caddie. With it comes certain courtesies. Like a courtesy car.

“I got in the locker room,” Ghim said, “and they were like, ‘Yeah, dry cleaning is free this week, too.’ That’s quite strange.”

Few tournaments on the PGA Tour make wiser use of sponsor’s exemptions than the Travelers. They plant seeds with young guys and, at various points, enjoy the fruits of their development. Call it relationship building. Call it an investment. Call it a success.

Sometimes, the return is immediate. Coming off the 2011 U.S. Open, Patrick Cantlay shot the lowest score ever by an amateur on the PGA Tour — a secondround 60 — and had the golf world immediately abuzz. Other times, it takes a little longer. Webb Simpson was afforded an exemption in 2008. And after he won the 2012 U.S. Open a continent away in San Francisco, he didn’t blink twice in the celebration of a national championship. Simpson kept his commitment to Travelers.

And now 48 hours before teeing off for his first paycheck, here was Ghim, a Cubs fan from Chicagoland and Longhorn from the University of Texas. He won the 2018 Ben Hogan Award as the nation’s outstanding collegiate golfer. He won the Silver Cup in April as the low amateur at the Masters. After missing the cut at the U.S. Open last week at Shinnecock Hills, yes, Doug Ghim was ready to accept a sponsor’s exemption from the Travelers.

Connecticut’s great sporting event, one of the two most attended on the PGA Tour, has been called many things over the year. “Chill” and “quiet” seldom have been two of those things. Yet that was Ghim’s observation on Tuesday compared to the hoopla surrounding the U.S. Open and Masters.

“To do it here at a venue like this, I’m truly honored,” Ghim said. “I can’t explain to you how proud I am to be here.”

One call was easy for him. Spieth, a fellow Longhorn and the guy who made

JEFF JACOBS