The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
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 second-round 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 Long-
horn and the guy who made the earth shake last June at Cromwell with his unforgettable playoff bunker shot, had reached out to Ghim to play a practice round.
“Jordan’s great,” Ghim said. “He didn’t really have too much to say about this week, a little bit here and there, like ‘This is where you want to miss it, this is where you want to play it.’
“He was more giving me what to do coming out on tour with no status and trying to gain status. He was telling me not to put too much pressure on myself.”
The second call was not nearly as easy. Jeff Ghim had grown up in South Korea. He didn’t golf until he was 30. Within six months he had a handicap in the single digits. A dream of doing more in the game was dashed by three back surgeries. He turned to teaching the game. He had a prized pupil. His son.
Money grew tight. Memberships and tournament entries grew beyond their reach. In a Golfchannel.com piece, Jeff described building tennis netting in the backyard where Doug would practice for hour after hour. Later they made use of twilight rates at a nearby course and the AJGA grant program for families needing help. Doug flourished. Jeff was there every step of the way.
“My dad has been a huge influence,” Ghim said. “He has been there my whole life. He caddied during the U.S. Amateur, the Masters, the U.S Open. Any opportunity he could, he was on the bag.”
So you think it was easy for Ghim to tell his dad last week that Lance Bennett was going to be his caddie going forward?
Bennett caddied for Matt Kuchar when he won The Players Championship. He caddied for Bill Haas and Daniel Berger. He was on the bag, Ghim said, for 36 major championships in a row. Bennett knows all the courses. Ghim watched what he called the welloiled machine of pro golfers and experienced caddies at the Masters and the Open. He said it was something, in his heart, he had to try.
“It was a difficult conversation,” Ghim said. “A tough one. My dad wants the best for me. I told him I thought it would be a good opportunity; caddies like Lance are hot commodities in the industry. I thought I needed to take (the opportunity) and if things don’t work out I can always have my dad caddie for me.
“Last week at the U.S. Open, I had a shorter week than I wanted. It would have meant everything to make to be able to have him up there on Sunday caddying for me in my last amateur event on Father’s Day. But it didn’t quite shake down that way.”
After teeing off on the 18th on Tuesday, Ghim found his ball in the TPC River Highlands rough. He had watched Spieth’s bunker shot from his kitchen last June. He remembered how he and his dad had gone crazy watching it. On this day, rather than trying to bull-rush the green, he put it in a nice spot in the in front bunker. There was a friendly little match with Ryan Palmer and Jack Campbell for he and Spieth to win.
“That’s all right, Dougie,” Spieth told him. “That’s a good spot. That’s a Jordan Spieth play right there.”
Ghim had won crystal glasses for his two eagles at the Masters and, free of NCAA rules, the gifts arrived just before the Open. Doug Ghim decided to open one box — the glass was personalized — and didn’t dare open the others. He said he might get a safe so if his house were to ever burn down they wouldn’t be destroyed.
“They’re spectacular,” he said.
Only half spectacular as the bond between a dad and his son. Jeff Ghim remains Doug’s instructor. He’ll be at TPC River Highlands this week to watch his son’s professional debut. Of course he is. Father and son. Son and father. The bond is unbreakable.
“He has done so much for me,” Ghim said. “No person works harder for me than my father. We’ve had some really cool experiences. It’s been an incredible ride. I mentioned to him on the 17th hole (at the Open) coming down the stretch of the second round, I knew I’m not going to make the cut. So he was getting emotional. I was getting emotional.”
And then Doug told Jeff Ghim something a dad will never forget.
“I told him here are a lot of heroes that I got to meet that week. Tiger, Phil, Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, but I wanted him to know that he’s always been my hero and the person that I looked up to the most.”