BETTING SLIP Now Dan’s plan is for an Indian Summer..
AS golfing farewells go, Daniel Summerhays is threatening to rewrite the script.
So much so that the Korn Ferry Tour (what do you mean you’ve never heard of it?) is threatening to eclipse the PGA Tour for media attention. Summerhays made his mind up to retire before teeing it up on his home track at last week’s Utah Championship with brother Boyd on his bag.
That was before a stunning final round gave him pause for thought.
The 36-year-old, who spent eight years on the PGA Tour – earning $9million and finishing 3rd at the 2016 USPGA in the process – has other plans in the pipeline.
His new project? To teach and coach golf at his alma mater, Davis High School.
The Utah Championship was meant to be his last hurrah and the hometown boy almost won, losing in the playoff after catching fire with a final round 62.
The fairytale didn’t materialise, but that superb 62 has sparked him to put his retirement on hold with an appearance pencilled in at this week’s TPC Colorado.
This is what I love about golf. Anything and everything can happen and that delicious unpredictability forms part of the sport’s great appeal and mystique.
It doesn’t matter how good you are, how consistent or errant you’ve been in the past, nobody can say with any certainty what is going to happen next.
At the professional end of the sport, you are only ever one moment away from elation or despair.
One hole away from sickening despair or the urge for one more round.
As viewers we are drawn towards the bright lights and star names, but the sport is littered with those scrapping for prominence and purpose in the lower leagues.
Looking down the Korn Ferry field, I found the names of guys on the way out trying to rekindle that old spark to get back into the big time.
I found youngsters who think golf ’s riches are just around the corner and dreamers who have the talent but are destined to never make it to the big league. Most of them will toil for a few years and end up back in the real world, holding court with broken dreams and memories of what might have been. It is a recurring theme.
The end of a good run is near for Summerhays, but he is
one of the lucky ones. He is a family man with a plan and another dream to fulfil.
It takes a brave person to call time on the lure of golf and adjusting to normal life is tough, but he has other targets and a close, loving family to help him on that journey.
To say farewell on your own terms is a triumph in itself – whenever that may be.
The staff and pupils of Davis High School think they are the lucky ones – but Daniel Summerhays knows different.