LOUISVILLE , Ky. — It felt like old home week for a former PGA Tour pro-turned-New Jersey club pro at Valhalla on Tuesday.
Though Jim McGovern played his PGA Championship practice round with three fellow club pros in the morning, every time he bumped into one of his fellow competitors it felt like a long-lost moment.
On the second tee, for example, Tour veteran Jerry Kelly virtually tackled McGovern from behind with a bear hug, and the two proceeded to reminisce and catch up. Earlier, McGovern saw Ernie Els and they recounted the 1994 British Open when McGovern remembered Nick Faldo inadvertently hitting his golf ball.
You cannot find a person associated with the PGA Tour who has rubbed elbows or had beers with him who does not have a kind word to say about McGovern, who played 16 years on the PGA Tour as the quintessential journeyman, winning once (in Houston in 1993) and playing in a few major championships, highlighted by a tie for fifth at the 1994 Masters.
“Salt of the earth,’’ is one of the more common phrases you will hear from people describing the Oradell, N.J. native who for the last four years has been the head professional at White Beeches Golf and Country Club in Haworth, N.J.
McGovern is playing this week because of his tie for 16th at the PGA Professional National Championship that qualified him into the field.
This week is more gravy for McGovern than it is chasing a rebirth of his PGA Tour career — or even a springboard onto the Champion’s Tour.
It represents a full-circle moment for him, because the last of the four PGA Championships McGovern played in was in 1996 at Valhalla.
“My daughter, Melanie, was 18 months old and Emily was four months,’’ McGovern recalled as he strolled the fairways Tuesday. “Now they’re 18 and 19, and they’ll be here tonight.Everyone is driving down.’’
The family would have been to Valhalla earlier, but … “I lost out to a One Direction concert [Monday] night at MetLife Stadium,’’ McGovern said.
“This week is about my kids. It’s great for my kids to see something like this, because they never got a chance to see me play. That’s the best thing about this. But the kids don’t care what Daddy does, they want to meet Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth. I told them, ‘Yeah, so do I.’ This is going to be a fun week.’’
Fun is what this is all about now for McGovern, when before it was about grinding it out, making a living and posting results good enough to keep his Tour card, which too often he did not, forcing himself time and again to chase it at the PGA Tour’s grueling Qualifying School.
The beauty about McGovern is he is completely comfortable in his own skin and has no look-back in him, no regrets. He said he cannot even recall the last PGA tour event he played. Sometimes you can let go and feel OK about it.
“Couldn’t be happier,’’ McGovern said. “I’m home every night. I get told what to do by my wife, get yelled at by the kids. I love sleeping in my own bed. I like going home at night. I like going to work in the morning. I love being 10 minutes from work, where I’ve got a great membership.’’
McGovern said there will be some 20 members from White Beeches trekking down to watch him play, beginning at 2:40 p.m. Thursday off the 10th tee with Geoff Ogilvy and Daniel Summerhays.
McGovern said he believes he can make the cut this week, but is under no illusions about much more than that.
“This golf course is difficult,’’ McGovern said, conceding he cannot reach the fairway of the 472-yard par-4 17th hole from the back tee. “I’ve swallowed all my pride in the sense that I know what I have to do on a course like this. I can’t try to do too much. To watch these guys hit it 320 yards is like a joke to me. I can’t see that far.’’
McGovern will be 50 in February, opening a door to a run at a berth onto the Champion’s Tour. There’s definitely at least a little something tugging at his insides to give that a go. He said he has run into former PGA Tour pals Russ Cochrane and Michael Allen, who both now play on the Champions Tour, “and they said, ‘I think you’d be perfect out here. It’s a good fit for you.’ ’’
“Am I thinking about it, dreaming about it?’’ McGovern said. “Not really. But I’m considering going to the Q School. I think it would be fun, but I just don’t know if I really want to travel. I don’t miss it much. I like where I’m at.’’
McGovern always has liked where he’s at. Salt of the earth.