This game can drive many of us crazy, for amateurs and pros alike. Some of us weekend golfers know the feeling after playing an ugly round when you vow to put the clubs away for the winter or longer.
Apparently, some pros not fully exempt on their respective tour get so frustrated with their game and status that they think about hanging it up completely. Such was the case for journeyman Charlie Wi who’s in his second season on the PGA Tour Champions. Wi played in fourteen tournaments in the regular season, half of those as an alternate.
Wi was a long-shot sixth alternate on a couple of those occasions. Sound stessful?
Stressful enough for Wi to seriously consider quitting pro golf.
“The reason why I thought about quitting was because I have two kids. My son’s thirteen and my daughter is seventeen and I miss them a lot,” Wi said recently on the Beyond the Clubhouse podcast.
“My daughter is a senior in high school and my son is thirteen and plays baseball. Not knowing when I’m going to play consistently, that’s been the frustrating part. It’s really hard to gear up for something when you don’t know when you’re going to play next. And also playing poorly that also contributed to me wondering “do I really want to do this?’”
Until this week’s playoff finale, the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, Wi had made 16 starts (including two playoff events) on the PGA Tour Champions. His good friend Scott McCarron who has full-time status made 25 starts.
So you can see how nine more events can make a big difference especially in the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs, when full status is on the line for those not already exempt if you can make it to the finale.
The top 36 who are playing in this week’s Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix get full-time status for 2024 if they don’t already have it.
Wi, who has seven Asian Tour victories, won the 2006 Maybank Malaysian Open co-sanctioned with the European Tour
It’s crazy to think how much has changed for Wi’s golf career the past two weeks. Only two weeks ago Wi felt it was time to quit. Then he took an invite for dinner with his good friend Y.E. Yang on Saturday night of the first playoff event in Richmond.
“Y.E. and his wife travel with two dogs and rent a house every week, and I’m a very frequent guest over there,” Wi smiled.
“Before I got on the PGA Tour Champions I thought that you have to shoot 5-under everyday. But when we had dinner (two weeks ago), Y.E. and his wife who are both into analyzing numbers said ‘if you shoot 2-under every round, you’re going to finish in the top 36 every year and keep your card.’
“When they said that, it really resonated with me, just knowing that you can shoot 2-under par and not force it when you don’t need to. They just eased my mind and I thought ‘wow, I don’t have to go out and play stupid golf. You just play your game and if you eliminate some mistakes you’ll be just fine.’”
Wi is good friends with fellow Korean Y.E. Yang, who encouraged him to continue as a pro
The very next day Wi posted a top 25 that got him to the coveted 54th and last position advancing to the second playoff event.
Wi also contemplated quitting in August at the Ally Challenge. The 51-year-old called good friend and peer Kirk Triplett two hours before his first round to say he was ready to quit his pro career.
Triplett was hearing none of it.
“He just told me ‘you’ve just got to hang in there. Either you’re in it 100 percent or you’re out of it 100 percent. There is no in between,’” Wi said.
Wi started last Sunday at the second playoff event (TimberTech Championship) a couple hours before the leaders and delivered the matching round of the day with that week’s winner Padraig Harrington, a 7-under 64 good for T2.
“When I started Sunday I was projected 54 (last) and my thought was just finish top 40s to get more starts for next year. Fortunately there were a couple players who made mistakes down the stretch that helped me vault into second place.”
How often is Bernhard Langer going to chunk two shots from a native area and double bogey the seventeenth? Somehow it happened.
Earlier that Sunday, Wi got to 18 thinking he had to chip in to have a chance at staying in the playoffs at 36th. Of course, his chip horseshoed out.
“I went back to the hotel, packed up, took a shower, and Y.E. kept calling me and letting me know where I stood, then finally he said ‘if Bernhard birdies the last hole, then you’re out, but if he pars it then you’re in.’
"Then I said ‘don’t call me anymore until the tournament ends.’ (laughing).”
Y.E. called Wi when he made it at 35th in the standings. At that point Wi got many other calls and texts from his peers.
“They were just really excited for me that I have the opportunity to be out here full-time. I’ve had great friendships with them for many, many years so now to have the opportunity to continue to be around them is really great.
“Talking to Y.E., Tom Pernice, Kirk Triplett, they really helped me get off the ledge and told me not to (quit pro golf).”
Wi recalls how frustrating his situation used to be mere weeks ago.
“You’re hoping that somebody withdraws from the tournament for you to get in. That’s often very discouraging. But now having this opportunity to play every tournament next year, that just sounds amazing and not having to worry if I’m an alternate or not is huge.”
Link to the full Charlie Wi interview on Beyond the Clubhouse podcast
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