Ready for a blast from the (not-so-distant) past? While most of the golf-loving public was obsessing over the 45th Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York, Bobby Wyatt won the 100th George Arthur Crump Memorial Tournament at Pine Valley Golf Club, one state over in New Jersey.
Remember Wyatt? Now, 33, he shot to national attention when he carded a 57 at the 2010 Alabama Boys State Championship, one year after winning the Junior Players Championship. His success was no fluke; he was named a first-team All-American by Golfweek in 2013 and was undefeated for the U.S. on the 2013 Walker Cup team.
He turned pro in 2014 and earned a PGA Tour card for the 2016-17 season, making 34 career starts before hanging up his spikes in 2018 at age 26. The list of reasons for doing so was very long, but near the top was discovering pro golf wasn’t the lifestyle for him.
“I had fallen out of love with the game and I didn’t like that,” he said. “It kind of felt like (pro golf was) a means to an end where I was going to try to make as much as I could by the time I was 40 and then live the life I really wanted to live. That didn’t feel like a sustainable path and I didn’t want to get too far behind the 8-ball in pursuing another career.”
Wyatt majored in business at Alabama, and his father told him he should always have a Plan B in case pro golf didn’t work out. In March 2019, he joined Goldman Sachs in the private wealth group in Atlanta. He and his wife have a young daughter and he hasn’t looked back. During COVID, Wyatt decided he’d like to regain his amateur status and did so in 2021. He’s dabbled in competitive golf again, playing in some of the most prestigious mid-am events, including the Crump Cup, Coleman Invitational at Seminole and the Four-ball at Winged Foot as well as a newer event, the Snedeker Memorial at Lakewood Golf Club, in his native Alabama.
At the Crump Cup, Wyatt barely made match play, shooting a 36-hole total of 8-over 148 and earning the 16 seed in a 4-for-3 playoff. In the final, he faced off with Bobby Massa of Dallas and needed 20 holes to be crowned the Crump Cup champion. Wyatt lost the first hole and was 3 down through 10 before making birdie at 11 and 12 to cut into his deficit. He lost 13 and won 15 but hit it in the water at 16 with an 8-iron from the middle fairway to go 2 down.
Things were starting to look bleak with only two holes to go but with his back against the wall, he played some of his best golf of the competition. He birdied both 17 and 18 to extend the match and the second playoff hole – No. 2 – to close out the victory. It was the only time he held the lead all day. Massa caught the top lip with his 6-foot birdie putt and Wyatt holed his 5-footer for his first mid-am title.
“I haven’t been under the gun like that in a while,” Wyatt said. “I don’t get to feel those emotions and those nerves very often these days.”
It was just his third mid-am event this year, and he hasn’t tried to qualify for any USGA competitions this year. So, don’t call it a comeback but he’s still got game. Instead, Wyatt has found a way to make golf a part of his life rather than his entire life, and his love of the game has returned.
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