The perfect mix for Jeff Gove – surrounded by his family, son Jacob caddying and Gove competing at a Champions Tour major – made for a memorable week.
Playing at famed Congressional Country Club near Washington D.C. for the first time since he was on the PGA Tour in 2007, Gove spent quality time with his family and on the leaderboard with a 2-under 70 opening round at the Senior PGA Championship.
“I’m going to remember the whole family went, so a lot of fun times in D.C. with mom, sister, my three kids,” Gove said. “We hadn’t been there since 2007 when I played in Tiger Wood’s event (AT&T National). They’d totally redone the course, but it was fun. I still have a competitive edge to play.”
That’s a constant companion after eight seasons on the PGA Tour, 16 on the Web.com (now Korn Ferry) Tour and a handful of Champions Tour events over the last four years.
Gove’s time on the course these days is typically spent growing the game and helping others with their swings more than fine-tuning his own as the director of instruction at the Idaho Club just east of Sandpoint.
Gove’s time away from the course revolves around his family, two kids in college and one in high school, helping wife Heather with their restaurant, Chicks Teriyaki in Ponderay, selling real estate and growing the Idaho Club community.
He wears a lot of hats in addition to the many he accumulated from roughly a quarter of a century in pro golf.
“A lot going on,” he said. “There’s never dull day.”
The first round at Congressional, when he was paired with Jerry Kelly and eventual champion Angel Cabrera, fell into that category. Gove reached 3 under before a bogey on the final hole left him tied for seventh.
“All my friends were like, ‘How did you get that pairing?’ ” Gove laughed. “It was sure a treat to play with a couple of top players.”
Conditions grew tougher as the week went on. Strong winds were less than ideal for a high-ball hitter like Gove. There wasn’t much margin for error on the challenging layout and Gove’s pre-tournament preparation paled in comparison to virtually every other player in the field.
Only 20 players finished under par, led by Cabrera’s 8-under 280.
“I was a little tight starting out Friday,” said Gove, who finished 64th. “My short game got a little off. There’s such a fine line between hitting a good shot and getting up and down. I made a lot of bogeys from the middle of the fairway, the kind of stuff you do when you’re not on top of your game.
“But I had an amazing week. It was fun to give everybody at home something to talk about. I got a lot of texts that first night. I haven’t played much the last five years. Really the golf I play is tournament golf. I could definitely work on my game more than I do.”
Gove, a Seattle native, played collegiately at Pepperdine before launching his pro career. He played in 181 PGA tournaments and more than doubled that with 375 Web.com starts, including three wins and eight seconds.
He recalled finishing second in greens in regulation behind Woods in 2007.
“Kind of a cool stat,” Gove said, “but I was like 100th in putting.”
Gove’s move to North Idaho came about in stages after his mother-in law relocated to Sandpoint in 2006. At that time, Gove took a few minutes to drive by the picturesque golf course, which re-opened in 2008 following a Jack Nicklaus signature design, and met former owner Chuck Reeves.
Gove, who was based in La Quinta, California, ended up purchasing a lot, spending summers in Sandpoint and repping the Idaho Club for years on pro tours. The Goves moved to Sandpoint permanently in 2018.
“It’s a great team here at the Idaho Club,” Gove said. “Things are going really well.”
Gove has played in enough Champions Tour events to know “I can play out there but not working on my game I’m a little rusty.”
Shaking that rust will probably be a prerequisite if he wants to become a Champions Tour regular. He didn’t make it through Q school last December and he came up two strokes short in another attempt a few years ago.
His lone avenue to participate in Champions Tour events is through Monday qualifiers, where a lot of quality players pursue precious few spots in the field. It’s similar to Q school with 90 vying for five spots.
“It’s hard to qualify,” said Gove, who made the cut at the U.S. Senior Open in 2022 and 2023. “It’s made for the veteran players, the champions the public knows. Even though I played on a tour for 24 years, I don’t have any status other than Monday qualifiers.”
The path isn’t easy, as Gove can attest to from experience. He was a four-time Web.com graduate with finishes in the top 15 on the money list. He had several seasons where he played tournaments on the PGA and Web.com tours.
“It’s very hard, but that’s the great thing,” he said. “It’s a pure meritocracy and every year you have to prove yourself.”
Gove, who just turned 54, is considering Monday qualifiers for the Boeing Classic in Snoqualmie, Washington, and the Rogers Charity Classic in Calgary in August.
“I’d love to play a couple years (on the Champions Tour),” he said. “It’d be really fun. I haven’t put the time in the last four to five years, maybe this fall I’ll put the time in and give it a shot. If it doesn’t happen, it’s OK. I’m taking it one day and one year at a time.”
Read the full article here
