He was a precocious lad of 15 when he made his first USGA appearance, qualifying for the U.S. Junior Amateur at The Country Club in suburban Boston. This week, 56 years after that USGA debut, Gary Koch is competing in the U.S. Senior Open at historic Newport (Rhode Island) Country Club.
It’s a reaffirmation once again that golf is the game of a lifetime.
Thanks to his three-decade run as a golf broadcaster, Koch is likely known by most American golf fans as a TV guy. What many golfers might not know is that Koch was a very good player for a very long time.
Koch was the medalist at that 1968 U.S. Junior but lost in his first match. Two years later, he was crowned the U.S. Junior champion, defeating Mike Nelms, 8 and 6. From there, it was off to the University of Florida, where he was a three-time all-American and a member of the 1973 NCAA championship team. He competed on two victorious U.S. Walker Cup teams (1973 and 1975) and, with future PGA Tour winners George Burns, Jerry Pate and Curtis Strange, played for the Americans who won the Eisenhower Trophy at the 1974 World Amateur Team Championship.
Koch turned pro in 1975 and had an admirable career, winning six times in 428 starts on the PGA Tour. His best season came in 1984 when he won twice and missed only five cuts in 28 starts. His $1.63 million in career earnings seems paltry in today’s world of multimillion-dollar paydays, but in Koch’s era, it represented a successful tour player.
Koch began working for ESPN in 1990 and joined NBC in 1997. After turning 50, he competed for three seasons on the Champions Tour (2003-05) and then pared back on his tournament play while balancing his broadcasting duties as the lure of television was too strong to ignore. For 25 years, Koch was a staple of the NBC broadcasting team while dabbling in Champions Tour golf.
His signature call of “better than most” as a serpentine putt by Tiger Woods found the hole on the island par-3 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course en route to victory at the 2001 Players Championship remains part of the golf vernacular more than two decades later.
What compelled Koch to try and compete in the U.S. Senior Open this week, his 28th USGA appearance and fifth Senior Open?
“The qualifier was in Tampa, 10 minutes from where I live, at Palma Ceia Golf and Country Club,” he told GGP recently. “I know it well, and I thought I could get through.”
He was right. Koch was co medalist, shooting 2-under-par 68. Then there was the lure of Newport Country Club, one of the USGA’s five founding members.
“It’s a pretty special place,” Koch said. “I have played it a half-dozen times. If it’s firm and fast, as it usually is in summer, it’s a place where I can compete.”
What are his expectations? He has been playing a fair amount in retirement, but as he acknowledged, golf with pals is different than USGA championship golf.
“I am going to try to enjoy the moment, to not put too much pressure on myself,” he said. “I am going to see if my inner competitive self will allow that.”
In 1968, Koch may well have been the youngest player in the field at the U.S. Junior; records no longer exist. But it is certain that this week, at age 71, Koch is the oldest player in the U.S. Senior Open.
Koch was named the winner of the Payne Stewart Award last year in recognition of his “character, sportsmanship, and commitment to charitable giving.”
“Gary Koch is the epitome of what it means to be a Payne Stewart Award recipient,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said. “For someone who spent more than three decades telling the PGA Tour’s story to the masses, at the heart of his character is the desire to usher the game forward through his charitable work.”
It was a well-deserved honor, applauded across the golf community.
In 1968, Koch may well have been the youngest player in the field at the U.S. Junior; records no longer exist. But it is certain that this week, at age 71, Koch is the oldest player in the U.S. Senior Open.
He’ll be an easy guy for whom to root.