When Jonathan Kaye last played a tournament of note, he caused a bit of a stir.
During the first three rounds of the 2008 HealthOne Colorado Open, the former University of Colorado golfer had performed far from his usual standards, standing in 44th place, 14 shots out of the lead. He hardly looked like a PGA Tour veteran who has won twice on that circuit.
But on that July Sunday at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club, the Denver native made opponents sit up and take notice. Kaye matched the course record with an 8-under-par 63 that vaulted him past 31 of his competitors in the final round. While he didn’t win his second Colorado Open title — he finished 13th — he proved that there’s still a little kick left in that mustang.
As Kaye noted at the time, it was a confidence-building round, but he had nowhere to go with it. With him deciding not to compete on the PGA Tour for the last six months of 2008, due to ongoing foot problems, the 63 was little more than a nice footnote, if you’ll pardon the pun.
Last week, however, Kaye fired a similarly spectacular round, and this time, he hopes he can parlay his good play into something more tangible. He shot a 62 — which he said was the lowest score in course history — at the Silverleaf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., which Kaye hopes is an omen for his return to the PGA Tour.
Barring the unforeseen, Kaye plans to make his first Tour start in more than seven months at the FBR Open Jan. 29-Feb. 1 in Scottsdale in his home state. Ideally, he’ll also compete the following two weeks, in San Diego and Pebble Beach, Calif.
“It’s been a long time; I’m really looking forward to it,” Kaye said last week in a phone interview. “I’ve won here before (in 2004), so it’s a nice place to start. Hopefully I’ll get in a groove.”
Kaye could use some of the mojo he displayed in the 2004 FBR Open, where he won by two shots over Chris DiMarco. With him carrying over a major medical extension the Tour awarded for 2008, Kaye will have to earn at least $743,805 in 13 tournaments in order to keep his playing privileges on the circuit for the remainder of 2009.
“That’s a lot of money to make, but there’s a lot out there,” the 38-year-old said. “If I play well it can be done. If you can win that first week, that would take care of business.”
Since regaining his Tour card through qualifying in December 2006, Kaye has played in only eight PGA Tour events. He sat out 2007 following surgery on his right big toe, and even when he returned last year, his right foot caused him considerable pain. He competed in eight Tour events in 2008, but none after June, making three cuts. His best finish was 44th at last May’s AT&T Classic, where he opened with a 66.
“I wasn’t really ready,” he said.
Kaye said some shoes he had made with a steel shank have helped ease the pain a little, but he admits that after losing considerable cartilage in the foot, “I don’t know that I’m ever not going to have any pain.”
He’s been playing considerably recently, but walking is more the issue. As of last week, Kaye had only walked 18 holes three or four times recently. But “I’ve been playing real well,” he noted.
Kaye would love to return to the form he displayed during the first half of this decade. He not only won the 2003 Buick Classic and the 2004 FBR Open, but he posted more than $1 million in annual earnings five times from 2000 through 2005, including almost $2.5 million in 2004, when he was ranked 14th in the world.
Kaye has lived in the Phoenix area almost all his pro career, but he spent last summer in Boulder, where the family of his wife, Jennifer, still resides. Jonathan anticipates living in Boulder with Jennifer and their two kids again this summer, and possibly moving back to Colorado on a more permanent basis in the future.
