Where are they now? 5 players missing from our screens

Every now and then, the names of multiple tour winners who’ve seemingly fallen off the face of the earth pop into our heads, and we find ourselves asking what’s gone wrong. Nick Bonfield takes a look at 5 players who despite once headlining haven’t appeared on television screens for quite some time.

With the vast riches on offer each year on the European and PGA Tours, it’s very easy to forget that golf can be a fickle game. Yes, if you’re Billy Horschel – laughing your way to the bank with $11.4m in your back pocket – the struggles of those languishing further down the rankings aren’t of great concern, but we must never forget that professional golf is only lucrative for those in the upper, upper echelons of the game. What’s more, it takes considerable effort to stand still with the huge number of talented player’s in today’s world. One poor season can see you cascade down the rankings, and history is full of examples of previously high-flying golfers who’ve suffered spells of inauspicious form and not been able to haul themselves back into profitable territory.  

Every now and then, the names of multiple tour winners who’ve seemingly fallen off the face of the earth pop into our heads, and we find ourselves asking what’s gone wrong. With that in mind, I’ve decided to look at five players who were once riding the crest of a wave, but who haven’t appeared on television screens or infiltrated our consciousness for quite some time. These players serve as a poignant reminder that, for 99% of professional golfers, careers can nosedive in a matter of months, often irretrievably so.

Brett Wetterich

Remember the 2006 Ryder Cup? The overriding memory is Darren Clarke’s emotional triumph on home soil following the death of his wife, but it’s also come to be known - in a posterior sense, at least - as the USA’s weakest Ryder Cup team. Their side featured JJ Henry, Vaughan Taylor and Brett Wetterich, and while Henry still possesses PGA Tour membership and Taylor makes the occasional start, it’s a significantly worse state of affairs for Wetterich.

He won the 2006 Byron Nelson Championship to earn a Ryder Cup berth but things went steeply downhill from there. A shoulder injury curtailed his 2008 season, kept him off the course in 2009 and he failed to satisfy his medical exemption in 2010. He lost his PGA Tour card for the 2011 season, finished outside the top 80 in the Web.com Tour standings in 2013 and ranked 137^th this year to lose his card. In 2007, he reached 21^st in the world; now, he’s 895^th.

Anthony Kim

At one point not too long ago, Anthony Kim was on the verge of superstardom. He won two tournaments on the PGA Tour in 2008, excelled en debut at that year’s Ryder Cup – one of only two US victories in the last 10 events – and moved to 6^th in the world with two strong performances in the season-ending FedEx Cup play-offs. A solid 2009 – which included a loss to Ross Fisher in the final of the Volvo World Matchplay and a challenge at Augusta – preceded another strong showing in 2010, where he won the Shell Houston Open to become only the fifth player in 30 years to win three PGA Tour events before the age of 25. The other three? Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods.

But Kim sustained an injury later in 2010 and was forced to undergo surgery on his achilles in June 2012, which was expected to keep him out for nine months. His movements since then, though, have been shrouded in mystery. Kim hasn’t played on the PGA Tour since the Wells Fargo Championship in June 2012. In April this year, Golf Channel reported that the American doesn’t even play golf recreationally, and a Sports Illustrated feature that surfaced last month suggested Kim is considering never playing golf professionally again. Why? Apparently, he has an insurance policy against a career-threatening injury worth just shy of $20m. Taking into account various fees, Sports Illustrated speculates he’d need to earn more than $30m on the course to match a prospective insurance pay out. It remains to be seen if we’ll see Kim on tour again.  

Michael Campbell

Michael Campbell spent en extended period inside the top 50 in the world during his halcyon years, from 2000 to 2006. Between 2000 and 2003, he claimed five European Tour titles and finished inside the top 10 on the Money List in both 2000 and 2002. In 2005, despite missing the first five cuts of the season, he held off Tiger Woods to win the US Open at Pinehurst and earned £1,000,000 for triumphing in the Volvo World Match Play, finishing second on the Money List.

But, after reasonable seasons in 2006, 2007 and 2008, his form slumped dramatically. From January 2009 to October 2012 he didn’t record a single top 10 on the European Tour, he came 173^rd on the Race to Dubai in 2013 and he declared in May 2014, after undergoing ankle surgery, that he wasn’t “physically or mentally ready to play golf” following the break up of his marriage. At the age of 45, you have to wonder if we’ll see Campbell in a professional capacity again.

Hank Kuehne

I remember back when I first started watching golf, around the turn of the millennium, Hank Kuehne was one of the game’s hottest prospects. His gargantuan driving came before the age of widespread big hitting, and he had an advantage over everyone who stepped out onto the tee. Despite never winning, he amassed more than $2.5m between 2003 and 2005, and unseated John Daly as the PGA Tour’s longest driver - preventing him from earning the accolade for a 9^th consecutive season – in 2003. But Kuehne started suffering from serious back injuries from 2006 onwards, and didn’t play a tournament on the PGA Tour from mid-2007 to early 2012. He competed in 17 events in 2012 and 2013, missing 12 cuts and earning less than $75,000 in the process.

Ross McGowan

Unless you followed the European Tour closely in 2008 and 2009, or British amateur golf a couple of years earlier, chances are you’ve never heard of Ross McGowan. But, for a time, he was one of the hottest and most highly-rated prospects in European Golf.

The Englishman finished second on the Challenge Tour in 2007 and earned his full European Tour playing privileges for the following season. He moved into the top 100 in the world in 2008 and won his first title the following year at the Madrid Masters, where he shot a third-round 60 – the joint-lowest score in European Tour history. That season, he came second in the inaugural DP World Tour Championship to finish 12^th on the Race to Dubai.

The following year, he started to suffer injuries and a subsequent loss of form. He lost his European Tour card after the 2011 season and has only played 15 events on Europe’s premier circuit since. This year, he played on the Challenge Tour and earned just shy of €25,000. In December 2009, he was 69^th in the world. Now, he’s 627^th after falling outside the top 1000 in May 2014.

Image Credit: Twitter @Celebcharitytx & @golf_inmorocco

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