Jersey Jim McGovern stands above the rest

Yes, Jim McGovern watches the Sopranos faithfully and has seen Springsteen live. He's spent many a summer weekend stuck in traffic on the Garden State Parkway en route to the Jersey Shore. And he's heard bad jokes about his home state as many times as Tiger Woods has heard, "You're da man." But what sets him apart from his 8.4 million fellow New Jersey residents is this: he's won an event on the PGA Tour.

Only one other Jersey guy has done that -- Vic Ghezzi of Rumson, who won the 1941 PGA Championship by defeating Byron Nelson in a playoff at Cherry Hills Country Club in Colorado. McGovern captured his victory in similar fashion 52 years later, edging John Huston on the second playoff hole to win the Shell Houston Open.

That win came in McGovern's fifth year on Tour and his future looked bright. Unfortunately the 39-year old has yet to return to the winner's circle. But there have been some highlights along the way. Like the 1994 Masters, when he finished fifth. And a year later when he carded a final-round 63 at the B.C. Open. Unfortunately Hal Sutton fired a career-low round of 61 that day and won by a stroke. More recently, his best finish in 2003 was a tie for 13th at the Southern Farm Bureau Classic, which marked his highest placement since a tie for seventh at the 2001 Michelob Championship.

Still, McGovern owns 14 top 10 finishes overall during 16 years on the PGA Tour, plus three victories on the Nationwide Tour. Not bad for a guy who was born, raised and still lives year-round in a state where decent golf weather is usually forecast for only six months out of the year.

That fact naturally leads to the one question McGovern gets asked all the time from his fellow pros. "Younger guys will say when we're walking down one of the holes, where are you living at? I say New Jersey and they're kind of shocked by that," he said. "But I love it. I'm not looking to move. I love going home and getting away from golf. I'm not going to play 52 weeks a year. I like taking time off in the winter and getting away from it."

There's also four young kids at home, a son and three daughters, for he and his wife Lauren to deal with too. But McGovern is used to a crowd. He grew up and still lives in Bergen County, the densely populated northeast corner of the state, in a sports-loving family with five brothers (including one who played in the NFL) and two sisters.

After a stellar career at Old Dominion in University, McGovern won the 1987 Metropolitan Amateur, turned pro a year later, and then won the Metropolitan Open that summer. In fact, the tough competition in the Metropolitan New York area did wonders for his game. "There so many great players in the area, both amateurs and pros, that I was playing against coming up the ranks," he said. "Guys like George Zahringer, Al Small, Ed Whitman, Brent Studer, Jerry Courville, Frank Esposito, and Charlie Cowell, among others. You always saw their names near the top in all of the tournaments."

Throughout his career McGovern always runs into New Jersey connections, especially in Arizona and Florida, home of the snowbirds.

"People will yell out the names of towns in Bergen County, or even the name of my high school," he laughed. "They tell me they're from New Jersey and have followed my career forever. But there's a pretty tight bond among Jersey people. We're used to not so great golfing weather for six months, but when we get it, we go full bore and play as much as possible. People from New Jersey just love golf and when they come up and say hello, I appreciate it."

With four young kids at home, McGovern tries not to go more than two weeks without coming home, even if it means a cross-country flight. And he still catches grief from his friends about his occupation.

"During the summer when I'm home and my wife wants me out of the house, some buddies will come by and I'll grab the clubs," said McGovern. "My son or one of my daughters will say "Dad, are you going to work?" And my buddies will just roll their eyes at that. I always get a chuckle out of that. It is work and it turns into a job if you stay out there for three or four weeks at a time.

McGovern's plans for 2004 include playing 10-12 PGA Tour events and maybe 15 more on the Nationwide Tour. With the top 20 money winners on the latter earning an automatic Tour card, why not play more there full time?

"I've never really gotten off to a good start on the Nationwide Tour, and I've thought that if I did I would stick to playing there for the year," he said. "But since I haven't, when it comes to June and July and events like the John Deere Classic come up on Tour, where they're playing for $5 million while the Nationwide is playing for $500,000, it almost makes the decision a little easier."

The easy-going McGovern continues to search for the elusive consistency that would help him regain coveted full-time status on the PGA Tour.

"I've tried making little adjustments in my swing and it's taken longer than I've thought, but I'm not complaining," he said. "I've been driving the ball well as of late, which is key. It's impossible to play well coming out of the rough, which is what I've been doing the past couple of years. I've also been really positive about my putting. But if I can drive it in the fairway I can play with anyone in the world."

One benefit of maintaining his Garden State residence is that it puts him within easy driving distance of some of the best courses in the world. "There's Baltusrol, Winged Foot, Ridgewood, and Pine Valley, among others," he said. "If I need to work on my game, I can go to one of those places, or I can go my home course at Hackensack Country Club, which I love."

And like many of his fellow New Jersey natives, McGovern knows the state isn't always what it seems. "It is known as the Garden State for a reason. I keep telling people go 30 miles in any direction away from Newark Airport and you can find some of the prettiest spots in the world."

Despite an unwavering loyalty to his home state, it's some real estate in Georgia that provided McGovern with one his most memorable moments ever in golf. Having qualified for The Masters with his win the previous year, he arrived at Augusta National in 1994 nervous, walking on eggshells, and not quite sure what to expect.

"I went to the range about 5 p.m. the Sunday before it starts to hit a few balls and just kind of get my feet wet. I was there for about 10 minutes before Fred Funk came walking up. I had known him from my college days at Old Dominion when he was the golf coach at Maryland. So it was just the two of us on the range hitting balls and I turned around and asked him, ‘Whaddya think?' He said. ‘What do you mean?' I said ‘Do you want to go play that back nine?' He said, ‘I'd love to.' And that was something I'll never forget. We were like two little kids walking around there. Every shot was the most exciting thing in the world. We walked down the 10th fairway and behind us were the mowers coming down the hills and cutting every blade of grass. We came up 18 in the dark and it was just spectacular. You couldn't take the smile off my face."

Not bad for a guy from Jersey.

What's in the bag

Driver: Titleist 986 (9 degree)
Woods: Titlelist 3-wood (15 degree)
Irons: Titlelist 762 irons 4-9, driving irons
Wedges: Three Vokey wedges
Putter: T.P. Mills
Ball: ProV1

April 12, 2004