On Golf | No doubts on midcourse correction
By Joe Logan
Inquirer Columnist
Looking back, Jim Sullivan Jr. has no regrets about his three years as a touring pro.
Not the weeks on the road, often alone. Not the frustrations from his share of failure. Not the fact that his lifelong passion for golf eventually came to feel more like work.
"I'm happy I did it," said Sullivan, 31, of Huntingdon Valley, "but I'm happy I'm done."
Finished as a pro, not as a golfer.
After sitting out competitive golf for three years, as the U.S. Golf Association required, Sullivan, now a financial consultant, is a reinstated amateur. Last month, waiting with his cell phone for word on his very pregnant wife, Sullivan earned one of his most satisfying titles of his pro or amateur career, the Pennsylvania Mid-Amateur for players 25 and older.
"The Mid-Am was tremendous for me," said Sullivan, who shot rounds of 69-67 for a 6-under total at the par-71 Applebrook Golf Club. "I like thinking of myself as an amateur."
It was October 1999 when Sullivan, then 24 and riding high from his victories in the prestigious Hugh Wilson Invitational at Merion Golf Club and the Philadelphia Amateur, plus his selection as player of the year by the Golf Association of Philadelphia, took the plunge and turned pro.
The former Temple standout, who had been caddying at Pine Valley while mulling his options, quickly got his first rude awakening at the first stage of PGA Tour Q-school in North Carolina, missing the cut by 7 shots.
"I didn't realize how high the level of play would be in the first stage," Sullivan told The Inquirer at the time.
Two months later, Sullivan and his new bride, Kate, a Wyndmoor native, moved to Florida so he could try his luck on mini-tours, the South Florida, Tear Drop and Golden Bear tours. Immediately, he hit pay dirt.
"I played great," recalled Sullivan. "These were two- and three-day tournaments, and I won a couple of events and had high finishes in six or seven."
In pretty short order, Sullivan won about $50,000. When he wasn't tied up in mini-tour events, Sullivan was playing in Monday qualifiers for both the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour events, trying to take his game to the next level.
That year, 2000, would turn out to be the best of his three years as a pro. Besides his mini-tour wins - four in all - Sullivan Monday-qualified into the Honda Classic, the Michelob Championship at Kingsmill, and the first-ever (and defunct) SEI Pennsylvania Classic at Waynesborough Country Club.
He also made it into the 2002 Kemper Insurance Open.
"The highlight of my three years had to be playing in those PGA Tour events," said Sullivan. "Even if it's just one week, it gives you a taste of what you're striving for."
Although he didn't make the cut in any of the PGA Tour events - he came closest at the Honda, missing by 2 strokes - Sullivan never felt like he didn't belong, like he was out of his league.
"I didn't think I was good enough to win, but I thought I could have made the cut," Sullivan said.
All told, he earned about $60,000 that first year, but then his fortunes and his confidence began to slip. In 2001, Sullivan's winnings fell to about $20,000, and they were about the same the next year.
His biggest paycheck was a $15,000 winner's check at a tournament in Richmond, Va. Then two more trips to Q-school proved fruitless.
By 2002, Sullivan had begun to question his desire, his commitment and his future as a tour pro.
"When I look back, I never had the goal to be the best player in the world," he said.
He recalls one conversation with his longtime teacher, Rick Osberg, a former tour pro turned club pro in the area.
"I told Rick my goal was to work as hard as I could to be the best player I could be," said Sullivan. "He said, 'No, you have to wake up in the morning wanting to be the best player in the world. You have to have that as your target. You have to ask yourself, 'What is the best player in the world doing today? He's not taking the day off.' "
If the PGA Tour events were Sullivan's highlights, his struggles over the entire 2002 season was one long low light. By the end of the year, he knew he was done.
"I wasn't having fun; I was playing poorly; I was moving in the wrong direction," said Sullivan. "It had gotten to be a job."
Kate was also pregnant with their first kids, twins Jack and Kyleigh, now 31/2, and Sullivan figured he had more pressing ways to spend the $4,000 it cost to take another run at Q-school. It was time to go home to Philadelphia.
Four years later, Sullivan and two partners, brothers Rob and Will Galbreath, have started a financial consulting company, Ventis Consulting in Abington.
If he had it to do over again, Sullivan would still take his shot at pro golf, even if he might do a few things differently to improve his chances.
For any other young player wondering whether he or she has the stuff for the pro life, Sullivan's advice is simple: These days, you've got to be able to hit the ball long. You've got to be able to putt like a bandit, and when you're having a good day, you've got to be able to go low.
"You've got to have the ability to take advantage of your good days," said Sullivan. "Two- or 3-under is not good enough on those days when you've got it. You've got to shoot 6- or 7-under. There's a mentality, a mind-set, a comfort level in [knowing] how to shoot low golf scores."
Contact staff writer Joe Logan at 215-854-5604 or jlogan@phillynews.com. Read his recent work at
http://go.philly.com/joelogan.