On the week of the 1998 PGA Tour Tucson Open, Jeff Kern hoped to play in the Monday qualifying round at Crooked Tree Golf Course. There were 200 players. The top four would get a much sought-after spot in Thursday’s event at Tucson National Golf Club.
The only problem was that all 200 Monday qualifying spots were filled. Kern, who had won a record nine Tucson City Amateur Championships, as well as the Arizona Amateur, had work to do anyway. He worked for his family’s construction business and had a week’s worth of jobs lined up.
But early on Monday morning, Kern drove to the golf course. He had $200 in his pocket — the entry fee — and asked tournament officials if there was a no-show among the 200 golfers. He was told to wait. Two hours later, someone withdrew. Kern got the one open spot, shot a 66 and gained entry into what would be his 11th PGA Tour event.
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Tucsonan Jeff Kern tips his hat in recognition of the crowd applause as he finished at the 9th hole at Tucson National during the 1998 Tucson Chrysler Classic.
Bruce McClelland, Arizona Daily Star
The leaderboard after Round 1 at Tucson National read: 1, Justin Leonard; 2, Tom Lehman; 3, David Duval; 4, Jeff Kern. It would be too good to believe that Kern, an amateur golfer from Amphitheater High School, went on to win his hometown PGA Tour event. Instead, he shot 68-72-76-72 and finished 29th, ahead of superstars Nick Faldo and Curtis Strange. He could not accept $10,200 in prize money because he was, after all, an amateur.
I tell you this now, 27 years after the fact, because Kern will be inducted into the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame on Nov. 16. He appeared at the organization’s annual press conference Wednesday, at the Reid Park Doubletree, and talked modestly about his golf career, which included finishing No. 2 in the U.S. Public Links Championship almost 40 years ago.
“I hung up my pro status after failing to make it through Qualifying School five times,” he said. “But I’ve always tried to keep my name in the golf world.”
Kern is probably the best locally-raised amateur golfer in Tucson history. He was so good in 1977 that the Daily Star selected him as its Athlete of the Year, ahead of future NBA All-Star Fat Lever, who had led Pueblo High School to the first of two state championships; ahead of UA basketball career scoring leader Bob Elliott; and ahead of Parade All-American linebacker Riki Ellison, a state champion and future USC and NFL standout from Amphitheater High School.
But what made Kern’s story so compelling — then and now — is that not only was he a self-taught golfer who didn’t grow up in a privileged country club setting, it’s also that while working for his father’s construction company in 1978, he severed two fingers and permanently disfigured another while working on a cement crew. Somehow, with only one fully functional finger on his right hand, he went on to make Tucson golf history.
“People told me I would never play golf again,” Kern said Wednesday. “But I didn’t listen to them. Four months later I was competing again.”
Now, all these years later, Kern will join former St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Colin Porter of Canyon del Oro/UA, Mountain View High School’s 1993 undefeated state championship football coach Wayne Jones and Sahuaro High’s 1993 Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year Marc Barcelo, among others, in the 35th annual Pima County Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Talk about a long overdue and well-deserved honor.
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