“I can’t play at the PGA Tour, I suck” - Kevin Kisner relives incredible story from his first PGA Tour start involving his mom and wife, Britt Kisner
Kevin Kisner has been a professional golfer for more than a decade, and he's been quite good. All the way back at his first ever start, that was not a clear future for him. In fact, he thought the exact opposite and that the tour was just too much for him. Ultimately, that proved to be untrue, but he shared a hilarious story of what he and his wife Britt were feeling at the time.
Kisner related the story that took place in 2011 when he first began his pro journey on tour:
"It was my first start on tour, and just talking to my wife Brittany, we stayed in the worst hotel in Waikiki when we flew over here. And then I shot like 16 over par for two days, the cut's like what three under? My mom's a huge walk the course and keep stats on the card, like a junior golf mom. So she always wore golf shoes to walk the course and I remember my wife wore golf shoes, too, to try to like impress my mom."
He continued:
"And I shoot 16 over, we get back to the hotel. I'm like, 'I can't play on the PGA Tour, I suck.' And my wife's like, 'Well, I can't walk the course with your mom in these golf shoes, look at these blisters on my feet. We sat in our shitty hotel room what 14 years ago and decided that the PGA Tour just probably wasn't in our future."
Kisner would go on to make 299 more starts thereafter. He's hit the 300 milestone, which at that time seemed totally impossible. He also became quite successful, winning four times and coming second at the 2018 Open Championship.
Kevin Kisner discusses broadcasting opportunities
Kevin Kisner spent The Sentry 2024 off the green and in the broadcast booth. He's got more opportunities lined up to do so this year as he explores his future options.
This all came about thanks to Tommy Roy of NBC asking the star golfer to do it. Kisner recounted how it came up via Golfweek:
“I was like, ‘Well, I’m going to Honolulu to play so I can do Maui.' (Roy’s) like, ‘Alright, perfect. I’ll see you there.’ I was like, what? Next day I know I’m talking to a guy about a contract.”
Kisner believes his presence in the booth could be valuable, but he admitted there's a gap in what he could potentially cover:
“From what I heard, having a guy that’s been in there close with the guys recently, it helped. I’ve got stories on all of them because I’ve been around, now some of these young guys I don’t have any stories on. If (Akshay Bhatia) went and got hot (Sunday), I’d have probably just sat there twiddling my thumbs the whole day. I don’t have any dirt on him yet. But it was nice to have some of the guys I know well rolling and that I could pull from my old memory bank.”
Nevertheless, Kevin Kisner will be on the call for the WM Phoenix Open this year as well.