Brandt Jobe had entered the prime of his golf career when a freak accident nearly ended it four years ago. But Jobe, 45 and playing on the Nationwide Tour, is positioned for one more shot on the PGA Tour and a chance to put the pain and disappointment behind him.
Jobe equaled his best score of 2010 with a 63 during Thursday's first round of the Miccosukee Championship to tie for the first-round lead with Andrew Svoboda.
Jobe, who's 23rd on the money list, is looking for three big weeks to close the season in the top 25 and earn back his card.
"I'm looking for 11 more good rounds. That's what I told my caddy," Jobe said after he birdied his final hole at Miccosukee Golf and Country Club. "That'll take care of things for me and get me back to where I've been. I'm getting old, so we'll see how many more years I have left."
Jobe entered 2010 thinking he might be finished. In 2006, he severed the tip of his index finger and part of the base of his thumb on his left hand sweeping his garage in Dallas. The broom snapped and the metal underneath the fiberglass sheath acted like a knife to cut his fingers.
"I picked them up off the ground, put them in a baggy and they sewed them back on," Jobe said.
Jobe tried to return March 2007 in Tampa, but couldn't bear the pain and played just four more events in the next six weeks before hanging it up for the season. In 2008, he played 19 events but finished 183rd on the money list to lose his Tour card.
Three years earlier, in 2005, Jobe had his best season, finishing runner-up twice and earning more than $2 million.
As he practiced to regain his form, Jobe injured his left wrist and needed three surgeries. One of the longest drivers on the PGA Tour when healthy, Jobe had to change his swing and evaluate his career.
"I kind of thought if this year didn't go well I thought this would be it," he said. "I love playing golf, but if you don't do it to the level you're used to doing it, or at least some glimmers of hope ... it was just beating me up mentally."
He's made 10 of 20 cuts, but he wasn't the only player who went low Thursday during damp, soft conditions. A dozen players, including West Palm Beach's Alan Morin, with a 66, shot five-under par or lower.
Now, Jobe is eager to see what his future holds.
"I'll probably get back to where I was, but I'd like to have one more try out there being healthy and see how I do," Jobe said. "And then I think I can live with everything that has happened."
~edgar_thompson@pbpost.com
