Greenville, NC’s, Will MacKenzie takes long road back to golf

Will MacKenzie had been on the road a long time – too long, really – when he watched Payne Stewart beat Phil Mickelson on a chilly and damp day at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst in 1999.

It was a transformative experience for MacKenzie, 40, who since then has made another long journey, this one to the PGA Tour. Playing in front of family and friends from his hometown of Greenville, N.C., MacKenzie was tied for fifth place after two rounds of the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club.

During that summer 16 years ago, MacKenzie was tooling around North Carolina, trying not-too successfully to sell hammocks for a living. He’d been essentially a nomad for 10 years.

His wanderlust began when he was in middle school in Greenville. A top junior golfer, MacKenzie started thinking about dropping the sport because of its constraints on his time.

“I got back from playing tournaments all summer before eighth grade,” said MacKenzie. “And there was, like, one week before school started. I hadn’t had any time to do anything else. It was like the (PGA) tour. I was 14 and I was burned out. I’d lost my love of the game.”

MacKenzie just wanted to have a regular life. Golf was taking away from time with his family, which enjoyed water skiing and fishing on the Tar River.

“You have to understand, I had a charmed childhood,” he said. “I missed that. I wanted to live that normal life.”

MacKenzie played on Rose High’s golf team for a while (“only because it got me out of school early,” he said). But when he graduated, he made a clean break from golf.

MacKenzie left home, first to Lees-McRae College, where he lasted for one semester. Then he made the decision to move to Montana, where outdoor sports are a way of life.

In the winter, MacKenzie snowboarded – all day, every day. In the summer, he kayaked, rode his mountain bike, rock climbed, hunted and fished.

He lived out of his van and made ends meet working at a restaurant. He traveled to Alaska, where he snowboarded more, and to California, where he surfed. It was an idyllic existence.

“It was perfect,” said MacKenzie. “I thought I’d never go back.”

Golf had been completely out of his life for nearly 10 years when he traveled to Costa Rica in 1999 to spend some time surfing. After three months, he returned to North Carolina to visit family and sell hammocks. While driving around the state, he contemplated whether he would spend the winter back in Montana or Canada – or if it was time for him to settle down.

Then he watched Stewart’s stirring victory at the U.S. Open, just a few hours from where he grew up.

“I was at a turning point in my life,” said MacKenzie. “I didn’t know if I wanted to go back. My body was beat up.

“When I watched Payne and Phil, I really felt the competitiveness of it. And it was in North Carolina, my home. It’s a major deal on the highest level to get into contention like that and I thought, ‘Wow, that looks like fun. I want to do that.’”

MacKenzie decided to give golf another try. His father put him on a three-month plan to see “if I liked it again.”

It didn’t take MacKenzie long to realize he did. His game came back quickly and he began thinking about playing professionally.

“It was no big deal,” he said. “If I shot the best score I could and didn’t make it out of (PGA qualifying) school, that would have been fine.”

In 2000, at 25, he turned pro and made the tour five years later. He’s won more than $7 million since, with victories in 2006 (Reno-Tahoe Open) and 2008 (Viking Classic).

His best finish recently was last fall when he lost in a playoff against Robert Streb at the McGladrey Classic in Sea Island, Ga.

Now he’s a few strokes off the lead at another course near his Greenville home.

“The North Carolina turf and just the vibe of being in North Carolina,” MacKenzie said of his comfort level at Quail Hollow.

It’s taken McKenzie a while to get to this point. He said he’s sometimes had second thoughts about his decision to leave golf, but just as quickly dismisses them.

“I probably needed a sports psychologist to tell me, just take a little time off, golf is what you’re good at,” he said.

“But it doesn’t matter. I probably would have gone to college and played golf and burned out there. Then I wouldn’t be here right now.”

This story was originally published May 16, 2015 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Greenville, NC’s, Will MacKenzie takes long road back to golf."