Jonathan Kaye has competed in 318 PGA Tour events in his career, but when he played in his last one, Osama bin Laden was still alive and Peyton Manning was still an Indianapolis Colt.
But Kaye, a former University of Colorado golfer who lives in Boulder part-time, is entered in the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, a PGA Tour event being held in the Dominican Republic opposite the Austin, Texas-based World Golf Championship Dell Technologies Match Play. Play begins in the Puntacana event on Thursday.
Kaye, winner of the 2003 Buick Classic and the 2004 FBR Open on the PGA Tour, last played on the big circuit at the Puerto Rico Open in March 2011, where he withdrew after the first round. The month before was the last time he made a cut on the PGA Tour, finishing 45th in the Mayakoba Golf Classic.
Last year, Kaye (pictured) won his second CoBank Colorado Open. But since the beginning of 2012, he has competed in just eight events sanctioned by the PGA Tour. All eight of those starts have come on the Web.com Tour, including two this year (one withdrawal and one disqualification).
The Denver native, now 47, has earned $10,658,748 in his PGA Tour career, but he lost his fully exempt status in 2009. He lives in Phoenix during the school year and in Boulder during the summer.
(March 23 Update: Kaye ended up missing the 36-hole cut by one in the Puntacana event. He birdied two of his last three holes on Friday to shoot a 3-under-par 69, leaving him at even-par 144. A double bogey on the 18th hole in round 1 hurt his cause as he posted a 3-over 75.)
Also playing in the Dominican Republic — on a sponsor exempion — will be former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and current NFL TV analyst Tony Romo. (Romo posted rounds of 77-82 to finish last in the 132-man field.)
Meanwhile, elsewhere in major tour golf, former Cherry Creek High School student Mike Reid will be making his first PGA Tour Champions start since September when he tees it up at the Rapiscan Systems Classic starting Friday in Biloxi, Miss. (March 25 Update: Reid finished 70th on Sunday, posting a three-round total of 230.)
