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Kids come out of school and there’s no infrastructure. It’s not like they’re drafted by a team. They’re totally on their own. –CURT BREITFUSS


money. If not? Well, no hard feelings. In short order, Breitfuss made similar arrangements with players like Jon Levitt and Tyler Williamson. He loved the feeling of giving back, and enjoyed how much more invested he was in in the


was among the fi rst to sign on for the team-building, and McLachlin also came aboard after the kind of chance encounter that can change a career. By 2000, Breitfuss was living at Pasadera Coun- try Club (now Nicklaus Club–Monterey), and he


“You hear horror stories


about guys who have been taken advantage of,” says McLachlin,”but from the beginning I had total trust in Curt because he was so sincere and has so much integrity. Really, I was blown away that he wanted to help. He had a massive effect on my career.” McLachlin in turn


became a key part of Tee Time, connecting Breitfuss with young comers and mentoring the other players in the stable. This is exactly what Breitfuss had envi- sioned. “I guess it goes back to my days at Fullerton, but I always felt like golf could be a team sport,” he says. Before the 2008 Reno-


Tahoe Open, Breitfuss gave McLachlin one piece of


advice: on the 14th hole—a short, dangerous par-4— try to drive the left side of the green. Most players opted to layup, but McLachlin went for it every round, play- ing the hole in 6-under par for the week. Breitfuss, 53, couldn’t help but feel like a proud papa as McLachlin closed out the victory. The family vibe is


game, but he couldn’t shake the gnawing feeling that there was a better way of doing it. “It’s like owning a piece


of a racehorse,” says McCar- ron. “It can be fun and excit- ing and you’re living vicari- ously, but it’s probably not the smartest investment.” McCarron was a golf buddy and client of Breit- fuss’, and he helped fi ne- tune the Tee Time concept. (Some $50,000 in legal ad- vice helped, too.) Williamson


Parker McLachlin joined the Tee Time stable after meeting Curt Breitfuss during the Nationwide Tour’s stop at Bayonet in 2000.


played in the pro-am when the Nationwide Tour came to Bayonet. McLachlin had just graduated from UCLA and was playing his fi rst event on the circuit. He happened to sit next to Breitfuss at dinner, and after talking for an hour and a half they went into business together.


reinforced every fall when Breitfuss hosts the Tee Time Cup, bringing together for- mer and current players for a long weekend of golf and fellowship, usually at Bandon Dunes Resort. The highlight is always a nine-hole tourna- ment- within-a-tournament called Drink and Drive, in which every player has to guzzle two beers within a half hour of teeing off. Then they all go out and play as an eightsome, with each com- petitor allowed to carry only four clubs. In the past the amateurs in the group could get one extra stroke for every additional shot of vodka, but that was reigned in after one dude earned seven strokes, but was so blotto he shot a net 50. “We’ve had so much fun together through the years,” Breitfuss says of the entire Tee Time experience. “It may start out as a busi- ness relationship, but it very quickly becomes a friendship. If I’ve helped any of these guys pursue their dream, well, that’s great. But they’ve enriched my life in so many ways, too. It’s really been a great arrangement for all of us.”


ALAN SHIPNUCK is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and writes two weekly columns for Golf.com.


SUMMER 2014 / NCGA.ORG / 33


PHOTO: DAVID ROYAL


PHOTO: AP


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