Former rookie sensation overcomes personal trials

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Keith Clearwater won two times in his rookie season and took Rookie of the Year honors.

Dec. 11, 2008
By Lauren Deason, PGATOUR.COM Editorial Coordinator

Some of golf's favorite names and most familiar faces will be joining the Champions Tour in 2009. Over the next three weeks, PGATOUR.COM will take a look at the former PGA TOUR winners who turned 50 in late 2008 or who will hit the half-century mark in 2009 and likely make their Champions Tour debut.

Keith Clearwater didn't simply appear on the PGA TOUR in 1987, though it might've seemed that way at the time. He'd fought for four long years, through mini tours, state opens and four failed attempts at q-school. In 1986, Clearwater had a four-win season on the Tournament Players Association mini-tour and he finally earned his PGA TOUR card in q-school later that season.

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Clearwater had his best season on TOUR in 1992 when he notched 10 top-10 finishes.

The Basics

NAME: Keith Allen Clearwater

HT: 6-0 WT: 195

BIRTHDATE: September 1, 1959

BIRTHPLACE: Long Beach, Calif.

RESIDENCE: Provo, Utah

TURNED PRO: 1982

TOUR WINS: 2

Player profile: Get to know Clearwater

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Click here for a look back at Clearwater's PGA TOUR career.

Once he finally made it to the top, though, Clearwater didn't waste any time becoming a force to be reckoned with on the TOUR.

At the 1987 Colonial National Invitation, Clearwater performed a feat that few will likely ever match. Forced to play 36 holes on the final day, he rattled off two straight 64s on Sunday to win the prestigious event with a 14-under total. He beat Davis Love III by three strokes for his first TOUR win.

"My game underwent a refining process in those years of playing on the mini-tour," Clearwater said in 1987, following his win at Colonial. "And winning a TPA event really helped me win at Colonial, because the emotions are exactly the same coming up 18.

"One has to learn how to deal with that without being out of control. Those were four good years, and I didn't waste them. I learned a lot and when I got on the TOUR, I felt like I belonged. If I had gone to the TOUR immediately, I likely would not have been as successful."

Later that year, the rookie with experience won again. In his last official tournament of the season, Clearwater posted a 10-under 278 at the Centel Classic to beat Bill Glasson, Billy Kratzert, Bob Lohr and Joey Sindelar by a stroke. The win brought his season earnings to $320,007.

Not only did he capture attention for those two victories, but he also shot a 64 in the third round of the U.S. Open that year and gained even more respect. Because of his movie-star good looks and that stellar rookie season that also included Rookie of the Year honors, the golf world wondered if he was the next big thing.

Clearwater continued to have occasional brilliant moments. In 1992, Clearwater finished 22nd on the money list after nearly winning the Doral-Ryder Open and The Honda Classic. He had 10 top-10 finishes that season in 32 starts and pocketed $609,273.

So what happened? Why hasn't Clearwater made a cut since September 2004 on the Nationwide Tour and November 2001 on the PGA TOUR? To put it simply -- life got in the way.

First, it was his kids. The devout Mormon's second child was born in June 1988 and, at that point, he started heading home to Orem, Utah, every week from Sunday until Wednesday.

"After I won, I decided I would be a family man," Clearwater said in 1989. He and his wife now have four kids and, to this day, he still devotes most of his off-course time to them.

Then, in the early 2000s, it was his parents who needed him. Both were alcoholics. As Clearwater put it, he'd bought them a house and a car and made their lives easy. They could sit around and drink all day. Some days they couldn't even get out of bed.

In 2001, he decided to take time away from the game and care for them. By January 2003, his mother had passed away. His father entered Alcoholics Anonymous and had been in recovery for 20 months before passing away in 2006 from prostate cancer.

Clearwater's wife Sue also contracted bacterial pneumonia in 2001 and he withdrew from a U.S. Open qualifying round immediately when he heard she had a 50-50 chance of surviving.

His wife is fine now, and Clearwater believes his parents are in a better place. Though he hasn't played often in the past seven years, Clearwater still has fight left in him.

While playing at Colonial in 2006 on a sponsor's exemption, Clearwater told PGATOUR.COM that his best golf was still in front of him.

"That means nothing to anyone but me," he said. "Everyone's 'Oh, yeah, right.' But I know that."

He hasn't quite lived up to that statement yet, as Clearwater only made nine starts on the Nationwide Tour in 2008 and two on the PGA TOUR but didn't make a cut. Still, he can start attempting to qualify on the Champions Tour once he turns 50 in September and, like in 1987, might be a rookie sensation.

Five things you may not know -- or may have forgotten -- about Clearwater

1. His father passed away three weeks before Clearwater played the 2006 Bank of America Colonial. At that event, Clearwater used his fathers Alcoholics Anonymous medal as a ball marker in honor of his dad. "When I've told people -- and I don't feel guilty about it -- I feel like the weight of the world is off my shoulders," he said during that event. "I feel he's in a better place and he's not hurting. And, as far as I'm concerned, there's a certain freedom there that allows me to work. And I love working at it. And I'm just having a blast enjoying the freedom I haven't had for so long."

2. Clearwater was born in Long Beach, Calif., but now lives in Provo, Utah. He attended Brigham Young University and was on the golf team there with Rick Fehr, Richard Zokol and Bobby Clampett. Clearwater was also on the 1981 NCAA national championship team there. He named as a second-team All-American in his senior year.

3. While Clearwater was trying to make it on the PGA TOUR, he played the many events with the Tournament Players Association (based in Jacksonville, Fla.), the Nationwide Golf Association and occasionally the Asian Tour. He was the 1982 North and South Amateur champion and also won the 1985 Alaska State Open.

4. The fans at Colonial -- where Clearwater claimed his first victory -- again got to see spectacular golf from him in 1993. While paired with Tom Watson, Clearwater shot a 61 in the second round of the Southwestern Bell Colonial and tied for ninth. For shooting that 61, Clearwater still holds a share of the course record at Colonial CC.

5. Clearwater's interests include family and church activities, home building, water sports and all other sports. "When you have four crazy kids, you spend time with your family. I think all of us, this aging group, have had a little switch in priorities to spending time with family," he said.