Mike Joyce passes away at age 81

When Mike Joyce started playing on PGA TOUR Champions in 1989, he didn’t have a lot of expectations. He decided to give senior golf a whirl and see how it went. Just a few days after his 50th birthday, Joyce made his debut in May, at the NYNEX Golf Digest Commemorative in Scarborough, N.Y. He was in familiar territory. The long-time pro at Huntington Country Club on Long Island tied for 39th playing in his backyard. He played two more tournaments that year, and impressively made the cut at the U.S. Senior Open, tying for 33rd. Maybe there was something to this senior golf, Joyce thought.

A year later, as a conditional PGA TOUR Champions member, Joyce played in 11 tournaments, had his best finish—naturally—at the Northville Long Island Classic (he tied for 11th) and his PGA TOUR Champions career was underway. He maintained part-time status until 1992 when he became a full-fledged member

The crowning achievement of a career that saw him play in 132 tournaments after turning 50 came in August 1992 in Kenmore, Wash. Joyce entered the GTE Northwest Classic feeling his game was good enough for perhaps a top-five finish. That was his goal. He did a little better than that. Joyce began the final round tied for 11th in the Seattle suburb, five shots behind 36-hole leader Mike Hill. He proceeded to go out on the final day at Inglewood Country Club and shoot a tournament-best, 8-under 64 to cruise past Hill and win by two shots.

“I made birdies, kept the ball in play and hit it close most of the time,” he said after the biggest win of his career. “I felt at home here. It’s a lot like the courses on Long Island, except for the height of the trees.” Joyce’s eagle-birdie start to the round was a harbinger of things to come as that fast start allowed him to walk away the title that became the only PGA TOUR Champions win for Joyce, who died August 28 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., from Parkinson’s disease complications. He was 81. 

He finished that 1992 season 35th on the money list, with more than $200,000 in earnings. The following year, Joyce played a career-high PGA TOUR Champions 36 tournaments, adding two more top-10s to his resume—ties for sixth at the GTE West Classic and the Las Vegas Senior Classic. He curtailed his playing career after that, seeing part-time action, starting in 1994. He moved to Amelia Island, Fla., in 1995 and made his final PGA TOUR Champions appearance at the State Farm Senior Classic in July 2001 in Hunt Valley, Md.

Joyce was born May 2, 1939 in Huntington, N.Y., and was around golf his entire life, growing up caddying at Bayside Links with his brothers Tom and Bob, who also went on to become PGA professionals. The Joyces’ youngest brother, Kevin, played college basketball at the University of South Carolina, was the captain of the 1972 U.S. Olympic basketball team and had a three-year professional career in the American Basketball Association playing primarily for the Indiana Pacers. 

Prior to his PGA TOUR Champions career, Mike Joyce played occasional PGA TOUR golf, making two cuts—at the 1971 Sea Pines Open Invitation in South Carolina and the 1973 PGA Championship in Ohio. He became the head professional at Huntington Country Club in 1976. Joyce had enough game, though, that he didn’t merely teach lessons and sell merchandise. He made such a mark playing in Metropolitan Section PGA events in and around New York that the section in 2018 inducted him into its hall of fame. Joyce’s biggest section victories came at the 1982 Long Island Open and the Long Island PGA Championship, in both 1983 and 1988.

Following the death of his wife, Carol, earlier this year, Joyce moved in and was living with his brother Bob at the time of his death. The couple had no children, and Joyce is survived by his three brothers. The family is planning a celebration of life in January.