Golf: A season in limbo has a nervous Michael Miller eyeing Korn Ferry Tour return

SCARBOROUGH – There were no expectations this week.

Michael Miller hit the pause button, shutting down for three months after failing to advance past the first stage of Korn Ferry Tour qualifying last fall. Without playing status for the upcoming season, the 30-year-old Brewster native was facing hard time in golf purgatory.

He came home last weekend, hoping to rekindle a once undying passion during the 100th Westchester Open at Sleepy Hollow Country Club.

“I wasn’t playing great on Monday and I didn’t finish the round well, but I was a couple under par at one point and my hands were shaking,” Miller said. “I went to Q school last fall and didn’t feel a nerve. To me, that showed that I cared and it’s a feeling I want to have more.”

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Miller was right where he wanted to be for three years, competing on the Korn Ferry Tour and living in cheap hotels. He can launch a golf ball 300 yards with little effort, but has never been a confident putter. Miller battles inconsistency. He was leading the BMW Charity Pro-Am last June following an opening-round 62, but the next three days were a struggle. Miller finished tied for 69th.

The former Met Player of the Year landed back at Q school after finishing the combined 2020-21 season 102nd on the points list. He earned $102,482, but missed 20 cuts. He wound up five shots short of advancing to Stage 2 of Q school.

“There was never a thought about giving up,” Miller said. “It was more about needing a break. I felt like my game was good enough, but I lost my way a little bit. Golf at that level is very hard. And then you see guys you are friends with and respect become successful and it’s a tough deal, but I’m in a good place.”

All of the introspection led to a reset.

“This was my first tournament since local qualifying for the U.S. Open,” Miller said after finishing tied for 11th at the Westchester Open. “I played a few events on the minor league tour in South Florida, but I had not played in a multi-day event since Q school and I needed that. I really did. Again, I love the game of golf. I don’t think there is anything else I want to do, but I was in a bad mental state. A lot of guys reach the stage where they are ready to quit. I’m not there. I love golf. I still watch it all the time.”

He’s stayed connected via Ryan McCormick, a longtime friend and competitor from the Met Section who travelled with Miller on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Both are the sons of popular club professionals.

“We talked almost every day,” said Miller, who's also getting texts from others he's competed against in recent seasons. “Without those conversations, I’d probably go nuts. He’s been a really good friend and a really good person to talk to. He understands what I’m going through.”

A string of six missed cuts a year ago had Miller in a spin.

“It’s lonely,” Miller said of a lifestyle that can be drastically altered by one errant shot. “I have a great support system with family and friends, but it’s really hard when you go through something like that. When somebody is struggling, nobody on tour wants to be around that negativity. And the last thing you want to be is the guy who is always complaining, a Negative Nancy, so I’ve tried my best to be mature. I’m 30 now and it’s only going to get harder. It’s a game I hope to play for a very long time at a high level, but I’m focused right now on the first stage of Q School.”

He’s already signed up for Stage 1 in September.

“I was fried,” Miller added. “I love to travel, but when you’re going hotel to course, hotel to course, hotel to course and you’re not producing, you wear on yourself and you start to eat crappy food and then you start to feel bad. I never thought much about those things guys have said all these years about getting in the gym and eating right. I can say it now because I’m a little older and a little more mature: t all matters.”

There’s been a change of scenery, as well.

“I moved out of Jacksonville down to Delray Beach,” Miller said. “I’m still a resident of New York and I come home and stay with my parents in the summer. That’s always good.”

The plan is to play in the New York State Open next month and the Met Open in August. Both championships are being played at Bethpage State Park’s famed Black Course where he won the state open a year after turning pro in 2014.

“My father is still my coach, but we really haven’t worked together lately,” Miller said. “The game is less than standard in my opinion. I would like to play well, but I know that I’m gearing up for Q school. That is the only thing on my mind. If I play well this summer, I’m happy, but if I struggle at times, it will not deter what I want to do.”

A decade ago, Miller had a wide-open approach.

He possessed the natural ability to enjoy life and win golf tournaments. He could squeeze in a concert, sleep for a couple of hours, roll into the parking lot 30 minutes before the final round and walk off with the crystal.

Fun remains a priority, but the approach is more businesslike.

Keeping up with the Joneses requires work, so Miller is preparing to grind. There’s no point in running around the country, looking to Monday qualify for Korn Ferry or PGA Tour events.

That’s an expensive proposition.

“I played in the member-guest at Knollwood,” Miller said with an easy laugh. “It was a fun, but that’s not what I want to do.

“Cost is my biggest concern. I didn’t want to go and spend $50,000 on something I’m not going to get a return on. I know how expensive it is, even when you make it. You’re spending at least $100,000 to play the Korn Ferry Tour and you’ve got to have a great year to break even. Every year I was right around $100,000 and I was barely keeping status to at least play the next year. Can you go and make a lot of money? Sure, but it’s expensive and it’s not going to get any cheaper in the years to come.”

That’s an issue that raises the blood pressure of every tour player facing an uncertain future.

“I need to be nervous,” Miller said. “I was hitting the ball a long way this week, farther than I have in a while. It was cool being able to feel nerves again. Even when I was playing the Korn Ferry Tour, I wasn’t nervous. And it’s not like I didn’t care, I just wasn’t in the right head space and it showed in my golf. When you struggle out there, guys are so good they are going to make you look silly.

“You have to get it right three times at Q School. I have three months get ready. And if I can get it right three times, I have my job back. That’s how I’m looking at it.”

Mike Dougherty covers boys soccer, boys lacrosse, girls basketball and golf for The Journal News/lohud.com. He can be reached at mdougher@lohud.com, or on Twitter @hoopsmbd, @lohudlacrosse, @lohudhoopsmbd and @lohudgolf.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Michael Miller working to rejoin Korn Ferry Tour after layoff