Jobe Enjoying Colorado Homecoming at The Broadmoor

Brandt Jobe skipped the 2021 U.S. Senior Open at Omaha (Neb.) Country Club to stand beside his 18-year-old son, Jackson, for the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.

Golf events, even ones as prestigious as a USGA national championship, come along every year. But seeing your oldest child selected No. 3 overall by the Detroit Tigers only happens once.

Little did the elder Jobe know at the time that he would not tee it up in a U.S. Senior Open for another four years. The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame inductee who now resides in Oklahoma City will tee it up in this week’s championship at The Broadmoor’s East Course, where he tied for fifth in 2018 and has played an estimated 50 times since his halcyon days as a high school standout at Denver Kent.  

A variety of physical issues, including hip and shoulder surgeries, sidelined the two-time PGA Tour Champions winner from late 2022 through most of 2023 and into 2024.

The maladies were so bad you would have thought Jobe played in the NFL, not on a professional golf tour. At least the time off gave Jobe an opportunity to see Jackson, who turned down a scholarship to Ole Miss to sign a $6.9 million offer from the Tigers andwork his way through several stages of the minor leagues before being called up last September.

Ironically, Jackson, who became part of Detroit’s starting rotation out of spring training earlier this year, underwent Tommy John surgery on June 11 and is sidelined for the remainder of the season.

“I told him … if this is what you decide to do for a living, I’m going to tell you there’s a ton of talent just like there is in golf,” said Brandt, who turns 60 on Aug. 1. “And it’s how hard you want to work, what sacrifices you want to make for yourself that other people aren’t able to make because there’s just so much talent, and I think golf is the same way.”

Jobe has always found a way to overcome injuries ever since slicing his left hand and severing a couple of fingers from a shattered broom handle while working in his garage in 2003. Wrist and hand surgery took care of the issue, and he returned to professional golf. After winning an NCAA title for UCLA in 1988 under legendary coach/pro Eddie Merrins, Jobe embarked on a global journal, competing in Asia, Japan, Canada and eventually the Nationwide (now Korn Ferry) and PGA Tours. He racked up six victories on the Japan Golf Tour, four in Asia and two more in Canada, but none in the States over 371 starts (two runner-up finishes on the Nationwide and four more on the PGA Tour).

Since turning 50 and joining the PGA Tour Champions, Jobe has made 154 starts with two wins (2017 Principal Charity Classic and 2019 Boeing Classic), three runners-up and seven thirds.

But three years ago, he underwent right hip surgery with the hope that he’d only miss the final eight events of the season and return to the circuit in four months. But things escalated. Coming out of the operation, his shoulder was torn apart, which led to more maladies.

“They ripped it apart,” said Jobe. “I came out of surgery screaming. They subluxed my collarbone, too.

“Now  I’ve got to have shoulder surgery. I tried to play a couple of events [in 2023], but that didn’t work out well. I tried to get rehab for the hip, never went. My hip never worked.”

By the beginning of 2024, Jobe couldn’t walk. By then, had injured his left hip, so he visited another specialist in Dallas to have that procedure.

Eight weeks later, he felt fine and was playing in three months.

Except during the left hip surgery, he had to favor the right side, and he couldn’t do it. An MRI revealed a ton of scar tissue in his right hip. Jobe told his surgeon to “clean it up.”

Once away from the surgery, his doctor told him, “we just hit a home run.”

Confused, Jobe asked for clarification.

“He said inside the joint he had put in a screw and the screw had backed out,” said Jobe, “so you’ve been tearing up the inner part of your hip for two years and no one knew it.

“So now I’ve gotten healthy. I’ve had right hip surgery, left hip surgery, right hip surgery [and] right shoulder surgery. I was only supposed to go in and have right hip surgery. That was supposed to be done in three months.”

Displeased over the medical process, which cost him the chance to compete during the prime of his senior career, Jobe has lashed out at people whom he thought were experts.

“I didn’t get what I paid for, let’s put it that way,” he said. “I got a hell of a lot more in the wrong way.”

If there was a silver lining, Jobe watched his son go from college prospect to a first-round pick. He braved sub-freezing temperatures in Double-A Erie (Pa.), where donned in full rain gear, he was one of about 20 fans in the park.

There were also stops in Michigan, Florida and Ohio before finally Jackson was added to the Tigers’ 40-man roster last fall. Jackson made his big-league debut in relief in the ninth inning against Tampa Bay in Comerica Park on Sept. 25, allowing a hit and no runs on nine pitches.

Sitting in the stands, Jobe was more nervous than at any time in his golf career. At least on the course, Jobe can control his swing or putting stroke. Watching Jackson put him in a helpless position as an excited parent hoping nothing went wrong to shatter any confidence.

“They’ve got the dang camera on us,” recalled the elder Jobe. “That’s as nervous as I’ve ever been because here’s the deal. It can go one of two ways. If it goes bad, you lose a lot of confidence and then that next outing is going to be that much harder, and if you go out there and you do what you’re supposed to do, that’s what everyone expects.”

They might play different sports, but in a way, the mindset is the same. From a life of playing professionally, he knows his son will learn much more from adversity than triumph.

“You’re going to learn much more when you pitch bad than when you pitch good,” said Jobe. “Remember when you pitch good, you did everything right. It’s like shooting 65. You don’t learn a lot. But when you shoot 80, you sure do, and you’re out on that range working your tail off. I said ‘remember that.’ Not all outings are supposed to go good because they don’t for anybody.”

Now with time off, Jackson can watch papa return to a special place and a state where he won a number of major amateur events that began with the 1983 Colorado Golf Association Junior Stroke Play Championship. During a five-year span, he won three CGA Match Play Championships, and in 1985 he became the only the eighth player since 1937 to win both the CGA Stroke Play and CGA Match Play in the same year. After turning pro, he won the 1992 Colorado Open. He also was the runner-up in the 2005 International at Castle Pines, the same year he was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.

But not being exempt for this year’s U.S. Senior Open, Jobe was forced to qualify. Playing at nearby Country Club of Colorado, Jobe survived a 4-for-3 playoff that included a clutch 20-foot par putt on the second extra hole with Mark Owen just 2 feet from the hole. One hole later, Jobe landed the final spot.

“This was a big one for me because I don’t know how many more I’m going to be playing,” said Jobe, whose best finish in nine PGA Tour Champions events in 2025 is a T-25 in last week’s Kraulig Companies Championship, in Akron, Ohio. “Obviously, I’m getting up there in age.

“I enjoyed it so much the last time I was here. It was so difficult, and it was a great venue. The tournament was fantastic.”

David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at deshefter@usga.org.