Charlie Rymer hasn’t played a full season of golf on any tour since 1998. With the exception of a few one-offs here and there, like the Diamond Resorts International event, he hasn’t teed it up in a tournament setting in a decade.
So you can only imagine how he felt as he stepped onto the 10th tee box (his 1st) at Broken Sound Friday at the first round of the Boca Raton Championship presented by Sallyport.
“Let me tell you something. On the first tee my legs were jello,” Rymer said.
Rymer started his day birdie-birdie and joked he was thinking about retiring for good right then and there.
“I birdied the first hole, and I birdied the second hole and I was thinking about retiring at that point in time,” he added.
Rymer finished the day shooting a 3-over 75. One could argue though, no matter what he does the rest of the weekend, the week will be a success.
“12 years ago I played on what is now the Web.com Tour and I played on a sponsors exemption. I shot 88-89 and I completely lost control of my golf game,” Rymer explained. “And I really just wanted to get back to where I could play golf again. Listen, I shot 75 today and it was not a great round, but I shot 88-89 with 17 provisional balls off the tee and that’s hard to get over. To get to where I can get out and look like I know what I’m doing and hit some good shots, I’ve come a long way.”
Since then, Rymer has gone and re-tooled his entire game.
“I’ve gone through major swing changes,” Rymer said. “I’ve changed everything in my game. I’ve changed golf swing, I’ve changed my chipping, I’ve changed my putting, I’ve changed everything.”
For Rymer, this week isn’t so much about the score on his scorecard as it is about continuing to progress and get better.
“I’m trying to learn how to play golf again,” Rymer said. “Playing professional golf is so much different than any other form of golf. And to try and get my game to the golf course where it’s presentable is one of the toughest challenges I’ve ever faced in my life. I’m really proud of some of the things I did out there today.”