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NAPA, Calif. – Three years ago last month, Kevin Kisner was headed to a record-setting six-man playoff at the 2021 Wyndham Championship. Kisner was winless in his previous five playoff series, but his caddie Duane Bock knew how to harness his talents.
“Dewey reminds me that I won a playoff to get into the match play against Ian Poulter the year I won (the 2019 WGC Dell Match Play), so he says I’m 1-5,” Kisner said.
With his self-critical side, Kisner had the perfect answer: “We’re not really improving our chances of winning these playoffs with six guys playing each other.”
And what did Bock say after his boss birdied the second extra hole to clinch victory?
“You beat five guys in this game, so I think you’re 6-5 now,” Bock said deadpan.
Kisner’s victory nearly earned him the U.S. Ryder Cup team captaincy a few weeks later, but Steve Stricker opted to pick an inexperienced and winless pro named Scottie Scheffler instead. But Kisner, who shined in the WGC Match Play, was selected to the 2022 U.S. Presidents Cup team by captain Davis Love III. In two weeks, he’ll be on the team again, but in a non-playing role, as Jim Furyk’s assistant captain. Over the past two years, Kisner’s play has fallen precipitously, dropping to No. 723 in the Official World Golf Ranking and 198 in the FedEx Cup heading into the fall.
It’s a far cry from the gutsy competitor who spent nearly eight straight years starting in June 2015 inside the world’s top 50 (minus three weeks), winning four Tour titles, playing on two Presidents Cup teams and earning nearly $30 million under the tutelage of instructor John Tillery. Starting in 2014, he helped Kisner expand his vision at the top with his transition and calm his legs. Kisner went from outside the Tour’s top 100 to 38th in driving accuracy in 2015.
Of course, it’s that level of precision that has deserted him in recent years. Even a win at the Wyndham Championship, the final event of the FedEx Cup regular season, wouldn’t have been enough to propel the 40-year-old Kisner into the FedEx Cup Playoffs, which is why he agreed to serve as NBC’s lead analyst for all three playoff events. He’s been a popular backup this season for Paul Azinger as an analyst, working events in Hawaii, Phoenix and the previously grand Players Championship. A guaranteed paycheck for doing television — though much smaller than what he could conceivably earn between the ropes — is ripe for the taking if Kisner agrees to be a part-time player. But he still lives for competition and doesn’t appear ready to go down without a fight.
Yet it’s hard to ignore the reality that it’s becoming rare for the Tour’s fortysomethings to rub shoulders with today’s bombers. Kisner still relishes the challenge of proving he belongs. To quote one of his favorite phrases: “This is not a hobby.”
Perhaps it’s a sign of his comfort level in the lead analyst chair that Kisner can comfortably explain his own slide from Presidents Cup to outside the world’s top 700. In fact, he can pinpoint the moment his game took a turn for the worse. Playing in a pro-am in Detroit ahead of the 2022 Rocket Mortgage Classic, Kisner walked straight to the tee without any warm-up and hit a ball hard right. “About 200 yards to the right, I had the craziest feeling when I hit it that I’ve never had before and I didn’t understand why for a long time,” said Kisner, who placed a glove under his right armpit at Silverado Resort on Tuesday in search of his once-reliable draw. “We have crazy minds. I was stiff. I’m still trying to shake that two years later.”
Under Tillery’s watchful eye, Kisner hit 69.39 percent of fairways in 2018-19, good for 15th.th He was the best player on Tour in terms of accuracy. He wasn’t outside the top 33 in that category for six years until he dropped to 56.94% in 2022-23. His confidence faltered and he sought a second opinion before parting ways with Tillery. He bounced between instructors, but things only got worse and he took an extended break last season to decompress.
“Staying on the tee and not wanting to hit in front of people is no way to play on this tour, that’s for sure,” he said. “And that’s how I felt.”
Playing the Tour suddenly felt like a job that took him away from his wife and three children. He and Tillery reunited, but the magic was gone. After a decade of success, Kisner and Tillery split again this summer. As Tillery put it: “We decided to be friends before one of us killed the other.”
Being short and crooked is no way to make a living in the major leagues. Kisner has started working with Andy Plummer, best known for Stack and Tilt, and Marian Dantzler, an old friend from his mini-tour days, but it remains to be seen whether he has turned a corner. Kisner said he hit rock bottom in Lexington, Ky., at the Isco Championship, a two-team event played the same week as the Genesis Scottish Open in July. Kisner shot a third-round 77 and was eliminated in last place among those making the cut in singles on Sunday.
“Basically I just said: Who cares? This is when I’m going to start seeing it or not. “And that’s what I did,” said Kisner, who shot a 69 and followed that up with three more rounds in the 60s and a T-33 at the 3M Open, his best finish of the season and best finish since the 2022 RSM Classic. “I haven’t been hitting it well for two years. I’m starting to see some really good ball striking, especially in practice. You know, I still have some scars from so many bad shots here.”
Tillery has seen enough good golf to be convinced Kisner has better days ahead of him. “I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he realized that,” Tillery said.
But time is running out. He has made just five cuts in 18 starts this season and has earned a paltry $132,930. With his fully exempt status ending this season, Kisner has a lot to lose this fall, and he has said he plans to play every FedEx Fall event except the Sanderson Farms Championship. He needs to move into the top 125 to keep his privileges; otherwise, he could use a one-time exemption into the top 50 of the career money list — that is, if he stays there. He’s 50th heading into the fall. And if that doesn’t work out? His TV interest level could suddenly spike. That means this run of fall tournaments could determine the direction of his career.
“I still want to play,” he said. “I’m really starting to hit the face again, which makes the game more fun. Golf can be fun when you don’t miss greens and you’re always making par putts.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Kevin Kisner at a Crossroads: Reluctant TV Star Doesn’t Want Golf to Become His Hobby
