Kentucky's Flesch an unlikely PGA alternate

Steve Flesch to Sergio Garcia early Thursday afternoon in the Valhalla locker room: "What size shoes do you wear?"

"10 1/2," Garcia responded.

"Oh, well," said a smiling Flesch, who wears a 9 or 9½ and had to keep looking for a solution.

For a few hours, Flesch, 47, the PGA Tour player from Union, Ky., and formerly of the University of Kentucky, was scrambling to find golf shoes, clubs, a caddie, a yardage book and anything else any golfer would need, much less one who at any minute could wind up in the field for the PGA Championship.

In a shock to him, Flesch, who was at Valhalla doing TV work for Golf Channel and about to head home to Union to meet his wife after his on-air shift, was informed late in the morning Thursday by PGA of America official Kerry Haigh that as the only eligible player still on site, he'd been improbably moved up 92 places to the No. 1 alternate position for Thursday's first round. He'd get to play if there was a last-minute withdrawal.

As it turned out, Flesch didn't get in.

Top alternate John Huh made it into the field early in the morning when Matt Kuchar pulled out of the tournament with an injury. No one else withdrew, with the last group teeing off at 2:45 p.m. (Defending champ Jason Dufner withdrew after 10 holes with neck pain, but because he started the tournament, the field was already set.)

As of 1 p.m., though, Flesch was still hoping for a spot and searching for clubs should he get one.

"I have nothing," he said. "I have a glove in my car and some balls in my car and a hat."

Flesch arrived at Valhalla at 6 a.m. with no idea that he might play, so he didn't bring his clubs or any equipment. Add to it, Flesch plays left-handed, so even acquiring or borrowing a set of lefty clubs was difficult. All of the regular Valhalla members removed their clubs to make space for the pros.

The only left-handers in the PGA field Flesch knows are Phil Mickelson and Brian Harman, and if he'd gotten in the field at a moment's notice, he might have been looking for help.

"Yeah, I might actually have to ask Phil if I can use his, which would be pretty interesting," Flesch said, while also chuckling at the ludicrousness of the notion.

And how about finding shoes?

"At this point, I might just have to steal a pair out of somebody's locker," he said.

Flesch, a longtime pro who has played in multiple major championships, including the 2000 PGA at Valhalla, had never competed in a tournament without his own clubs, and he feared that if he got in the field he might shoot an 85 because of the unfamiliar equipment.

As it turned out, Kevin Drenth, a golf assistant at Valhalla, picked up a set of left-handed clubs for Flesch at Golf Headquarters on Shelbyville Road and was ready to caddie for him. He got some shoes from the Valhalla pro shop and borrowed a few balls from some of the other players in the locker room. Flesch took some practice swings on the range, but none of it turned out to be necessary.

"Today was totally a pleasant surprise," Flesch said in a late-afternoon text message. "… I was shocked to get the notice from the PGA. Valhalla head pro Chris Hamburger and Kevin Drenth were a great help to me because I had no equipment, only suits for TV. It would have been a blast and honor to play here in Kentucky. Oh well, back to TV in the morning."

Steve Jones can be reached at (502) 582-7176 and followed on Twitter at @SteveJones_CJ.