Jay McLaughlin wanted to do something different. He just needed an opportunity.
| Obituary |
A charter member of TPC Sawgrass, the home headquarters of the PGA TOUR, McLaughlin was headed back to Trenton Country Club where he was the golf chairman. In the spring of 2002, Trenton’s assistant professional, Bob Kauth, left to go to Mercer Oaks Golf Course.
Looking to fill the void, McLaughlin reached out to PGA TOUR winner Mark Carnevale.
“I got to know Mark when he was coming to the end of his career in the early 2000s,” McLaughlin, 78, of Langhorne, Pa., said. “We had a vacancy in our budget after one of our pros left for Mercer Oaks. I reached out to Mark and asked if he wanted to come to Trenton for a bit. I could pay him. I thought it would be a good experience for our members to play with someone with his résumé.”
Carnevale, a PGA TOUR winner and well-respected broadcaster for more than 20 years, died on July 22 at 64. For six weeks, beginning in May 2002, he was the resident golf professional at Trenton.
Carnevale is most known for his victory in the 1992 Chattanooga Classic, which helped push him to Rookie of the Year honors over rising star Phil Mickelson.
“Back in the early days of golf you had resident golf professionals,” McLaughlin said. “Ben Hogan was the pro at Hershey Country Club when he was touring. The older generations of clubs had a touring pro as their golf pro. I figured why not ask Mark to come up? I got lucky with this.”
Carnevale lived with Chet Stewart, a Trenton member, for the duration of his residency.
“Mark was a really nice guy and he was easy for me to get along with,” Stewart, 79, of Lawrenceville, N.J., said. “Everyone that met Mark liked him, most members at the Club enjoyed playing with him, he was always helpful and never criticized anyone’s game. After he left, we stayed in touch and I would go see him in Florida once or twice a year. I was in shock when I heard about his passing, I will miss him.”
“We all rooted for Mark,” McLaughlin, a Trenton member for 50 years, said. “We knew him from PGA TOUR Radio and PGA TOUR LIVE. We wanted him to break the course record when he was here but he wasn’t able to.”
He made the cut at the B.C. Open held in New York as well as the John Deere Classic in Illinois, both in July. McLaughlin said Carnevale enjoyed his time at Trenton and how it helped him transition at the end of his career.
“It became known that we had a PGA TOUR pro in residency at our club,” McLaughlin said. “He must’ve liked us because Gary McCord mentioned a couple of times on broadcasts that he missed everyone at Trenton and received notes that we were rooting for him. Having him at the club was a good interlude for us and for Mark.”
Carnevale, who played collegiately at James Madison University, would go on to play in 212 PGA TOUR tournaments and to make 66 Korn Ferry Tour starts. His impact on Trenton won’t be forgotten.
“Mark was a jovial and connected person,” McLaughlin said. “Here was a guy who [Trenton members] could look up to, support and appreciate what he had to offer. You could relate to him and I wouldn’t have asked him if I didn’t think it would have worked out. When we sent out this remembrance correspondence, we got a lot of feedback from people who remembered him and appreciated what he did for our club. It worked out better than I could’ve expected.”
