Tyler McCumber, no, you probably don't know of him. He may be one of Jehovah's Witnesses. His dad, Mark, was a member the last I knew.
Tyler won his 4th professional event two days ago in Peru, South America.
His dad, Mark, became truly world class after he left his two-year stint at Bethel.
"After turning 50 in 2001, McCumber played on the Champions Tour from 2001 to 2008, but did not win an event in this venue. He also works as a golf course architect and was occasionally featured as a golf analyst on Fox Sports. McCumber is a member of the American Society of Golf Course Architects."
"Like his faith. McCumber is a devout Jehovah's Witness; he devoted three years to the religion after high school. He spent one year in "full-time ministry, going door-to-door, studying the Bible," in Jacksonville. He also spent two years at the Brooklyn Bethel, the group's headquarters near the Brooklyn Bridge.
"It was like a big college," McCumber said. "There were dorms, we'd do in-depth study of the Bible and we also worked 50 hours a week, helping to print the Watchtower.
"It's a very misunderstood religion," McCumber said. "My parents and grandparents on both sides were raised in that faith and as I investigated it, I felt very strongly about it. I live it. Deep down it permeates every ounce of my being. But I don't praise [God) every time I win; that's not the way I was raised." [1995 interview quotation].
In my youth there was such negativity against sports participation in Watchtower world. Fortunately for Mark, that all must've slid off his back and he took up golf as a career after leaving Bethel.
I'm some 11 years older than Mark and I don't pretend I would have ever even come close to being world class, but I think it would have been somewhat rewarding if I could have tried to optimize my skills while I was younger.
In my younger years golf was so berated by our JW peers. On one of our 1960s trips back home to New Bedford from Marshalltown I learned that all of my sports memorabilia -- baseballs for each game I pitched when my team won, newspaper articles with box scores, news and photos at local junior golf tourneys I had won -- had been tossed by Mom and Dad. It could have been perceived as "drawing too much attention to self".
There's not a day that goes by without thinking how fortunate I got out of that mess back in 1977.
Back to Tyler and dad Mark. Good for them