As William McGirt played out his apparent final season on the PGA Tour earlier this year, he made it clear that if he was unable to retain his PGA Tour card he was OK with taking a step back and going home to his Bluffton, South Carolina residence to spend more time with his family of four.

What a juxtaposition to the current state of affairs in the game of golf.

In a year that so many stars turned away from the PGA Tour for the LIV Golf Series, taking exorbitant amounts of cash to join the controversial Saudi-funded rival league, one of the Tour’s rank and file members is turning away from pro golf for the opposite reason, leaving a lucrative career to just go be a dad.

Even as reasonable minds can differ on the right, wrong and gray area surrounding LIV Golf, it’s unquestionably refreshing to see someone leave behind the professional sports life to be a full-time family man.

“I’ve got a 6- and 9-year-old at home that I want to spend time with, and I’m looking forward to being a full-time dad and doing dad stuff,” McGirt said upon losing his Tour playing status after the Wyndham Championship in August. “To me, that’s way more important than doing this mess.”

McGirt, a 43-year-old Fairmont native, completed his likely final PGA Tour start Sunday at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi, finishing tied for 24th with four under-par rounds in the event.

His plans after losing his PGA Tour card were to play in Jackson on a sponsor’s exemption as an intentional final start; while The Robesonian was unable to confirm with McGirt before or after the event that his plans have remained the same, there has been no indication he has any intention to play further events, and he does not currently have full status on the Tour.

While McGirt has not directly publicly commented on LIV Golf, there is little reason to believe LIV has any interest, past or present, in adding McGirt to its roster.

McGirt has hinted since late spring that he was prepared to step away from pro golf if and when he lost his Tour card; he called the situation a win-win, saying he’d either get to continue playing if he played well enough this summer to stay on Tour, or he would “go home and be a full-time husband and father” to wife Sarah and children Mac, 9, and Caroline, 6.

“I want to watch my kids grow up and do stuff with them,” he said. “My son is really getting into golf and I enjoy playing with him a lot more than playing myself. He enjoys practicing as much as dad does. Yes, I like to keep my card and play a few more years but I’m at peace with whatever happens over the next couple of months.”

McGirt has made over $11 million competing on the PGA Tour over the last 12 years, after several years playing on the mini-tours after graduating from Wofford in 2001. A shorter hitter by professional golf standards, especially by the end of his career, McGirt grinded his way around the course, earning nicknames such as “Dirt McGirt” and “McGrit” as he gave off the persona of an everyman from a Southern small-town — because that’s who he is. He appears to be well-liked among his pro golf peers.

McGirt has done it all while respectful of his peers and the game’s traditions. He has said that his two favorite places to play are Augusta National — though that will hardly come as a surprise from the mouth of any golfer — and Muirfield Village, built by golf icon Jack Nicklaus as home of the Memorial Tournament.

McGirt says he loved Muirfield Village, in Dublin, Ohio, before even getting the opportunity to play in the tournament there, one of the signature stops on the PGA Tour. It became an even more special place to McGirt when he earned his first and only PGA Tour win there in 2016, winning a playoff over Jon Curran after outdueling a leaderboard including Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed in regulation.

Even beyond the win, 2016 was McGirt’s best season, finishing 24th in the FedExCup standings and reaching 38th in the Official World Golf Ranking after a tie for 10th at the PGA Championship, his career-best major-championship finish. His 2016 results got McGirt into the Masters in 2017 for his lone appearance, in which he was in second place after 18 holes and fifth after 36 before finishing tied for 22nd.

In total, McGirt tallied 24 top-10 finishes in 259 PGA Tour starts.

Hip injuries requiring surgery in 2018 were the beginning of the end; McGirt returned to the Tour at the Memorial Tournament in 2020, and was unable to earn enough points during a major medical extension to stay on Tour.

“It’s over, it’s done, it’s time to move on,” McGirt said after the Wyndham Championship. “It was a fun career, and I’ve enjoyed my time out here, but it’s time for a new chapter in life.”

A new chapter that will allow McGirt — already a low-key guy to begin with — to lay low and raise a family. In doing so might be losing a dream job. But there’s plenty to gain.