Where Are They Now?

Introduced to the game of golf at the ripe young age of 2 by his father, Jamie Broce has spent the past three decades going out of his way to avoid water hazards. Yet, this was something different, something more severe. This was real life and a harrowing experience that nearly cost Broce his. Last July, Broce, believed to be the only golfer to garner individual medalist honors at the annual boys state meet as a ninth-grader, was attempting to remove tree limbs and other debris from a culvert in a retention pond after it had flooded when his slender frame proved no match for nature's meaner side. Broce found himself trapped in the culvert having been pulled down by the swirling waters beneath. "It was only by God that the right people were there at the right time," recalled Jamie, 32, whose 36-hole score of 149 led Ben Davis to the 1992 team title at Club of Prestwick and whose 146 secured him second place individually on the same course three years later. "My neighbor, Brian Schaefer, jumped right in because he thought I was stuck. He helped hold me up for 10 to 12 minutes until the fire department got there." Like athletics, life is a game of inches. Broce, who played collegiately at Ball State University and was Mid-American Conference Player of the Year in 1999, better understands this now. Broce and his wife of 11 years, Darci, reside in the Hendricks County town of Clayton. The couple has two children, 9-year-old Peyton, and Preston, who turns 6 in July. Attempting to reach the PGA Tour, the pinnacle of the sport he loves so dearly, Broce spent four years competing on the Hooter's Tour and another three blasting drives and lining up putts on the Nationwide Tour. "When we got married, the golf part of it is something we decided to do together," Darci said. "I looked at it as my mission, too, and we understood that Jamie being home and then gone again was part of it. But he's done with the touring for a while." That's because Broce has gone back to college, so to speak. In August he signed on to be the men's assistant coach at Indiana University where Broce works with 11th-year Hoosiers coach Mike Mayer for one of the nation's premier programs. Architect of countless long drives on the golf course in his lifetime, Broce now encounters another as roughly 50 minutes are necessary for him to drive from Clayton to Bloomington. "I absolutely love it. Working with Mike Mayer and being at a Big Ten school, I'm learning a lot," Jamie said. "My coach at Ball State, Earl Yestingsmeier, had a big impact on my life. Earl is just a great guy. I can't think of one bad thing I could say about him." Perhaps in the near future, players will be spouting similar praise for coach Broce. -