Bobby Clampett wasn’t the first player to leave the PGA Tour for a higher calling, but he was probably the first to have done so figuratively on two accounts.

The more visible of the pair is in a golf broadcast tower. Clampett, 40, is best known these days for his work as a CBS analyst, but at the recent PGA Championship he also worked for TNT and CNN/SI, the latter on its nightly highlights show.

The less visible was a commitment to a supreme being, and no, this wasn’t Jack Nicklaus. Clampett first lost his Tour playing privileges following the 1989 season and was exempt into the finals of the qualifying school. Although he missed getting his card back by a single shot, the failure wasn’t deemed life threatening.

"That was right after my second child was born, and I had had a couple of realizations," said Clampett, a Cary resident since 1984. "For one, there was a real frustration that my career wasn’t going where I wanted it to. The other was a real sense that God was leading me in a different direction."

As a heralded amateur coming out of Brigham Young University in 1980, Clampett heard the same whispers afforded many hotshots during that era, those touting him as the "next Nicklaus." He heard them on the course, on the practice range and from announcers in the TV towers that he now occupies.

"The first couple of years on Tour, I was completely immersed in playing," said Clampett. "I was at a stage of my life where I ate, slept and lived golf 12 hours a day. It’s what I knew."

He also knew winning. Clampett was born in Monterey, Calif., just a couple of good-sized par-5s away from Pebble Beach, and grew up in nearby Carmel Valley. He won the California State Amateur in 1978 and ’80, was the low amateur in the ’78 U.S. Open, and was a three-time All-American at BYU, twice receiving the Fred Haskins Award that’s presented annually to the nation’s top collegiate golfer.

Success followed Clampett on Tour—for a while. He finished 14th on the 1981 money list with earnings of $184, 710, then followed with a 17th-place earnings finish in ’82, a year in which he captured his only Tour title, the Southern Open.

"My first-place check was just $45,000, if you can believe it," he said. "But it was such a thrill to win."

That, however, was where 22-year-old Bobby Clampett’s game crested. Fairways became harder to hit and thus birdies harder to come by. A splendid short game was having to bear too much weight.

"There were some flaws in my long game," he said. "My swing was very timing dependent, and I knew—I could see—that it wasn’t holding up. The results spoke for themselves."

He worked with a couple of coaches, but while new friendships were cultivated, the results were mixed at best. He finished 64th on the money list in 1983, then slipped to 117th the following year. The next five years weren’t much better — 94th, 87th, 84th, 118th and 148th.

Clampett lost his card, then got it back for the 1991 season. Still, he was finding it difficult to break 70 and the Tour was a grind. Worse yet, his house was undergoing a significant renovation, and as July turned to August, his contractor told him not to bother coming home for five weeks.

The middle week was the PGA Championship, and Clampett wasn’t playing particularly well. His agent called a couple of weeks prior, saying he had a mixed bag of news.

"He said the good news is that TNT is looking for an analyst for the PGA," Clampett said. "He said the bad news is that 22 other guys want the job."

Clampett got in his plane, bound for Atlanta and lunch with Don McGuire, who would make the hire for the network, which was about to televise golf for the first time. "The weather was just awful to fly in," Clampett said, "and I think that made an impression, that I was willing to make such an effort."

There was no audition. Clampett, who had worked as a TV golf analyst on a whim for all of two days at Tour stop in New Orleans in 1983, was hired.

No sweat, as Clampett made this cut with ease. Frank Chirkinian, the since-retired executive producer of CBS’ golf telecasts, asked him to work the weekend.

"It’s been a great experience," Clampett said. "I feel very fortunate to have been afforded the opportunity. It’s not one that’s available to many guys."

Still, even before his driver and long irons had gone sour, Clampett had in mind a future that wasn’t dependent on getting up and down from sandboxes.