HOT SPRINGS -- Rain delayed Ron Whittaker's return to Arkansas amateur golf Friday at Hot Springs Country Club.
But it didn't dampen his spirits in the first round of the Arkansas State Golf Association Stroke Championship.
Whittaker, 48, along with 65 other players in the Championship flight started two hours after their posted tee times, and after a second delay at 5:30 p.m., only nine were able to finish their first 18 holes in the 54-hole event. The golfers will finish their first round beginning at 8 a.m. today.
Whittaker, who lives in Little Rock, was one of the nine who finished, posting a 1-under 71 on the par-72 course softened by a noontime deluge.
"A little old 71," Whittaker said. "First score I posted in six years. I had a good time."
Playing partner Luke Long, a University of Houston golfer from Fayetteville, leads with a 4-under 68 after making 5 birdies, 2 bogeys and 1 eagle.
"He played a nice, solid round," Whittaker said of Long, the 2018 champion.
Whittaker, Long and Josh McNulty (2-under 70) are now scheduled to begin their second rounds at 8:40 this morning.
The threesome of Palmer McSpadden (70), Wes McNulty (71) and Will Gibson (72) are due to tee off at 8:30, an hour later than originally planned.
Whittaker, a 1988 Little Rock Catholic graduate who played college golf at Wake Forest, is participating as an amateur for the first time since winning the 1994 championship at Little Rock Country Club.
Whittaker turned pro immediately after that victory and played for pay for 18 years, earning more than $1 million, including three one-year stints on the PGA Tour (1996, 2006, 2008).
He won two tournaments -- on the South African Sunshine Tour in 1995, and again in 2007 when he won the Chattanooga Open on what was known as the Nationwide Tour.
Three times Whittaker earned his way onto the big tour, either through Qualifying School or because of his performance on the developmental tours.
Three times he was sent back to the tour now known as the Korn Ferry.
"I experienced the highs and the lows," he said. "I won on two major tours, two world tours.
"I struggled, you know, playing mini-tour golf. Now, looking back, watching guys on my side of the rope, everybody is struggling. No matter if they are the No. 1 player in the world or somebody trying to get their card."
Whittaker said he made the decision to retire from professional golf at the end of the 2013 season for a variety of reasons, but his young family played a vital part. Whittaker and his wife Gerritt have two children: Abby (14) and Finn (9).
This is his first tournament since regaining his amateur status a few months ago.
"Golf is a very selfish sport that you have to be very good at," Whittaker said. "You're spending so much time practicing and playing, and your mindset is always on golf. If you don't think that way, you're going to get run over by these guys out there.
"And I had two kids at home. And I didn't want to miss them growing up. It was the right thing to do.
"The game was changing so much, too. The way these kids play now, and how far they hit it, it was a good time to step away and do something else."
At first that something else was selling real estate, but it didn't take Whittaker long to get back in golf as a supervisor for KBS Golf Shafts out of Carlsbad, Calif.
Whittaker's job consists of traveling to the site of that week's PGA Tour event on Sunday and work with the players who use KBS equipment on the driving range.
"I enjoy it," Whittaker said. "It's nice to be in good environments. It doesn't suck."
Whittaker said he decided to enter this tournament about two weeks ago -- after nearly three months off.
That left him plenty of time to work on his game, and he said it stirred his competitive juices.
"I miss that," he said.
Whittaker was noncommittal about how often he will play competitively as an amateur because he travels weekly for his job.
"I'm just going to go out here and have a good time this week," he said.