Over the past two decades, Thomas McCarthy has compiled an impressive record in his home state of Connecticut. The 37-year-old mid-amateur is one of only two players in Connecticut State Golf Association history to win the Russell C. Palmer Cup (2009), the Connecticut Public Links Championship (2012) and the Connecticut Mid-Amateur (2025).
However, McCarthy says he hasn’t touched a club since October. Even in the summer he averages only one practice session a week. Between his job in finance and his family, which includes his wife and four children younger than 6 years old, McCarthy has different priorities than he once did when he was chasing the professional golf dream.
“It puts everything into a bit more perspective, especially when you’re not playing well,” McCarthy said. “Even when I won the Mid-Am the first thing I thought was my kids were going to get a kick out of seeing this trophy at home. Stuff like that is the stuff I’ve gotten more enjoyment out of than frankly winning the tournament.”
McCarthy started playing golf when he was 9 years old. He, his two brothers and some friends got a summer golf membership at a nearby public course.
“Instead of day care our parents would drop us off at the course … and we’d be there for five hours,” McCarthy said. “We’d give my mom a bit of a reprieve.”
He was competitive from the jump.
“Generally if you end up being better than your friends off the bat it’s something that interests you, and I kind of enjoyed the fact that I was a little bit better than my brothers and my friends,” he said.
McCarthy started taking golf seriously in seventh grade and went on to success in high school and at Yale University, where he played from 2007-2011. McCarthy won two individual college events and was first team All-Ivy League his sophomore through senior years. In 2009, McCarthy also won the Russell C. Palmer Cup, a Connecticut State Golf Association major.
As a senior, McCarthy captained his Yale team to the Ivy League title. Also on that team was Michael Lewis-Goldman, a freshman at the time who has since become McCarthy’s U.S. Amateur Four-Ball partner.
“[McCarthy] was a great leader,” Lewis-Goldman said. “Everyone looked up to him because he was by far the best player on the team. A lot of us were of the opinion that after college he should give going pro a shot.”
And that was McCarthy’s goal.
“I thought that would be my route,” McCarthy said. “I just always assumed I’d try to play pro golf.”
“I used to have an expectation of playing well. While I still want to play well, it doesn’t always happen. So it’s more just appreciating being out there and trying to enjoy my time despite making way more bogeys than I used to.”
Thomas McCarthy
But he eventually had second thoughts.
“As I got closer to graduating, I just kind of got a little nervous about the lifestyle of trying to grind in pro golf when I had my education I could take advantage of,” McCarthy said.
After graduating in 2011, McCarthy took the summer to compete and determine if the professional path was for him. In the end, he determined it wasn’t.
McCarthy took a finance job and moved to New York City. After he won the Connecticut Public Links in 2012, McCarthy’s clubs mainly collected dust in the closet for close to a decade.
While that would be frustrating for many competitors, McCarthy’s mindset has changed since college.
“I used to have an expectation of playing well,” McCarthy said. “While I still want to play well, it doesn’t always happen. So it’s more just appreciating being out there and trying to enjoy my time despite making way more bogeys than I used to.”
Thomas McCarthy advanced to the Round of 32 of the 2022 U.S. Mid-Amateur.
Logan Whitton, USGA
In 2019, McCarthy got married, and his wife, Annie, gave birth to their first child in 2020. In 2022, after the birth of their second child, McCarthy took advantage of paternity leave to play more golf. His results improved, and McCarthy made it to the round of 32 at that year’s U.S. Mid-Amateur at Erin Hills.
McCarthy had chances to win the Russell C. Palmer Cup on the final hole in 2023 and 2024 but came up short both times.
“My nerves are much worse now than they were before despite the shift in mindset,” he said. “I get way more nervous when I’m playing well and near the top than I would’ve been in 2011. I’m nervous in the moment and just as disappointed as I would have been back in the day.”
After the first 27 holes of last year’s Connecticut Mid-Amateur, it appeared McCarthy would have to keep waiting to win again. He got off to a great start in the first round with a 3-under-par first nine, but then he started checking his work emails.
“I’ll blame a lot of the poor golf of that tournament on work,” he said. “I had some work email blowups, and they tie exactly with the bad holes of that tournament.”
Playing distracted, McCarthy gave several strokes back but rallied late in his second round to enter the final round just three strokes behind the leader. Despite a three-putt bogey from 10 feet on the final hole that made him think he’d blown it again, his closing 68 at the Golf Club of Avon was good enough to win.
“Initially it was more relief than anything,” McCarthy said. “Despite the fact that I had effectively choked again I was able to pull it out.”
It’s a good thing McCarthy won. Otherwise, his Yale teammates might have given him a hard time.
“There’s a lot of support in the text chain but there’s also a lot of chirping one another for not-so-good results,” Lewis-Goldman said. “But obviously we were super happy to see him get a win like that.”
McCarthy says he has realistic and stretch goals for his amateur career. Realistically, he’d like to qualify again for the U.S. Mid-Amateur. Maybe more of a reach, he’d like to qualify for the U.S. Amateur for the first time since the 2010 championship at Chambers Bay, when he missed match play.
“It would be pretty cool to see just how far my game has fallen versus where I was in college,” McCarthy joked.
But closer to McCarthy’s heart, he hopes to play golf with his kids one day. His two oldest children – Theo, who’s 5, and Flynn, who’s 3 – have putters and McCarthy likes to take them to a nearby putting green. However, they have different priorities.
“Unfortunately there’s a playground like six feet away from the putting green,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy won’t push them. There’s still plenty of time.
“I’d love for them to play golf and it would be a lot of fun to play with them when they get older but it’s not something I’m going to push one way or the other,” McCarthy said. “Hopefully they naturally gravitate towards it given my love for it.”
Top: Thomas McCarthy has set goals he wants to achieve in golf, but his family is his priority.
csga photo
