Meet Jeff Wright, the former model and rock star who lost it all but has found his way back to golf at the U.S. Senior Amateur

Jeff Wright had some serious game as a teenager. He originally committed to Georgia Tech in a helicopter flying over Augusta during his Yellow Jacket recruitment, but then he got to thinking how, as a California kid, he might get homesick.

“I was recruited by everybody, USC, UCLA, Stanford, BYU, Houston, Oklahoma State. I could have gone anywhere, but I guess I chose Arizona State because my brother was there and I kind of got along with the coach,” explained Wright. “He kind of befriended me a little bit.”

His time with the Sun Devils was short lived because he could barely make the team his freshman year. A top-10 player in the nation out of high school, Wright was redshirted.

“I was living in kind of a vacuum bubble where I came from, and I wasn’t ready for the reins to come off,” said Wright. “I didn’t deal with it well, I kind of went inward and I ended up leaving after my sophomore year. I went back home, I just one day walked off campus and went to UC-Irvine.

“And at that point, somebody gave me a guitar at ASU and I kind of took to that as comfort, I suppose,” he continued. “So I’m at UC-Irvine, I’m on the golf team there, living at home, though, because it’s right by where I lived. I joined a fraternity and some girl hears me singing, you know, serenading the sorority girls, and they’re like, ‘You can sing.’ The next thing you know, I was like, ‘I like this a lot better than golf.’ Golf was just becoming tragic for me. It really was.”

While at Arizona State, somebody had approached Wright about modeling.

“I guess I was rather, as my mom would say, easy on the eyes,” he said with a laugh. “So there was some doors opening up with that. And by the time I got back to California, I guess you would say somebody discovered me from this big agency in Hollywood.”

Jeff Wright’s former model bio. (Submitted photo)

He joined a band around that time as well, and he was still going to school, but the modeling career continued to grow.

“I won ‘The Face of the 80’s’ for Macy’s department store, like almost like a beauty pageant. I was doing Teen magazine, Target ads, I actually was still dabbling in golf but there was a lot of stuff going on, life was happening pretty fast,” said Wright, who then dropped out after that fateful day in class. “I was doing commercials, and I was really doing a lot of stuff in Hollywood, and then my band started to really take off. And then I answered an ad as a real estate appraiser in the Orange County Register because I needed to get a job.”

Real estate appraiser by day, rock star model by night.

“Next thing you know I meet a gal, all of a sudden she’s pregnant and I’m gonna have a son. I’m 27 years old, golf is just not even on my radar. I’ve completely forgotten about golf.”

Wright was touring with a lot of big acts and his songs were playing on the radio, but despite his success he didn’t love the Hollywood scene.

“I felt kind of like an object, it wasn’t very rewarding. I kind of let that go,” said Wright. “I actually got fired from my agency for wearing a bag over my head at an in-store appearance because I just felt like such a goofball having people stare at me in a suit and just thought this is not for me.”

His model life behind him, Wright dug deep in his real estate appraising work and ended up buying a house on a golf course in Orange County. He started playing golf again and played his way to No. 1 on the amateur circuit for the Golden State Tour in the early 2000s.

“I won a bunch of club championships. I had another son, now I’ve got two boys. I’m living the dream. And now I’ve got a million-dollar home in Newport Beach. I got it all going on. Then my dad dies and I lost my best friend and I went off the deep end,” explained Wright. “My biggest fan had left the arena. I started getting a little out of control, dabbling in drugs, I had so much money. And next thing you know, I decide I’m gonna marry a shiny, trophy girl.

“I left my kids’ mother and ran off with this (girl), and she had more money than me, and now we’re going all around the world. My music’s going really well. But I have so much frickin’ money, so I developed a really bad crystal meth problem. Next thing you know, now I’m in the Betty Ford rehab center. In Betty Ford I couldn’t have been happier. I was really glad to get just some respite from the partying and everything. It really was a blessing in disguise.”

But rehab wasn’t rock bottom.

“My then wife, I walk in on her with another guy. And it floored me. So I tried to take my life, and I failed, thank God,” said Wright. “I tried to take a bunch of sleeping pills and tequila and cross my arms across my chest and said, ‘I can’t, it’s too painful. I just don’t want to live anymore.’”

After the divorce, Wright filed for bankruptcy.

“I lose the house, I lose the boat, I lose everything over the course of a year. It was a really hard fall from grace,” remembered Wright. “I turned back to music and started my own solo career. And next thing you know, I’m opening up for Train and Sugar Ray at the Taste of Newport. I’m doing a Starbucks tour all across America out of the back of my open-top Jeep.”

Wright needed a change of scenery, so he ended up moving to Arizona where he’d meet another girl and spend seven years wallowing between his music and a struggling appraisal career. In 2017, he started dabbling in golf again.

“I ended up breaking up with that gal and she was kind of helping me just stay afloat. Next thing you know, Jeff’s not a millionaire, I’m living out the back of my car, traveling to every tournament I can find,” he said. “Arizona, California, Las Vegas, Colorado, Oregon. Just barely making it. I can barely afford the entry fee but I’m convinced that I’m just going to give it another shot. And I gotta tell you, I was happy as a lark. I was not complaining even though I was ‘homeless,’ I was out there doing what I loved.”

Some more time passes and Wright finds himself at the Napa Open, and he fell in love with the area.

“So, by the grace of God, I got a bunch of appraisal work up in Napa, was appraising a guy’s house, and he got a basement that he’s letting me live in. And just little by little, I started making my money back,” he said. “I joined Richmond Country Club for a little while, I practiced my ass off and I played in every tournament I could find under the sun. To this day, I still live in that basement. I’m making good money again, enough to pursue this dream. I fly out to Portland, because I’ll go anywhere, shot 72 and just broke down crying when I (qualified for the U.S. Senior Amateur).”

Jeff Wright out on the golf course. (Submitted photo)

“I cannot believe that I even have this opportunity again. I feel like I played today and hit the ball just as well as I used to, if not better,” said Wright. “I just have so much heartache, to the point where I tried to take my life. I guess nothing really scares me too bad anymore. I’m just so glad to have a life again having gone through what I went through. It’s not like college where I’m on a scholarship or everyone thinks that I’m supposed to win. I’ve got everything to gain, nothing to lose.

“I want to feel the butterflies. I want it to feel like it used to feel like when I would go on stage and have that euphoria and not to be afraid of it. I’m going to control what I can control and I’m just going to try to smile and enjoy it.”

Wright has scaled back on his practice time and is focusing more on playing, spending his days at TPC Harding Park and the Presidio.

“It’s really fun to get your game back after all these years,” he added. “Bomb it, hit good shots, everything’s right there.”

His family and friends will be right there, too. His 69-year-old older brother, Chris, will be on the bag this weekend. His sister is flying in, along with his other brother, as well as another good friend. Good thing because every rock star needs an audience.

“I just can’t believe that they want to come out. I love a gallery,” said Wright. “Typically when I hit a drive or any shot, I twirl the club after I hit it. I don’t even think about it. It’s the lead singer in me.”

Whether he gets booed off stage before match play or hears the encore-esque cheers after the final match, Wright isn’t letting the results dictate his happiness this week.

“I won club championships. How many guys would like to say that for starters? I’ve been a rock star. I’ve traveled all over the world. I’ve had mansions. I’ve had every car you could ever think of. I’ve been head over heels in love. I got two great, great kids. I’ve had an amazing life. So how can you get too disappointed?,” he asked. “Even when I fly back to San Francisco and walk into my basement apartment, I got my fish and I’m really happy regardless.”