Another Big Break for Henley: 54-year-old in GolfChannel tournament

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Kip Henley is quite a character.

He's a native of Chattanooga who pursued the dream of being a PGA Tour golfer. He stumbled many times along the way but found success on Tour in a different role as a caddie with the help od a fledgling GolfChannel reality show, "The Big Break II," in 2004.

That show lifted Henley out of debt, portrayed him as a winner to viewers across the globe and helped make it one of the most-watched shows on GolfChannel.

"He's one of the top characters out of several hundred we've had on 'Big Break,'" said Jay Kossoff, the network's vice president for original productions. "We had a great cast in the first season, but season two, with Kip, is where 'Big Break' took hold and people started watching."

Henley, now 54, is one of 40 former contestants slated to compete in the Big Break Invitational at Reynolds Plantation at Greensboro, Ga. It's a four-day tournament airing live on GolfChannel today through Friday. There are two rounds of Stableford play, one round of match play and then stroke play to determine the champion.

"I really think I was one of the last people chosen, because I know I'm not one of the better players, that's for dang sure," Henley said.

Henley speaks his mind to anybody who will listen. He has "Kip The Lip" engraved on the back of his Titleist wedges. He tweets in abundance to more than 20,000 followers in a language he calls Kipbionics.

"You need a 'Kiptionary' to understand it," he joked.

He posted pictures of himself naked -- thankfully with everything crucial covered -- mowing the lawn after proclaiming that if anybody shot 8 under or better in the 2011 U.S. Open he would mow that golfer's lawn naked.

Rory McIlrory won with a score of 16 under.

"That's when my Twitter following went huge," Henley said, before explaining a long story involving a sock, a gas can and a weed-eater to ensure proper coverage.

It's been quite a ride for Henley to become one of the more well-known caddies on the PGA Tour, most notably for Brian Gay.

He is on the PGA Tour, just not in the capacity he dreamed of when playing Creeks Bend pro Mike Nelms as a teenager or while playing for Reed Sanderlin at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

"I knew I was going to be a Tour player," Henley said. "College was just a little stop-off."

photo Chattanooga native Kip Henley, a caddie on the PGA Tour, practices his chipping game last week at Creeks Bend Golf Club. Henley has been invited back to play in "The Big Break Invitational" on the GolfChannel this week.

He flunked out. Henley claims he left with a perfect GPA of 1.234 and barely had enough credits to be a sophomore after more than three years of classes.

"I petitioned twice to get back into school," he said. "On the third time, they said, 'Mr. Henley, don't even bother.'"

It's part of his life that he'd like to have back.

"It's very embarrassing," he said. "I was immature as crap and I wish I had it over again. I wish somebody could have talked sense into me, but I wasn't listening."

So Henley, coming off a win in the Tennessee Open at Valleybrook, became a professional. He failed Q-School in his first attempt.

"I went and played mini-tours and failed miserably and came home broker than dirt," Henley said. "Then I got the assistant pro job at Lake Tansi in 1983 and I stayed until 2000."

He never gave up the dream of playing on the big tour.

"I'd take a week's vacation for Q-School and did that at least seven times, but I never got close," he related. "In 2000, I was killing them in Tennessee, and I quit a great job and tried again.

"I flunked again."

Caddie jobs came open for friends over the next years, and he'd work. Henley would give a few lessons. He'd make a little money here and there, but nothing significant.

Then came "Big Break," a fledgling show that gave second chances to golfers who aspired to make it on Tour -- but who also had stories and personalities to draw in viewers.

"He just jumped off the page," Kossoff said. "He has a down-home spirit and energy, and he's a talker and he had a look at the time and called himself 'Kipper.'

"We knew he'd be really good for 'Big Break.'"

Then Henley beat Don Donatello, who had become his rival throughout the second season.

"That bailed me out of a financial hole I'd dug and I started trying to play again," Henley said. "I tried hard, with some exemptions. But I failed again."

He was 44 at the time.

"The dream completely dried out," he said.

So Henley started to caddie a lot. At first for friends, then word spread that he's pretty good at the job. And he connected with Gay. They've worked together since 2006 -- with an occasional little break from each other -- and become a tandem that the networks rarely miss.

"I don't know how many more years I can caddie," Henley said. "But my long-term future is in TV or radio. I'm comfortable on TV.

"I'm full of it."

Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.

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