Instead of PGA, former Saint Martin’s star Prante finds himself working at a bank

Often, Shane Prante will see a customer staring at him. Then they check his name tag.
“And they’ll ask me what I’m doing here,” Prante said.
It’s the same question Prante, a three-time All-American golfer at Saint Martin’s University, asks himself.
Prante isn’t playing golf professionally, either on a mini-tour or on what many thought was his destiny: The PGA Tour. Instead, he is a teller at Twinstar Credit Union in Olympia.
“Just yesterday, three people asked me what I was doing,” Prante said. “I guess they remember.”
Who can forget?
He was the top-ranked collegiate player in the country at one point during his senior year at Saint Martin’s. As a junior, he was the only Division II player named to an eight-member USA team that played in Japan.
He owns or shares three course records – 61 at Tumwater Valley, 63 at Olympia Country & Golf Club and 63 at Riverbend in Kent. At Riverbend, Prante was teamed with a pro in a best-ball tournament. Prante’s shot was used on every hole. During his record-breaking round at Tumwater, he shot two bogeys.
“I’m not where I want to be,” Prante said. “I’m not going to sit here and say that I’m happy with everything. But I’ve never given up. I’ll keep grinding away. Whatever it takes. That’s why I’m working two jobs. Working 13 hours, 14 hours a day.”
In fall of 2007, Prante was chasing his dream. He was living in Arizona and playing on the Gateway Tour, winning a few tournaments. He and his then-new wife, Kristyn, had saved up enough money for six months to allow him to concentrate just on golf. Kristyn was also working for Starbucks.
Just before Prante played in the qualifying school for the PGA, he got sick. He got a fever, cough, painful red bumps on his legs and dropped almost 35 pounds. Already slender, the 6-foot-3 Prante went from 170 to 135 pounds.
“I was as sick as I’ve ever been,” Prante said. “Finally, one day I said to my wife I had to go to the hospital.”
Eventually, he was diagnosed with valley fever, a fungal infection that can be fatal. He was diagnosed just before it became meningitis.
“Once they figured out what was wrong, it was better,” Prante said. “But I couldn’t do anything for months. It wasn’t until this summer that I started feeling better.”
Playing with a fever and aching joints, Prante missed the cut at PGA qualifying school. He then won a couple of small tournaments, giving him enough money to move back to Tumwater in August 2008.
Prante seemingly caught a break that summer before coming home when an Arizona businessman offered to sponsor him, offering $20,000. But Prante walked away from the offer.
“It was a tough decision,” Prante said. “I had a good six months of playing if I wanted it. But the guy was vulgar. He was everything I didn’t like.”
At 26, Prante knew he was walking away from what could be his last chance to play golf professionally.
“It was one of the hardest things I’ve done because I realized that might be it for me,” Prante said. “I walked away. I said thanks but no thanks.”
Prante’s college coach, Kurt Kageler, thinks there’s one thing preventing his former player from realizing his dream.
“He’s got the game,” Kageler said. “It just takes money and a healthy body. If you don’t have a backer, it’s difficult. We keep praying for him.”
Prante’s swing is homemade. Using clubs his father, Tim, sawed off, Prante began playing golf when he was 4. He learned how to play on the three holes his dad built on his 10-acre lot in Tumwater.
“I don’t watch golf anymore,” Prante said. “I used to love to watch Tiger Woods play. It’s hard to watch. Two guys I grew up with are going to be on the Tour next year.”
That would be Ryan Moore and Mike Putnam, whom Prante played against growing up. Andre Gonzales of Olympia is playing on a mini-tour.
Prante can’t shake the thought that if he hadn’t gotten sick he could be playing golf professionally, somewhere.
“It’s not an easy pill to swallow,” Prante said. “It’s like all your friends going off to college and you’re staying home doing nothing.”
Prante plays maybe once every three weeks. In October, he’ll play in a tournament in Richland, with the winner pocketing $12,000. Last year, Prante finished third in the tournament, losing to Troy Kelly, the former University of Washington golfer now on the PGA and Nationwide tours.
“I don’t really have a plan,” Prante said. “The plan would be to raise the money. That’s really the only way.”
Success stories of PGA players such as Zack Johnson, who won the Masters in 2008 after playing on mini-tours for years, keep Prante’s dream alive.
“He’s competed with Ryan Moore, with Michael Putnam,” Kageler said. “But it takes time, it takes a little bit of luck and it takes money to make it.”
Prante still thinks he’s got the game to play.
“I’ll be 50 years old watching a PGA tournament and I’ll still be thinking I could have done that,” Prante said.
Gail Wood: 360-754-5443
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