June 25, 2007

Billy Hurley III has played in his last professional golf tournament for a while, though he is determined to resume his golfing career once he completes the final two years of his five-year military commitment as a graduate of the Naval Academy

Hurley shipped out to Pearl Harbor, where he'll be based when he's not at sea, serving as an officer on the destroyer USS Chung-Hoon, named for the first Hawaian-born admiral and a World War II hero. Over the next two years, he'll likely be aboard ship for about nine months, leaving little time to work on his game.

Hurley had petitioned the Navy to allow him to switch from active duty to reserve status for his final two-year obligation in order to continue trying to make it on to the PGA Tour. He has made the cut in two previous tour events and last month did the same in his last tournament, the Melwood Prince George's County Open on the Nationwide Tour.

For Leonard Shapiro's full article from the Washington Post click here