PGA Tour winner and popular broadcaster Mark Carnevale dies unexpectedly at 64

Like numerous peers of a certain age, Mark Carnevale transitioned from his professional playing career into broadcasting, so there are fans in younger generations who have no idea that he even played—and won—on the PGA Tour.

It was an eventful journey, with Carnevale bouncing around the mini tours before, at the age of 31, finally earning his PGA Tour card through Qualifying School. And in that rookie season in 1992, shared with other newcomers Phil Mickelson and David Toms, the Maryland native achieved his greatest success, winning the Chattanooga Classic, coming from five shots back with a closing 64. He would go on to be named that season’s Rookie of the Year.

On that Sunday of his victory, Carnevale’s father, Ben, who served as the head basketball coach at the University of North Carolina and later Navy, was packing at a hotel after spending most of the week at the golf tournament. "I called him in the room, and he couldn't speak," Carnevale recalled in an interview with Golf Digest writer Bill Fields in 2008. "That was one of the few times in my life I ever heard him choked up. It's probably the most memorable moment in all of golf, just making that phone call."

That would be Carnevale’s only PGA Tour victory (he added a Nike Tour win in 1997), and after many ups and downs, he decided to mostly walk away in the early 2000s. A short stint as a tournament director for a Nationwide Tour event followed, but Carnevale found a true second calling when he was offered a commentating job with the newly formed PGA Tour Radio in 2005. Gregarious, funny and comfortable with the players, Carnevale followed the action and did post-round interviews with all of the greats over the next two decades. 

He was a constant presence at tournaments, and Carnevale will most surely be missed after he died unexpectedly on Monday, with the PGA Tour making the announcement on social media. He was 64.

Carnevale’s passing comes as a shock because he last worked only a week ago at the Genesis Scottish Open. He was scheduled to be on duty this week for the 3M Open in Minnesota.

Calling Carnevale a “beloved member” of the tour family, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement, “Mark knew the game and did a terrific job of conveying insights from his unique point of view—and with an engaging wit and sense of humor—to fans from countless tour events through the years. We will miss Mark and send our condolences to his loved ones.”

Carnevale, who played college golf at James Madison, didn’t plan on being a pro golfer, and told a newspaper, “The competition is unbelievable on the tour. I enjoy the game too much for that.” He would go on to work for a brokerage firm after college but didn’t give up competing and won the 1990 Utah Open. Two years later, Carnevale earned his tour card, and on the strength of the Chattanooga win, he finished 70th on the money list—ahead of Mickelson and Toms—to be voted by his peers as Rookie of the Year.

Carnevale told Golf Digest that he’d once needled Mickelson about it. "I asked Phil if he had gotten over the fact that I beat him out for rookie of the year," he said, "and Phil chuckled a bit and said, 'I'm still a little bummed, but I think I have.'"

The closest Carnevale would come to a second win came in the 1994 Byron Nelson, where he got into a six-man playoff that Neal Lancaster won. Two years later, he’d lost his card, though he experienced something of a game resurgence in 1997 by winning the Nike Tour’s Inland Empire Open in Southern California. That led to a second-place finish on the season’s money list and PGA Tour membership again in 1998.

But Carnevale admitted to not being able to keep up with the younger guys—a point made clear when he played with Charles Howell III in 2000. “Here was this 150-pound kid blowing it 70 yards by me,” recalled the man whose nickname was "Moose." “I just felt it was time to start a relationship, maybe start having a family and move on to something else."

That would eventually be broadcasting, and Carnevale would become a heralded newcomer again as one of the most recognizable voices on the crew for both PGA Tour Radio and more recently PGA Tour Live on ESPN+.

In the interview with Golf Digest, Carnevale was asked what he would say to anyone who experiences an “overnight” success after years of toiling.

"Don't change anything," he said. "You got there for a reason."