Chelsey Brehm has been everywhere with her husband.
They met in 2007 at Michigan State University, married in 2015 and continued traveling the world together. They’re only home 14 weeks of the year.
Her husband is Ryan Brehm, a golfer on the PGA Tour.
“I’ve been traveling pretty much full time with Ryan,” Chelsey said, “for the last five or six years.”
The Rocket Mortgage Classic, which began Thursday at Detroit Golf Club, won’t allow spectators — even spouses — to attend in-person, similar to the last three Korn Ferry Tour events he played since golf’s reboot. And there’s nobody more devastated than Chelsey, the glue that holds them together.
“She’s never going to get enough credit for what she does,” Ryan, a Mount Pleasant native, said. “She takes care of everything we do other than golf.”
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Chelsey handles unexpected problems that arise, takes care of tickets for friends and family, packs the snacks, caddies and makes sure flights are taken care of weeks ahead of time. Not that Ryan is incapable, but she’s found a habit for giving him less to worry about.
The couple was in Florida preparing for a tournament when the Tour halted March 13 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chelsey, 33, and Ryan, 34, flew back home to Traverse City, where all the inconsistencies in their life became consistent.
They had everything planned out for the next several months. Self-described as the planner of the family, she tracked down all the reservations, took a guess on how long the coronavirus postponements would last and made cancellations.
And there they were, stuck together in Traverse City.
Chelsey began cooking dinners; Ryan took care of the dishes. They cooked and grilled more meals than they had in the last four months. They extended their deck, built a garden and painted a couple of rooms. The house needed some love, she explained. They even split wood together.
They committed to this attitude: embrace the unknown, take some time off, train your body, train your brain and respect the Tour is doing everything it can to return in a safe way.
“We were thankful for that time,” Ryan said. “I shouldn’t say it was difficult. It was an adjustment, and I understand that a lot of people are going through some hard times, but we finally got a break. And we took full advantage of that.”
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They’re members of the LochenHeath Golf Club, but when they shut their doors, Ryan, who was only taking some iron shots in the yard, didn’t have anywhere to play until the course reopened in mid-May.
He returned to professional golf three weeks ago for the first Korn Ferry event in months.
Ryan went to two tournaments in Florida before playing last week in Utah, but Chelsea stayed home in Traverse City. She followed a live stream whenever possible and continuously checked leaderboards.
“You’re like, refresh, refresh, refresh, what did he do on 9?” she said.
She’s doing more of that this week as Ryan is competing in his first Tour event in his home state since the 2005 Buick Open as an amateur. He got his Tour card after last season and has played in 13 events in 2020, making the cut eight times. His best finish: tying for 35th at the Puerto Rico Open.
Sitting at No. 199 in the FedExCup standings, Ryan has conditional Tour status, meaning he can only enter tournaments if players in front of him decide not to play. He was able to get into the Rocket Mortgage Classic’s field.
The goal is to make the field for next week’s Workday Charity Open in Dublin, Ohio.
“He’ll be able to drive down from Detroit if we’re in, who knows right now, and then he’ll come home for the (next) week,” Chelsey said, discussing COVID-19 protocols. “There is a ton of thought that goes into the logistics of it all. We can’t just jump on a place and have two connections and be there. You want to fly direct.”
For the Rocket Mortgage Classic, they found a place to stay just outside downtown and have family members in the area. But when Ryan played 18 holes Tuesday and nine Wednesday to practice, Chelsey was nowhere to be seen.
And she won’t be around when he tees off at 1:45 p.m. Thursday for his first round.
Chelsey literally is on the outside looking in this week.But once she’s able to return, all she does for Ryan’s golf game is going to feel that much sweeter.
“To not have her and, obviously, the rest of my family,” Ryan said. “They all want to be here, and I know that. I get a lot of support. It’d be nice if they would be able to come out.”
Evan Petzold is a sports reporting intern at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at epetzold@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.