SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Less than a month ago, Chris Naegel called his wife, Lindsey, with a lump in his throat. He was done, he told her. He was ready to quit professional golf.

The admission did not exactly stun her. Naegel was 35, a journeyman bobbing in the backwaters of the sport, from the Hooters Tour to the eGolf Tour to the Adams Tour to the Minor League Tour. He had just badly missed the cut at a Web.com event.

“I was kind of, I don’t know,” Naegel said. “Over it.”

He recalled that moment as he was looking for his ball Monday evening somewhere on the fifth hole here at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, where he was practicing with his caddie for the United States Open, which starts on Thursday. It was late, the shadows were growing long and the barn swallows were sweeping across the fescue. Only a few golfers remained on the course. One of them was Tiger Woods.

Naegel caught sight of a large crowd of fans streaming down an adjacent fairway.

“Yeah, that’s got to be him,” he said, knowing the kind of commotion that follows Woods.