Aaron Levine, Q13 sports director, trying to qualify for Open

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Updated: March 31, 2015

By Steve Turcotte, Inside Golf Editor
Aaron Levine is like a kid in a candy store right now. Not only does he have one of the best jobs around, he has things going on away from his Q13 office in Seattle that would make golf fans completely jealous.

Not only does Levine get to talk about sports as his daily gig, he works for a station that secured the rights to televise the USGA events starting this year – and that means his own Fox affiliate in Seattle will host the U.S. Open from Chambers Bay June 18-21. And not only that, Levine is going to tee it up in a U.S. Open qualifier in May at the Home Course.

The 33-year-old Levine is living the kind of life that even Walter Mitty might be jealous of. Levine talks a good game on the air, with his nightly sportscasts on Seattle’s Q13. He has five nightly sports broadcasts starting at 4:00 each weekday but when he started the station only had the one 10:00 p.m. news broadcast.

And since the station is home for the Seattle Seahawks, he also hosts a Seahawks post-game show with former players Mack Strong and Dave Wyman during the season.

The U.S. Open being held in the Pacific Northwest for the first time ever has given Levine even more work – he put together 18 stories on the different holes at Chambers and will host a show on Q13 after every round of the tournament.

“There’s not a more exciting time for golf in the Northwest,” said Levine. “Sometime I don’t realize how lucky I am right now.”

Levine carries a 1.5 handicap and will play in the U.S. Open local qualifier at The Home Course in May. There will be only a few spots into the sectional events, but he doesn’t care. This is a once in a lifetime experience.

Not bad for a guy who walked on the Stanford golf program, was cut a month into the season and put the clubs away for 10 years.

“I was completely burned out of golf after the Stanford deal,” said Levine. “I just didn’t feel it anymore. I played in a couple of events a year but that was it. No practice, no playing.”

But when Chambers Bay was awarded the U.S. Open a few years ago and when Fox secured the right, Levine suddenly felt it was time to get back into the game.

levine swingHe has worked hard to get his handicap low, in fact during a recent round at Twin Lakes Golf and Country Club in Federal Way, Levine showed some game. On the first hole he got up and down for a slick par from behind the green. On the par-3 8th hole, Levine got up and down again for a par on a tough hole and his drives were usually long and straight. On the par-5 15th hole at Twin Levine’s ball was on a slope behind the green. He somehow got it up and down. There was some hiccups along the way with a couple of three-putts and a couple of mishits, but he did flash some game.

Is there a U.S. Open in his future? Maybe in front of the camera.

“Hey – I know it’s a long shot but what the heck, when do you ever get a chance to qualify for the Open,” he said. “Just don’t want to embarrass myself too badly.”

Dealing with the Seattle sports scene for years, Levine has seen the highs and lows. But having dealt with the Seahawks on a person level the past few years has been nothing but a terrific experience. He has reported from both Super Bowls and has gotten to know the players on a different level.

In fact, during defensive back Richard Sherman’s first year Sherman had to drive to the Q13 studios for a post-game show. Sherman had to fight traffic from the stadium to the studio but did make it. He was a half-hour late for the show but never complained about having to do the show or the traffic. “To me that just showed what kind of guy he is,” said Levine. “And he’s been like that the entire time in Seattle.”

Levine also knows what kind of athletes the players really are. He saw that in person during quarterback Russell Wilson’s charity golf tournament at Suncadia last year. Wilson spent time on the range hitting his driver 150 yards and straight right. Levine thought Wilson and his group might be in trouble. But on the first tee, Wilson cracked a drive 320 yards right down the pipe.

Levine took a once-in-a-lifetime route to Q13. While at Stanford he applied and got onto ESPN’s reality show called “Dream Job” where 12 sports casters battled to get a two-year contract at ESPN in 2003. Levine made it all the way to the final two of the competition and headed to Bakersfield while the other guy got the ESPN gig.

“Best thing that ever happened to me,” he said. “I learned so much that it got me to where I am today. I don’t know if I could have handled that ESPN spotlight with that first job.”