Local amateurs get a treat

Haas hooks up with group at media day

By Jim McCabe, Globe Staff  |  May 15, 2008

For a few hours yesterday, a round of golf carried them back a few decades, to a time when professional golfers had to sell their sport and were willing to spend the time doing so.

Amateur golfers all of them, Bob Gallery, Ming Tsai, Bill Nelson, and Jen Ferron were at Nashawtuc Country Club in Concord as part of the annual media day for the upcoming Bank of America Championship when they got company. Jay Haas, the defending champion, went along for the back nine.

While it never was billed as such, it turned out to be a clinic - not so much in terms of helping the golf swing (though Haas did that, too), but in customer relations. Not only did Haas tee it up and play the final nine holes with the four amateurs, it was easy to see that he enjoyed it, and once again demonstrated why he's the consummate professional.

"I had a great time just seeing the look on their faces when they hit a good shot," said Haas, whose tips were met with rave reviews by his amateur partners.

"It's the lure of the game."

He fell for the game years ago and was nurtured along the way by his uncle, Bob Goalby, who can raise a glass to toast a couple of golfing anniversaries that have come around this year. It is the 50th anniversary of Goalby's first PGA Tour win and the 40th of his Masters victory. That is why Haas was in Belleville, Ill., Tuesday, for a party celebrating his uncle's achievements at a golf club where they both spent hours playing the game years ago.

But it was also his uncle's mentoring that sent Haas traveling late into Tuesday evening, to make sure he would be at Nashawtuc on time. After all, there is a Champions Tour these days and golfers in their 50s and 60s are still earning great money because of the efforts of Goalby and colleagues like Sam Snead, Don January, Gardner Dickinson, Julius Boros, and Dan Sikes back in 1980.

In those days, Haas was a youngster on the PGA Tour, focused on making a living. He was a 26-year-old with plenty of talent, but no crystal ball.

"There was no earthly idea we'd be playing golf at 54 for more money than when I started," said Haas, who 30 years ago won his first PGA Tour event and received a $40,000 check. Last June, after shooting 71-66-66 to win the Bank of America Championship by three strokes, the payday was $247,500.

The big paydays are the results of the way Goalby and his colleagues sold the tour to the business community and golf fans. Golfers of that era had understood that pro-ams and personal interaction with the public were important, and those lessons were passed down to young professionals like Haas. For a whopping 796 PGA Tour tournaments, Haas teed it up and you'd be hard pressed to find one person who could tell you of a time when the man didn't carry himself with great dignity and represent the PGA Tour with honor.

On a sun-splashed day at Nashawtuc, the Haas appeal was on display again.

"There's no other sport where you can do this," said Gallery, the Massachusetts president of the Bank of America, who took the occasion to play some splendid golf. It included a hole-out from 82 yards at the par-4 11th and pretty soon, the great golf became contagious. Ferron and Nelson, who work in the marketing department for the Patriots and Revolution, ran off a stretch of good holes, and Tsai drove it beautifully, right out there with Haas on several occasions.

The charismatic owner of the acclaimed Blue Ginger restaurant in Wellesley and a TV star of sorts with his "Simply Ming" PBS show, Tsai thoroughly enjoyed his golf alongside Haas and the feeling was mutual. They came to some sort of agreement, too. "I'm going to show him how to slice cucumbers and he's going to show me how not to slice a Pro VI," said Tsai.

Tsai and several other heralded chefs will donate their time during the tournament. For each of the three days they will present gourmet cuisine and fine wine to benefit Chris Spinazzola's "Grow Clinic," which addresses malnutrition of children in Boston. The charitable endeavor is very much at the heart of what these tournaments do and was one of the reasons Haas didn't hesitate to be part of the media day.

As for the tournament (June 20-22), he'll very much be part of that, too. "We are so grateful to be here," he said.

And with Haas, there's no doubt he meant it.

More than just a pretty swing

With Sergio Garcia's victory in The Players Championship, it's been duly noted that six of the last seven winners on the PGA Tour have been in their 20s, and it's become a sort of theme for many in golf to go on about. Just don't expect Jim Furyk to seize onto it.

"It's just an ebb and flow. We'll have a phase where a bunch of young guys win, a bunch of first-timers, and then we go through a phase where the old guys seem to be cleaning up," said Furyk, who celebrated his 38th birthday Monday. "There's always something."

In possession of a PGA Tour résumé that includes a US Open title and 12 other victories, Furyk has credibility. He also has one of the game's great homemade swings, nurtured by just one set of eyes - his father's. And the fact that he's so comfortable with what works for him is refreshing. So when he sounded a few alarms in some casual talk before the start of The Players Championship, it was worth listening to.

Specifically, Furyk is concerned about the next generation of competitive golfers.

"I think younger players are more polished, but I think the instruction some of the young kids are getting these days is both a positive and a negative," he said. "There are a lot of 14-year-olds on the range; they can't break 80, but they're out there working on their swings, so that part scares me, the mechanical [emphasis].

"I think our [young players] today are so worried about what their swing looks like and the mechanics of the swing, no one can actually play the game, which is important."

In these conditions, nothing subpar about their play

Scanning the scores and double-checking the performances, it wasn't hard to come up with a multitude of examples to show that conditions were extremely difficult at The Players Championship. The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass was simply a brute, thanks in large part to a steady wind that arrived Thursday, grew stronger Friday, and was whipping around from 20 to 40 miles per hour on the weekend.

So, how tough was it? Let us count the ways:

In Sunday's final round, nine of the 74 players failed to break 80.

The biggest number belonged to Jesper Parnevik, whose 85 represented the worst score he's posted in 1,117 PGA Tour rounds.

Two players - Troy Matteson (80-81) and Tommy Armour (80-80) went the weekend without breaking 80.

Kenny Perry didn't go as high, but considering he was just one shot off the lead, his 81 was perhaps the final day's most shocking score. He had shot a higher score just once in PGA Tour competition, in 1999, when he went for 82, also at Sawgrass.

Stephen Ames played the par-4 18th in 4 over for the weekend and while he didn't win, he did lead the field in one category - most double bogeys (five).

Had you walked along to watch J.B. Holmes over the weekend, chances are good you would have gotten seasick. He made just 11 pars in those 36 holes, as he mixed in 12 birdies, 12 bogeys, and a double bogey.

Heath Slocum had just five birdies and went a 47-hole stretch without any - from the 18th hole Thursday to the 11th Sunday.

Retief Goosen made just 10 birdies, none at either the par-5 second or par-5 11th.

Todd Hamilton played his first 20 holes in 4 under, his next 52 holes in 13 over.

Sitting 5 under at the 11th tee Saturday, Anthony Kim played the next 26 holes in nine bogeys, a double bogey, a triple bogey, and just two birdies.

At 50, Bernhard Langer made a spirited run, but in the end it might have been too much golf, because he played his weekend 36 holes in this fashion: 1 double bogey, 13 bogeys, 7 birdies, and just 15 pars.

Etc.

Tryon and try again
Having gotten in as a Monday qualifier, former phenom Ty Tryon shot 67-69-72-72 (tied for 37th) at the Nationwide Tour stop in Arkansas last week and earned his first check ($2,750) of any kind from a tournament associated with the PGA Tour. A month shy of his 24th birthday, Tryon basked in the spotlight as a 17-year-old who earned his way through the PGA Tour's qualifying tournament in 2001, but he has struggled to find his way ever since. Now married with a child, he's continuing his golf pursuit and for assistance he's recruited his 22-year-old brother, J.J., to caddie for him. "He's basically free, except for all the food he eats," Tryon told reporters in Arkansas.

The ball depository
When Paul Goydos's tee shot in the playoff landed short at the par-3 17th in The Players Championship, it was the 65th and final ball deposited in the water in this year's tournament. That's a lot of dimples, but it's no record. In fact, it falls somewhere in the middle when compared with the last six editions. Just last year, 93 balls found the water, including 50 in the opening round, and there were 68 wet ones in 2005. Then again, there was more commotion this year than in 2003 (29) and 2004 (30) combined. Asked if he had any island greens at his golf course in Franklin, Ky., Kenny Perry laughed. "No island greens at Country Creek. I would never treat my amateurs like that."

DiMarco missing the marks
The good news is, Chris DiMarco didn't make a double bogey in four rounds at The Players Championship. The bad news is, he didn't make many birdies, either, continuing his choppy play. In 33 rounds this season, DiMarco is now 59 over par, as he's missed eight cuts in 12 starts. To get an idea of how bad things have gone, the T-54 at TPC Sawgrass matched his best finish of the season . . . DiMarco is among a handful of players who committed last week to the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands (June 19-22) in Cromwell, Conn. Also calling in to reserve spots were Vijay Singh, Boo Weekley, Bubba Watson, J.B. Holmes, Fred Funk, and former champion Woody Austin.

They love Daly in Europe
Fairway news: John Daly finishes 23d in the Italian Open, one week after missing the cut in the Spanish Open, but he withdraws from this week's Irish Open.

Clubhouse view: So while PGA Tour events appear to be closed to him, every nation in Europe appears open to him.

Following in his footsteps?
It was 55 years ago when his grandfather played the first of his 32 US Opens and now Sam Saunders has taken the first step toward his possible debut. A baby step, perhaps, but still, it's in the right direction. The grandson of Arnold Palmer, Saunders shot 67 to place second Monday in a US Open local qualifier at MetroWest in Orlando, Fla., earning the right to go to a sectional qualifier . . . Among those notables with PGA Tour ties who advanced through various local qualifiers were Dennis Paulson, Hunter Haas, Garrett Willis, Chris Smith, and Dick Mast . . . At Shelter Harbor in Charlestown, R.I., Jason Parajeckas of Woburn shot 69 for medalist honors in a US Open qualifier last week. Also getting through were Jeff Dantas (Seekonk, R.I.) and Eddie Kirby (Wakefield, R.I.) . . . With fierce winds and cold temperatures hindering play, it was a tough day Tuesday at a US Women's Open local qualifier in Gladstone, N.J., but Rhode Islander Anna Grzebien got through with a 79, one of only eight players to break 80. So, too, did high school junior Brittany Altomare of Worcester advance with an 83. Kris Tschetter and Virada Nirapathpongporn were among the LPGA Tour notables who advanced.

Hooters player gets the call
If you come across a tournament at Achasta GC in Dahlonega, Ga., and you can back a golfer, you may want to see if Doug Dvorak is available. The Hooters Tour player shot 65 to earn medalist honors in a prequalifier to get into a Monday qualifier for this week's AT&T Classic in Duluth, Ga., then he earned a spot by shooting 65 again at Achasta. Unfortunately, it's too late for the PGA Tour to shift the tournament from TPC Sugarloaf to Achasta, so he'll have to make do.