Things are all right for lefthander Axley
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NORTON - Plaid is back. Bright red, hip-hugging plaid pants. The man from Tennessee is not afraid to say he likes fashion and the red plaid pants Eric Axley wore in the first round of the
Starting on the 10th tee in the same group as the purple-clad Aaron Baddeley, Axley cut a bright figure as he carved a path around TPC Boston, shooting a 6-under-par 65 to grab a share of sixth place with Ben Curtis after the first round. Axley is four shots back of leader Mike Weir, who shot a course-record-tying 61. Vijay Singh, John Merrick, Briny Baird, and Heath Slocum share second at 64.
Axley, 34, is a righthander who swings the club lefthanded. This is his third year on the PGA Tour, and though his lone victory came in 2006 at the
It's only since the US Open in June that Axley has been happy with his game. He had some things to work out, and his 2008 record in 26 tournaments played - only 16 cuts made and three top-10 finishes - demonstrates his erratic play. He's trying to smooth it out.
"I've been fairly happy since the US Open," Axley said. "Before the US Open, I wasn't happy at all. I started playing better there, I played well at John Deere - had a chance to win there and just didn't quite put it together on Sunday. I think I shot even par on Sunday and missed the playoff by one. I could have made it a lot better year by playing a little better on Sunday, but overall, it's been OK since the US Open."
The key, Axley said - well, he didn't really say. Prodded to describe his improvement, he said, "It's just some things I've been working on with my coaches. It's finally sunk in a little bit. Sometimes it's just a long process to trust it on a golf course and I kind of started trusting it a little more. It's the same things I've been working on for the past year and a half and kept creeping into old habits.
"I've just finally put those behind me a little more."
Axley turned pro in 1997, but it took him almost nine years to reach the PGA Tour. He almost gave up golf after a 1990 mountain biking accident required a year and a half of recovery, and then he spent a couple of years on the Nationwide loop. But now he seems to be on the move. He finished tied for ninth at the US Open, and followed with fourth-place finishes at the Reno-Tahoe Open and the John Deere Classic. He was back in the swing yesterday, one of a dozen players scoring strings of birdies in the morning rounds.
"He was finding fairways," said caddie Jeff King. "That's been our m.o. for the last couple of weeks.
"Early in the round, there were a few good up-and-downs [11, 12, 13], all 10-footers for par. He got momentum, although he did miss a couple of short putts. Then he played real solid on our back nine [the front], with one bogey when his 7-iron plugged on No. 3, and he missed a 12-foot par putt."
Axley also had four birdies on the front, nestling a sand wedge within 6 inches on No. 1, driving the green and two-putting from 35 feet on the 298-yard No. 4, sinking an 8-footer on No. 6, and chipping to 2 feet from just short of the green on the par-5 seventh.
"When he hits fairways," said King, "he does well."
Axley came to Norton in 72d on the
"You go out and play your best; the points and the money and what it does for you takes care of itself," Axley said. "It can get in the back of your mind a little bit, but it seems like in my position, being at 72 on the FedEx Cup points list, if I were just to make the cut it seems like I would advance.
"But there's more to it than that. You can kind of play your way into the top 30 and do a lot more than just make the cut and advance. So, there's a lot more going on than just advancing."
Barbara Matson can be reached at matson@globe.com.
