Larry Mize is trying to get his priorities back in order.
The 40-year-old Augusta native and 1987 Masters Tournament champion decided last year that it was time to give more attention to his golf, which had suffered from neglect in 1997. That year, he finished 99th on the money list, the lowest he'd been since his rookie year in 1982.
Mize rededicated himself to the game in 1998, playing in more events than normal. The result was he moved up to 62nd on the money list and almost won an event.
``I was encouraged by it, but I wasn't satisfied,'' Mize said. ``I played a lot better.''
In his life, Mize's top three priorities are faith, family and golf, in that order.
``Well, golf had probably slipped down a little bit,'' Mize admitted. ``It's hard to say what had come in there. Maybe I wasn't managing my time at home well. When I had time to practice, I wasn't taking advantage of it.
``My goal last year was to get it back and make sure golf was my third priority. I wanted to make sure when I had the time, to manage it better at home. If I took the kids to school, I wanted to go practice instead of doing whatever.''
Mize's commitment looked like it was going to pay off in last year's Hartford Open. He opened with rounds of 68-63-66 and led by four shots with four holes to play in the final round. He finished the round in double bogey, bogey, par, bogey fashion and ended up losing a three-man playoff to Olin Browne.
``I don't feel like I let up, but maybe I did,'' Mize said. ``It makes me want to continue to work and get there again.''
Mize ended up shooting 69 in the final round at Hartford, but he missed a golden opportunity to win what would have been his fifth PGA Tour title and first since 1993.
``Hartford is funny,'' Mize said. ``It's definitely the best I've played as far as having a lead like that and not winning. I obviously made some mistakes. What I took from there at the time was encouragement. I'd worked hard and got in contention. I played really well.''
Even in defeat at Hartford, Mize found himself revitalized by the game he loves.
``Golf is still what I want to do,'' Mize said. ``It's what God wants me to do because he's enabled me to play well. I still enjoy it. If you don't have a good time out here, you need to evaluate things.''
Mize played 24 events in 1998, the most in a year for him since 1985. This year, he's cutting it back to 20. He keeps his starts down in order to spend time at home in Columbus, Ga., with his wife, Bonnie, and their three boys, 12-year-old David, 10-year-old Patrick and 6-year-old Robert.
``That's what I'm shooting for,'' Mize said of the 20-event figure. ``It remains to be seen if I play that few. I'm going to try to hold it to 20, but there are so many good tournaments out here, it's hard to do.''
Going into the 1998 season, Mize was hoping to find some of the confidence he'd lost the year before.
``I didn't win, but I almost did and that increased my confidence,'' Mize said. ``That is what I needed because it had gotten low. Hartford helped me out a great deal. From the way I'd been playing, it was great to be in contention. I hadn't had a chance to win a golf tournament in a few years. I looked at the positives and went forward.''
Chip shots: Larry Mize
Mize refused to retry his 140-foot chip on No. 11 when Golf Magazine asked. He says he has not hit the shot since holing it to beat Greg Norman in a 1987 playoff.
Mize is making golf a big priority again
