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Better late than never?
Posted: Monday June 12, 2000 02:49 PM
Bob Heintz, a 1992 Yale graduate, won the Nike Tour Championship last fall to finish sixth on the money list and earn his PGA Tour card for 2000. Each Wednesday during the season, Heintz -- who is traveling with his wife, Nancy; his two children, Eryn and PJ; and his caddie, Andy Goodwin -- will give us a glimpse inside the life of a rookie PGA Tour professional. Last week at the Kemper Open Heintz shot 73-71 to miss the cut by one stroke. Tuesday, June 6 RYE, N.Y. -- Have you ever had the classic nightmare that you are late for school or work, and no matter how hard you try, you never make it on time? I lived that nightmare Tuesday morning at my U.S. Open sectional qualifier at Canoe Brook in Summit, N.J. I arrived in time to warm up, aware that I had a 7:35 tee time. What surprised me was that we were playing two courses, and I didn't know what course I was supposed to start on. About 12 minutes before the tee time, Andy asked the tournament director to direct us to the appropriate tee. He said we were on the South course, which was a healthy five-minute walk from the clubhouse. I sent Andy toward the tee, used the bathroom, then set off after him.
The weather was abysmal though, and I handled it poorly. Despite some outstanding short-game play, I shot two mediocre scores, and therefore will not see Pebble Beach again until next year. The bright side is that Dave Paterson, Yale's golf coach, was in attendance. He watched me carefully and gave me some things to work on this week with my swing. Apparently, my shoulders have been open to my target line and my backswing is not consistently finding the same plane. Fixing the shoulder alignment should be easier than grooving the takeaway. I'm looking forward to beginning those adjustments Wednesday. Hopefully, they'll get me started toward the more consistent performances I produced last year. We'll see ... and Westchester will be a tough test for my improvements. Last Thursday I was hitting balls on the range at the TPC at Avenel when I noticed Andy Bean practicing behind me. I decided to check out his action, see how the big man swings at it. He was hitting middle-iron shots to a target green on the far right edge of the range. As I watched the first shot land, my eyes drifted to the right, revealing a parking lot just a few yards from Mr. Bean's target green. Part of me thought he must have blocked the shot to hit it so close to those cars, but further observation of his routine showed that he truly was aiming at that green, mere feet from the parked cars! It didn't seem to bother him that a stray five-iron shot might take out a windshield, and he fired ball after ball safely at his target. Not feeling that comfortable with my own swing, I found myself both jealous and stressed out by his boldness, so I moved to the other end of the range! I don't know about you, but I couldn't live with myself if I doinked some poor guy's car. Funny, though, Bean probably didn't give it a second thought, and that's why he never hit a car. Confidence ... that's the bottom line. I didn't play so well on Thursday morning at Avenel. When I finished, I ate lunch with Nancy, then immersed myself in practice for the majority of the afternoon. It seemed to help a little on Friday when, despite two balls in the water on holes 12 and 13, I made a comeback for the cut line. My surge seemed to be falling short as I teed of on the long par-4 8th (my 17th). A thunderstorm was threatening, but we trudged on, trying to finish before the officials called us in for lightning. I finally struck a great iron shot at the 8th green, and my ball settled nine feet from the hole. Then play was suspended, and many folks thought we were done for the day. I checked the scoring computer during the delay and found that one over par would make the cut. I was three over, and looking at a very makeable birdie putt. If I could somehow make that one, then stick it close on my last hole ... the drama was building. The storm passed quickly and violently, and we were summoned to the course to finish up. I proceeded to roll that birdie putt right in the middle of the hole! It was exciting to be in a do-or-die situation, and I made a good swing at a nine-iron on the par-3 9th. My ball landed about 10 feet from the hole, but spun away another 10 feet because of the softness of the green following the rains. I gave the 20-footer a good run, but it burned the edge, ending my dramatic bid for a heroic finish. At least some of my in-laws were treated to a little excitement, although they were hoping to see more on the weekend. Present were my father-in-law, John, and his wife, Leslie, along with brother-in-law, John. Other fans included one of my sponsors, Bill McKee, and a great friend, Bobby Kelly. All of the pieces were in place for a great week, but I didn't quite get the job done on the course. The backup plan for Saturday was a trip to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club at Lake Manassas in Virginia (home of the inaugural Presidents Cup match). One of my sponsors from Richmond, Huntley Davenport, has a membership there. We had a great day and found the course to be quite a long test of golf. We changed our flight to New York to Sunday morning, and arrived at Westchester CC a little before noon. I picked up my courtesy car and proceeded down the street to the home of Tom and Cashie Egan, the people who are providing us with housing this week. Apparently, Tiger stayed with them shortly before winning one of his U.S. Am titles at the TPC at Sawgrass. Maybe I should find out which bed he slept in so I can dream the same dreams he did that week. Mr. Egan invited us to join him for a round at Winged Foot in the afternoon. Of course, we were more than happy to attend! I played O.K., managing a one-over 71, only beating Andy by three shots. He's a good stick, which can make for some fun matches. We were spoiled this weekend to have played two world-class courses. I wonder how many other caddies get that privilege? I'm happy to be able to share the experiences with Andy, and I hope they prove valuable to him as he explores the possibility of playing pro golf.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for topics you'd like to see discussed in future diaries, click here.
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