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Famous Flameouts
By Gary Van Sickle
Jenny Chuasiriporn She was the darling of the 1998 U.S. Women's Open, in which she lost a 20-hole playoff to Se Ri Pak. Instead of cashing in on her fame, Chuasiriporn returned to Duke for her senior year, helping the Blue Devils win the 1999 NCAA title. She has turned pro, but her ambition to play on the LPGA tour has gone unfulfilled. This year Chuasiriporn, 24, won a total of $1,146 in 11 Futures tour events, and she has decided to take a pass on LPGA Q school. Robert Landers A farmer from Azle, Texas, who caught lightning in a bottle when he earned a Senior tour card in the fall of 1995 and opened the '96 season playing in sneakers and using homemade clubs. Landers lasted two years on tour, winning $158,240 -- enough to pay off the mortgage on his house. He had heart surgery in '98 and, at 57, is back on the farm with his wife, Freddie. Paul Lawrie His victory at age 30 in the 1999 British Open -- the tournament Jean Van de Velde threw away -- was a happy accident. He has been a nonfactor since, with seven top 10 finishes on the European tour in two years. Brian Watts He lost the '98 British Open to Mark O'Meara in a playoff after making a brilliant sand save on the 72nd hole. Watts, 35, is no longer exempt on the PGA Tour. He finished 133rd on the money list last year, then missed at Q school by a stroke. Last January he underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum. Watts has played on sponsors' exemptions this year and ranks 94th in earnings in 13 starts. Gordon Sherry One golf writer, a fellow Scot, predicted that Sherry, the 1995 British Amateur champ, would be more successful as a pro than Tiger Woods. Not quite. The 6'8" Sherry had an amazing, but brief, run in '95. In the weeks following the Amateur he finished fourth in the Scottish Open, was low amateur at the British Open (four shots better than Woods) and led Great Britain and Ireland to victory in the Walker Cup. These days he plays the odd Challenge tour (Europe's version of the Buy.com tour) event but, at 27, has no status on any pro circuit. Steve Scott While a sophomore at Florida, he was 2 up on Woods with three holes to play in the final of the '96 U.S. Amateur. Woods rallied to win the title for a third straight year, and Scott lost his putting touch and went into a two-year funk. Married to Kristi Hommel, his caddie at the '96 Amateur, Scott, 24, plays on the Canadian tour, on which in June he won for the first time as a pro.
Issue date: September 17, 2001
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