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Derek Ernst's less-traveled road to PGA Tour success

Mon, 06 May 2013 13:01:00 GMT

From the May 6 edition of Golf World Monday:

Derek Ernst didn't come from nowhere -- it just appeared that way because of whom he beat and how he won the Wells Fargo Championship. The unheralded 22-year-old rookie from Northern California emerged from a pack of faltering world-class golfers that included Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy and childhood idol Nick Watney before winning a playoff against David Lynn, runner-up in last year's PGA Championship.

Ernst got in as the fourth alternate at Wells Fargo and ranked No. 1,207 in the world when he arrived in Charlotte. He exited Quail Hollow with a spot in this week's Players and next year's Masters -- but that's not the most impressive part of his career. Not to Dwaine Knight, his college coach at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

To Knight, it was Ernst going through four stages of last year's Q school with a college degree. "It's interesting they don't get that shot any more," said Knight, referring to the emphasis put on the Web.com Tour and what that means to 2012 graduates like Ernst.

There is also a decorated amateur record that includes a runner-up to Corbin Mills in 37 holes of the 2011 U.S. Public Links and a victory over Billy Horschel in the opening round of the 2007 U.S. Amateur at The Olympic Club in San Francisco as a 17-year-old. But Ernst flew under the radar because his parents didn't have the resources to play an AJGA schedule.

"We're just humble, middle-class people," said his father, Mark, a risk manager for Financial Pacific Insurance. "He didn't jump on a plane [to play the AJGA] because we didn't have the $30-$40 grand, but I always felt you have to learn to win at whatever level you're on. I know they're all working guys [in the Northern California GA], but they're all 2-handicaps."

As a boy, Ernst played NCGA events like the Napa City Amateur and the Salinas Valley Amateur. It wasn't until college that he played events like the Sunnehanna and the Pacific Coast Amateur, learning from an instructor at a driving range near his home in Clovis called "Hank's Swank Par-3 Golf Course and Driving Range." His caddie at Quail Hollow, Aaron Terry, was his instructor.

Terry's deal was to charge Ernst minimum wage. He also worked with former Web.com Tour player Tommy Masters, who was Watney's coach before Watney moved over to Butch Harmon. But the person who helped him break through the mental barrier of missed cuts just came into his life last month.

That would be former LPGA player Susie Meyers at Ventana Canyon in Tucson. Meyers has been curator of Michael Thompson's career and was given props for Thompson's win at this year's Honda Classic. Ernst was on the alternate list that week, but when he didn't make the field drove to TPC Sawgrass for practice rounds, even though he was long way from qualifying for the Players.

So this is definitely not a kid from nowhere. He knew where he was going all along.

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Billy Horschel's family celebrates his journey to first PGA Tour win

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:57:00 GMT

By Tim Rosaforte

From the April 29 edition of Golf World Monday:

Summit View GC in rural Grant-Valkaria, Fla., (pop. 3,850) is totally overgrown today, but the memories are still vivid for Billy Horschel Sr. This 2,611-yard, par-58 is where his son grew up playing golf, back when Senior was a foreman for a local construction company, and before that part of a crew that put up dry wall and framing.

At his brother-in-law's home yesterday, Horschel watched his son win his first PGA Tour event with wife, Kathy, and four other family members. What did they do to celebrate Billy Horschel's victory in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans? "We all jumped into the swimming pool because we knew Billy couldn't with all those gators [in the ponds at the TPC Louisiana]. We jumped in clothes and all, shoes and everything. Then we broke out the champagne."

Golf's breakout star of 2013 couldn't have come from a more blue-collar background. With a win, a T-2, a T-3 and a T-9 in his last four starts, Horschel, 26, has moved to third behind Tiger Woods and Brandt Snedeker in the FedEx Cup standings and has qualified for the Players and next year's Masters. He is also the PGA Tour's most consistent player, having made 23 straight cuts. That's quite a leap considering he started the 2012 season without fully exempt status on the PGA Tour.

"I'm proud of where I came from," Horschel said from his car on the way to a night of celebrating in the Big Easy. "There are people back home who helped me out from the time I was a little kid to get me where I am now. Some people are still there, some have passed away, but they all know who they are."

Billy Horschel Sr., now 61, is at the top of the list. The story goes that before Horschel was allowed to play Summit View, his father made him hit a golf ball over their house. When Billy played baseball, his father was the coach. When I asked where Billy Jr. got his competitive toughness, there was never any hesitation from his dad.

"Probably from me," he said after his son shot 64 and birdied the 72nd hole to win by one. "I was always tough on him, but the Horschel family was always competitive. Between myself and Buddy Alexander, we molded him into what he is today."

Alexander, the University of Florida coach, told me he passed on a recruit who was a better player, "because something in Billy stood out with me." Part of that was the toughness, part of it the golf IQ. As a freshman he was an All-American. As a sophomore in 2007, he played on the same Walker Cup team as Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, Kyle Stanley and Webb Simpson. When he beat Rory McIlroy in singles at Royal County Down, Horschel didn't consider it an upset. "If you ask Billy, he'd say he was the equal of Rickie Fowler in college," Alexander said.

Over the past month, Horschel doesn't have many equals in pro golf. Riding in the car with him last night, Florida Gator big brother Chris DiMarco grabbed Horschel's cellphone and concurred.

"This is like my kid, and I'm not going to lie to you--he's so good, it's ridiculous," DiMarco said. "There's not a better golf swing on tour. There's not a better player on the planet right now."

Back home in Grant-Valkaria, they were still drying off.

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(Photo by Getty Images)

Golf World Monday: Why New Orleans is a good fit for Guan

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:11:00 GMT

By Tim Rosaforte

From the April 22 edition of Golf World Monday:

The flag of China waves alongside the Stars and Stripes at Lakewood GC in New Orleans--and for good reason. This former home to the tour stop now known as the Zurich Classic has become a home away from home for Tianlang Guan.

The golfer's connection with the Big Easy started with a family friend who hosted the Guans when the youngster tried to locally qualify for the U.S. Open at Lakewood. The 14-year-old has been in New Orleans since spending a week in the Masters spotlight. On Saturday he led a junior golf clinic while prepping for the Zurich, to which he was given a sponsor exemption.

In fact, he has become such a fixture around Lakewood that he now has a nickname. "We call him 'Langly,' '' says Jimmy Headrick, director of the club's junior golf program. "That's what Mom and Dad call him, so we call him that too."

From director of golf Brad Weaver welcoming him to Headrick's junior program, Langly has been made to feel welcome for all the right reasons. The club's fast greens also don't hurt.

"We're just one small spoke in the wheel," Headrick said. "What started out as friendship grew for all the right reasons. I think they saw we were real, that we were all about Langly being a young man who grows into the best he can be, not how we were benefiting from his presence."

Headrick is not Guan's swing coach; nor has he become a life coach. He won the PGA's Junior Golf Leader Award in 2008, three years after Hurricane Katrina wiped out his jobs as director of golf at Eastover CC and coach of the University of New Orleans' women's golf team. Already in his 50s, Headrick reinvented himself as part of the New Orleans golf revival, first helping the city get its First Tee Program back off the ground and now running a thriving junior program at Lakewood.

His diversified program features over 300 kids of Asian, Indian and African-American descent. He points out that 35 percent are girls, so in essence, this is a feeder program into Augusta National's new Drive, Pitch & Putt competition, along with the next generation of golfers.

On Saturday, Langly was the only golfer from China on the practice ground at Lakewood. As part of his role as golf ambassador, he gave a 90-minute junior golf clinic to his contemporaries. He was asked about being in the Butler Cabin, playing with Tiger Woods and his first-tee nerves.

"The key is when a child takes ownership of his or her love of the game," Headrick said. "When it becomes their golf game, the motivations come from themselves. They see that in this young man, and it inspires them. Langly has taught us more than we can ever teach him."

Yes, he spent three weeks at Augusta prior to the Masters and was the only amateur to make the cut. And yes, he's going to be playing his first non-major U.S. tour event on a 7,425-yard TPC Louisiana. But when you get right down to it ...

"He is still a junior golfer," Headrick said. "No matter what everybody says, he's just a kid."

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Adam Scott's win is twice redeeming

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 18:12:00 GMT

By Tim Rosaforte

From the April 15 edition of Golf World Monday:

Greg Norman was home on Jupiter Island in Florida last night, living and dying and ultimately crying joyous tears as his apprentice attempted to win the Masters and break a 77-year-old spell.

"Blank me," Norman typed at 7:05 p.m. "The golfing gods can't be this mean to Australia."

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This message came through just as Angel Cabrera stuck his approach shot on the 72nd hole of the Masters to two feet, soon matching Adam Scott's closing birdie. It looked like the same sad old story for the Land Down Under. If Norman didn't beat himself at Augusta, somebody else beat him.

"Now I know how everyone felt when he was there," was the next message at 7:17 as Scott and Angel Cabrera went down the 10th hole for the first playoff hole. When I texted back: "Hold on, you're still alive," Norman responded instantaneously. "I am, and I am believing so hard. All my energy and belief is with him."

Scott stayed home from school and watched Norman lose a six-shot lead to Nick Faldo in 1996. He visited Norman's compound shortly after that and stayed in Greg's beach house. In the midst of a slump, he was Norman's Presidents Cup pick in 2009. When he experimented with the long putter in early 2011, it was on Norman's putting green. When he bogeyed the last four holes of last year's British Open, one of the first people to reach out was Norman.

So when Scott birdied the 10th hole for the jacket at 7:46 p.m., a text came through almost instantaneously. "Finally SO happy for him...I have a few tears in my eyes...now I have a lot of tears in my eyes!!!"

Norman made it a point not to reach out to Scott and countrymen Jason Day and Marc Leishman as they stacked up on the Augusta National leader boards. He didn't want to put added pressure on them.

The jinx was on Scott's mind, but so was the T-2 he recorded at Augusta in 2011, and the productive run in major championships he has produced since then, including the sad runner-up at Royal Lytham that was reminiscent of Norman's heartbreaks.

In the Butler Cabin, Scott acknowledged that by singling out Norman as his idol. "There was one guy who inspired a nation of golfers, and that's Greg Norman," Scott said. "He's been incredible to me and a generation of golfers in Australia. Part of this goes out to him."

Earlier in the week I sat down with Scott for a Q&A that was part of a function hosted by Mercedes-Benz. Scott acknowledged that losing the British Open nine months ago was softened by losing to one of his close mates, Ernie Els.

He talked in reverential tones about Norman. In one of the closing questions, I asked, "Who is going to win the Masters this week?"

After a pause, Scott showed the bravado he showed in the playoff against Cabrera, the type of self-confidence he supposedly lacked.

"I would be kidding myself if I was sitting here telling myself I couldn't win this week," he said. "Absolutely, I could win this week."

Turns out, the Golf Gods weren't so mean to Australia after all.

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Golf World Monday: Masters field gets set

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 14:01:00 GMT

By Brendan Mohler

The conclusion of the Shell Houston Open meant the finalizing of the Masters field (except for the spot saved for the winner of this week's Valero Texas Open, provided he is not already invited).

Among those who locked up spots in the World Ranking's top 50 was Henrik Stenson, whose final-round 66 earned him a T-2 at Houston, where he needed to finish no worse than solo 13th. Fredrik Jacobson and Richard Sterne have also earned trips to Augusta, despite neither having played last week.

Narrowly missing out on a spot was Augusta native Charles Howell II, who needed to finish fifth in Houston but finished T-10, with middle rounds of 72-70 hurting his cause.

Marcel Siem, who won the European Tour's Trophee Hassan II, temporarily sat inside the top 50 (at No. 49) but was edged by the finishes of Stenson and Russell Henley. The latter shot 68 Sunday in Houston, where a T-45 landed him No. 50 on the ranking, .0251 points ahead of Siem.

Former U.S. Open champ Geoff Ogilvy, who began his week at No. 50, missed the cut in Texas, dropped outside the magic number and withdrew from this week's San Antonio event after playing 10 of the last 11 weeks.

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Golf World Monday: Rory's noticeable no-show

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:40:00 GMT

By E. Michael Johnson

From the March 25 issue of Golf World Monday:

Photo by Getty Images

Even when not playing, Rory McIlroy (shown watching girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki play a tennis match Thursday in Key Biscayne, Fla.) is a topic of conversation. However, it wasn't just that McIlroy took a week off. He took a pass on the Arnold Palmer Invitational and when you get an invite from The King, people expect you to show -- among them, Palmer.

"Frankly, I thought he was going to play," said Palmer. "I was as surprised as a lot of people when he decided he was not going to play."

Graeme McDowell, however, backed his fellow Ulsterman. "I don't think he is disrespecting [Palmer]," said McDowell. "It's Arnold's tournament, and he's an icon of our sport, but we all know what schedules are all about."

McDowell referenced his own experience with Jack Nicklaus' Memorial tournament, saying he was "embarrassed" about not playing, but it was merely a scheduling issue.

"I feel for guys like Rory who are in the spotlight," McDowell continued. "But it's a 50-50 one. The guys want to be here, and they want to respect the legends and traditions of the sport. But it's hard to play every week."

As McIlroy found out, sometimes it's hard not playing too.

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Jordan Spieth takes cues from Justin Leonard

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:05:00 GMT

By Tim Rosaforte

From the March 18 issue of Golf World Monday:

Instead of running marathons, Justin Leonard is doing push-and-carry walk-a-thons with his children. That's what turning 40 and having a family will do for you. Golf drops down the priority list to outside the top five. "You know it defined me back then, and that was OK because I was playing great," Leonard said during a revival at the Tampa Bay Championship.

Leonard isn't playing so great anymore. His T-4 at Innisbrook Resort & GC was his first top-10 since last year's Reno-Tahoe Open. He is coming off his worst year on tour, has turned to the jumbo putter grip and spends more time at school plays, soccer practices and karate matches than he does beating balls at Royal Oaks CC in Dallas. Bad years don't eat at him anymore, and finishes like his back nine on the Copperhead Course, when he dropped shots with a chance to win, are easier to deal with.

Photo by Getty Images

"Well, you know, I vacillate between feeling pretty old and not feeling very old," Leonard said. "But when I get out there between the ropes, and I don't have some 25-year-old giving me grief, I feel pretty good."

Jordan Spieth (above) is where Leonard was 19 years ago--a kid out of the University of Texas who turned pro hoping to get a tour card without going through Q school. Leonard did it on the last event of the 1994 season. Spieth, 19, is all but secure for the remainder of the 2013 season.

In four PGA Tour events, including a T-7 in Tampa Bay, Spieth has earned enough to gain special temporary status. What this means is unlimited sponsor exemptions. Coming off a T-2 in the Puerto Rico Open, Spieth can take a week off and set his schedule after an odyssey of playing four countries in four weeks. Spieth started his run with a T-7 in the Panama Claro Championship and a T-4 in the Colombia Championship on the Web.com Tour.

"I can't imagine being out here at 19 and to do what he's done," Leonard said. "He hasn't just driven a couple hundred miles. He's been to four different countries this year already. It's pretty remarkable."

The 1997 British Open champion has been mentoring Spieth since the 2010 HP Byron Nelson Championship, when the then 16-year-old from Brook Hollow GC said he was there to win, contended into the back nine Sunday, and tied for 16th. Spieth didn't know then that Leonard had accomplished what he would attempt to accomplish three years later. The list of players who got their card without Q school includes Leonard, Gary Hallberg, Scott Verplank, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Ryan Moore and Bud Cauley.

"I'm a little surprised to see this happen so soon," Spieth said before going to dinner Sunday night in Tampa. "But I wouldn't say I surprised myself to be in contention this many times."

Spieth has his goals set toward being the No. 1 player in the world some day, to breaking the major championship record held by Jack Nicklaus, to doing what Rory McIlroy has done the last two years. What does he hope to be doing by the time he reaches 40 like Leonard?

"I've never thought of that before," Spieth said. "But I'd say hopefully doing exactly what Justin Leonard is doing. I hope I have family of my own then, living in Dallas, playing the PGA Tour, and hopefully be a major champion like he is."

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Zinger's Corner Podcast: Tiger gets a little help from a friend

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:36:00 GMT

Listen to the podcast

By Ryan Herrington

It's rather common, explains Paul Azinger during this week's podcast, for tour pros to offer each other advice, particularly when they are as close as Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker. "It just turned out unfortunately for Stricker that Tiger ended up beating him by a couple of shots," said Azinger when discussing the putting tip that aided Woods at Trump Doral as he walked off with the WGC-Cadillac Championship title.

Azinger and Jaime Diaz discuss what went right for Tiger and how it sets him up for the Masters. Azinger also takes time to reflect on the recent passing of his father.

Download and subscribe to the Zinger's Corner series in iTunes

(Photo by Chris Condon/PGA Tour)

Golf World Monday: TSA policy's golf "challenge"

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 13:10:00 GMT

By Jim Moriarty

From the March 11 issue of Golf World Monday:

The TSA, guardians of the near-naked full-body scanner, vigilant confiscators of aftershave and minty fresh mouthwash in excess of 3.4 fluid ounces, dutiful practitioners of the little old lady pat down, has declared that, in the future, it will be acceptable to travel with lacrosse sticks, ski poles and, most importantly, no more than two carry-on golf clubs.

Hailed by sportsmen far and wide, this newly relaxed policy does present a downside risk. Since your average golfer travels with 14 clubs, we -- and I think I can speak for all of us here -- are now faced with the dilemma of which two to choose for this preferential treatment and which dozen will be left to the mercy of heartless baggage handlers like innocent lambs led to the slaughter of the fatted Louis Vuittons.

Naturally, the putter and the driver are the two clubs that leap to mind as the most idiosyncratic, neurotic and, frankly, vengeful and, for that reason alone, seem to be the likeliest choice for the overhead bin of history.

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After all, imagine the reaction of either one of those two if we were to select a couple of, say, mid-irons at random. Who among us can afford to gratuitously insult either club?

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It's a 'major' day at Seminole GC

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 14:18:00 GMT

By Tim Rosaforte

Rickie Fowler warmed up for his title defense of one of club golf's major championships by finishing T-13 in the Honda Classic yesterday. Today he will be at the Seminole GC pro-member with partner Buddy Marucci in hopes of getting his name on the locker room wall a third consecutive time.

"It's the first major of the year, so I'm playing to win," Fowler said half-kidding at PGA National. "It's cool to walk in there and have your name permanently on the board."

Photo by Getty Images

In the northeast corner of the Seminole locker room is a piece of mahogany with names that date to 1937. Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Jimmy Demaret and Arnold Palmer won this event, as did Bing Crosby, with Gardner Dickinson as his partner. As Lee Westwood said hitting putts before the third round of the Honda, "Everybody wants their name on the board for the Seminole Pro-Member. It's a Who's Who."

The name on the wall is just part of what this is all about. "The tradition, the history, the people there -- it's such a good vibe," said Graeme McDowell. "The first year I played there, I don't think could conceive the magnitude of it, when you see Nicklaus, and Palmer and all these legends of the game, plus having the mystique of Hogan kind of just there. There are just so many good people, obviously powerful people, but that's [secondary]. It's just such a phenomenal golf course."

First off in the cold at 7:30 a.m. are the South African major championship winners (and Palm Beach Gardens residents) Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel. Ray Floyd, the club's only touring pro member, has an afternoon time with Alfy Fanjul, the sugar magnate. Palmer is on the tee at 9:30 with outgoing club president Tim Neher, who reinvented this event in 2004 (reviving the Seminole Amateur-Professional that attracted tour players from 1937 to 1961).

Paired with Fowler and Marucci are four-time club champion Kelly Miller and Sony Open winner Russell Henley. Jay Haas is playing in the same pairing as his son, Bill Haas. Adam Scott is with his mentor, Greg Norman. There are two Harmons in the field, Butch and Craig; their father Claude was the club's pro from 1945-1957, and holder of the course record (60).

There are some players -- like Haas, Scott, Zach Johnson, Bo Van Pelt, Nick Watney and Matt Kuchar -- who didn't play the Honda but are playing the Pro-Member on their way to Doral for the WGC-Cadillac Invitational. On that list is Luke Donald, who lives at The Bear's Club in Jupiter and plays the Pro-Member with fellow Northwestern alum Eric Gleacher.

This is not for charity or a corporate sponsor. This is about playing a Donald Ross masterpiece along the Atlantic, and as McDowell alluded, having the Seminole experience. Ernie Els, who plays with Johann Rupert, once traveled overnight in 2005 after a victory in Dubai and walked through the locker room doors at The 'Nole in time for his afternoon tee time. Els and Rupert won low net in '04.

"It's such a great day of golf at a place that is all about golf," said retired Deutsche Bank CEO Seth Waugh, who will be playing with Justin Rose. "I was asking Davis Love III about his neck [surgery], and he said, 'The only bummer is I'll miss two majors, the Seminole Pro-Member and the Masters.'"

This column first appeared in the March 4 issue of Golf World Monday.

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