March 8, 2002
Jerry Smith's columns appear monthly here at www.GoBaylorBears.com. Smith, a former Baylor golfer, is now enjoying life on the PGA tour and will be writing a monthly column for the website detailing the world of pro golf.
Welcome to another edition of Life on the PGA Tour. With my first Top 10 of the year coming at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last month, I thought I'd write about my favorite events on Tour and how I go about selecting the events in which I play.
When I sit down in December to map out my schedule for the coming year I take a few things into account. I attempt to space out my tournaments so as to pace myself for a 10-month season. I like to play two-to-five events consecutively before taking a week - sometimes two - off. I also try to play those events where the course suits my game or ones that I simply enjoy playing.
Pebble Beach fulfills both as it is a beautiful course and tailored to my game. It is hard to describe the beauty of the Monterrey Peninsula, but if you are a serious golfer, it is one place you must visit. This particular event is staged over three courses - Pebble Beach, Spyglass and Poppy Hills. Each pro is paired with an amateur partner.
Only 25 teams make the cut for Sunday's final round, along with the top 60 pros and ties. This is a major accomplishment for the amateurs (typically CEOs, movie stars, athletes and musicians) who pay upwards $10,000 for this opportunity. One person who never made this cut was the famous Jack Lemmon. Mr. Lemmon, who was always paired with Peter Jacobsen, probably wanted more than anyone to grace the fairways of Pebble Beach on Sunday.
My three years at Pebble have added to my fondness for this event with finishes of 42nd, 27th and this year a tie for 5th. I had the pleasure to be in the same group on Sunday with the winner, Matt Gogel. I told Matt after he birdied 18, putting him in a tie for the lead at the time, that no matter what happened, he played like a champion. By the time he had signed his scorecard, Pat Perez (Tour rookie) had hit his tee shot on the final hole out of bounds and his fourth shot into the Pacific Ocean, handing Matt the well-deserved trophy. If you remember in 2000, Matt lost a seven-shot lead with six holes to play to a guy named "Tiger."
As the year progresses, the events I look to play depend largely on the geographic location, the type of grass and the style of the course (I prefer the traditional type golf course more so than the new TPC stadium courses being developed by the Tour).
The events staged in Hawaii, Texas and Florida, which are played on Bermuda grass, are always some of my favorites. I think having played collegiate golf in Texas and several years professionally overseas in Asia, I have become accustomed to this kind of surface. I also feel I putt better on Bermuda than the bent grass normally found in the northern part of the U.S.
A native Iowan, I also enjoy getting back to the Midwest and playing the events in Chicago, Milwaukee and the Quad Cities. It reminds me of where I first learned how to play the game of golf and gives my family and old friends an opportunity to watch me play.
Finally, I have always been a traditionalist and it is no different when it comes to golf courses. Usually, you will find this type of venue out East or in the Northwest. The majority of our major championships are played on several of these great old tracks. Many of our early course designers simply used the terrain given to them to build a golf course. Today, courses are more frequently created amidst resorts and residential developments.
I have a similar opinion about equipment. I foresee many of these grand old courses becoming obsolete because of what the new ball and driver technology is doing to the game. I will have to save that topic for a future column!
Go Bears,
Keep an eye out for Jerry this month and next at the Bay Hill Invitational, The Players Championship, Shell Houston Open, Worldcom Classic and Greater Greensboro Chrysler Open (schedule subject to change).
