For Old Course newcomer Overton, it's love at first sight
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland -- He was only a few swings into his first round on the most hallowed ground in the game when he uttered an insightful mouthful, given his experience hereabouts.
Rising PGA Tour standout
|
|
| Jeff Overton finished third at the AT&T National outside Philly two weeks ago. (Getty Images) |
"I love this kind of golf," said Overton, who finished T13 last year in his second British Open. "Your golf swing doesn't matter. There is no right or wrong way to play -- you just play."
Every fifth year, the British Open is staged at the home of golf, prompting flowery tributes, misty-eyed recitations of the Old Course's storied past, tall tales from former players and gushing testimonials from those who have grown to love the quirky nuances of the place.
As the Monty Python gang used to say: "Now, for something completely different."
Figuring it might be fun to walk the venerable track with a veritable St. Andrews rookie, I jumped inside the ropes with the personable Overton and his veteran caddie, Eric Larson, during their initial practice round and acted partly as a fly on the wall, partly as tour guide.
As the Beatles once crooned: Load up for the Mystery Tour, load up.
In a way, it was a comedic case of the blind leading the blind. Larson had worked the British Open at the Old Course in 1995, then missed the past two visits here for, shall we say, personal reasons. I had defiled the sacred grounds exactly once, in a casual round in 2007.
But compared to Overton, we were seasoned veterans. At times, he looked like Bambi after the hunters shot his mom. On the third tee, when ESPN broadcaster Andy North wandered up while doing some pre-tournament research, Overton was looking for any inside info he could glean.
"Hey, Mr. Commentator, where do you hit it here?" Overton said, pointing in the vague direction of the fairway, located somewhere over yonder hillock.
North then gave Overton the best tip he will ever receive at St. Andrews, one imparted from veterans to rookies for a century or so -- you almost can't go wrong by hitting it dead left all day long, since the outward nine runs away from the clubhouse, and the inward nine runs parallel coming home. Pretty much everybody has heard it, but it seemed to be news to Overton, who must have felt truly akin to a virgin being tossed in a volcano.
As North, a two-time major winner, walked a few holes with Overton, he took delight in coaching up the impressionable 27-year-old with a few pearls of wisdom. He pointed at a nearby pot bunker, which seemed oddly out of place given the design of the third hole.
"I guarantee you, you will see a bunker out here that you have never seen before and say, 'Why the heck did they put that bunker here?'" North laughed as Overton listened attentively. "Then the wind will switch. And you'll hit a ball in that same bunker and go, 'Ah, that's why.'"
As he tours the front nine, Overton is bristling with excitement and rightly so. St. Andrews is a mythic place in the States, shrouded in seaside mists and haunted by the ancient ghosts of Old Tom Morris, Harry Vardon, Bobby Jones and the game's foreign Mt. Rushmore figures. But mostly he's giddy because he is playing better than he has ever played, and he wanted dearly to land a spot in the tournament.
Overton is still seeking his first PGA Tour victory, but has posted two seconds and two thirds in the past 2½ months, including two weeks ago at the AT&T National. He's 14th on the FedEx Cup points list and has an outside shot at making the U.S. Ryder Cup team if he keeps his mojo working. Plus, he didn't qualify for the first two majors of the year. So when he got a call last week informing him that he and rookie Rickie Fowler had earned spots based on being the two highest-ranked players in the world not already in the British Open field, he was deliriously happy.
| Related links |
|
Up & Down: Creamer continues U.S. win streak Tiger to play Thursday-Friday with Rose, Villgas British Open: All-time winners | Full coverage Bleacher Report: Holes that will cause trouble |
"I was so bummed when I missed at the qualifier, then missed on the last-minute money list," he said. "I didn't want to sit this one out."
How badly did he want to play on the Auld Sod? When he landed a spot, he bought plane tickets for himself, his parents, caddie and girlfriend: Total price, around $20,000.
"And I was the only one who flew first class," he shrugged as he putted on one of the Old Course's seven double greens, perhaps the course's most unique characteristic.
Overton nearly aimed at the wrong flag a couple of times in his maiden voyage, much to everybody's mutual amusement. It was noted that white flags mark the holes on the outgoing nine and red flags are used on the inward half. On the seventh hole Overton asked Larson for a yardage that didn't seem quite right.
"It's 90 yards to the front and 121 to the flag," Larson said.
"What?" said Overton, who then pointed at another nearby flag. "Then what's that one?"
"That's the flag on the par-3 [11th]," Larson said.
The holes actually intersect, and with a double green, it's yet another quirky element to the St. Andrews lore.
Having missed a fairway, Overton finally took note of how deep, and steep, the pot bunkers are. Many are tantamount to a half-shot penalty, since players have to pitch out sideways and hope for the best at saving par.
"Gotta avoid some of these bunkers, E," he said to Larson.
"The walls on some of those things make them look like a jail cell," I chimed in wittily, before realizing what had been said.
Larson caddied for former British Open winner Mark Calcavecchia for years, including at the 1995 Open at St. Andrews, but later that year began serving an 11-year sentence for drug trafficking and missed the 2000 and 2005 Opens at the Old Course. He has talked openly about his mistake, served his time without complaint and has been warmly welcomed back into the tour fold.
"Sorry, Eric, no slight intended," I said, staring at my feet.
Larson immediately laughed and lightened the mood.
"No offense taken," he said.
Making the scouting session more difficult is the lunar landscape at St. Andrews, where there aren't any trees to use as aiming points on a course filled with blind tee shots. The stroke-saver course guide features panoramic shots from the tee box, using TV scaffolds and bleachers to help players pick targets on what is otherwise a nearly bare horizon.
|
|
| Steve Williams scouted the St. Andrews course for his famous client Sunday. (AP) |
"Thank God for these," said Kuchar's caddie, first-time visitor Lance Bennett, looking at the helpful horizon photos in the yardage books. "You can't see anything out here."
Bennett has never been here before, either. Overton rakes a few putts on the fifth green, marveling at its immensity. It measures 93 yards from front to back edge.
"At what point do they not put the flag back any farther?" he asked.
Probably when they hit the Eden Estuary, which runs behind the holes in the so-called "Loop," perched on a promontory and all but surrounded by water. When Overton reached the 11th green, the wind was blowing so strong, his 10-foot putts keep rolling up the slope to the hole, then right back to him, pushed by 30 mph gusts. Overton grew increasingly more amused.
"What will they do to if I do this," he said, hammering in a four-footer that was still rolling.
Add two penalty shots to your score, probably. A moment later, as he stood on the 12th tee, the wind positively howled.
"I can't hold the driver straight," he said as he positioned the club at address.
Earlier, on the 10th hole, he shoved his drive on the double-fairway hole into the adjoining ninth, at which point he learned of another Old Course nuance -- congestion.
"From here, guys [on No. 9] are going to be hitting it right over your head," he marveled. "How long's it going to take to play this hole?"
Halfway through, Overton turns to his caddie and spectator and asks, "Is this a par-72 course?"
Assured that it is, Larson reiterated that it has two par-5s and a pair of par-3 holes, making it an oddity. That leaves 14 par-4s, which is why Overton sensed some sameness, though each par-4 has its own peccadilloes.
"I sorta feel like I have played the same hole over and over," Overton said. "Par-4, wind down and off the left, down and off the left, down and off the left."
Better than down and out, which is where a couple of aggressive driver shots end up, landing in areas that Overton kept calling "that green stuff." That would be gorse, of course, the Scottish fauna that has all the horticultural properties of razor wire.
The highlight of the day was when Overton walked along the gravel path and a rock wall situated down the right side of the 14th hole and blurted out, "Is this the Road Hole?"
Yep, he's truly an impressionable, wide-eyed first-timer. The most famous par-4 in the world, the Road Hole is actually the 17th. Before we arrive, some of the oddly named bunkers along the way were pointed out, like the Hell Bunker on the 14th and Principal's Nose, a cluster of three pot bunkers on the 16th.
Overton finally hit a ball in a greenside bunker at the 14th and had to take an awkward one-legged stance, with the steep riveted wall right in front of him. He somehow extricated the ball, and out of pure habit after executing a solid shot, instinctively gave a golf wave to his gallery ... of zero. There wasn't a soul within 100 yards.
"It was for that guy way over there, with binoculars," he laughed.
Overton admitted as he walked the 15th that he has actually played St. Andrews before: On one of the Tiger Woods video games.
"Those are so unrealistic, because you hit, like, a 400-yard drive and 9-iron on every hole," he said.
Finally playing the downwind holes, Overton is bashing balls so far he's hitting short clubs into greens, too. As we finally reach the famed 17th, Overton eyes the controversial new tee box, which is actually located beyond the Old Course's out-of-bounds markers. Trouble is, the former Walker Cup player never saw the old tee box, so he doesn't know the difference.
The St. Andrews Hotel is famously blocking his view of the fairway landing area, as it has for decades of golfers. The green, wooden railway sheds, with the hotel logo painted on the side, have been freshly painted. Larson imparts the sage advice given to the uninitiated by many loopers before him.
"Go right over the 'O' in hotel and it's a 274 carry to the fairway," he said.
"Hit over the 'Ho' in Hotel?" Overton laughs.
I think he just made a Tiger Woods joke, but I could be wrong.
As we approach the green, it's suggested to Overton that he should hit some balls out of the greenside Road Hole Bunker, where David Duval once took four swipes to escape in 2000, costing him a chance at winning. Constantino Rocca also slapped it around in the same spot five years earlier, though that particular episode wasn't mentioned.
Overton rolled his eyes as he heard about the bunker's lore and blasted two shots from the sand. The rule of negativity had been unwittingly violated. Never tell a player, "Don't hit it there or you're dead." Say something more constructive, like, "We want to play down the left side on this hole."
On the 18th, he made the awe-inspiring walk back into the Auld Gray Toon, where the final hole is lined with golf shops, restaurants and hotels situated perhaps 20 yards from the fairway. If he didn't already, Overton better understood the magnitude of the day. It was all business earlier, but at that point it washed over him.
"That is one pretty cool view right there," he said.
Then he chili-dipped a chip shot into the veritable dry moat fronting the green, called the Valley of Sin. Trying to be helpful, but probably sounding more like a know-it-all, it's pointed out that Rocca holed a putt for birdie from the same spot in 1995. Overton gave me a look.
"Uh, I could probably do without all the Valley of Sin talk and stuff," he said.
Funny how most of the St. Andrews golf stories revolve around disasters. Probably not what a first-timer needs to hear.
Overton finished up and tried to take it all in. He was jet-lagged something fierce after flying in earlier Sunday morning, but he seems to understand the magnificence of a course that is often an acquired taste.
For years, Lee Westwood never liked the Old Course, but eventually learned to appreciate its genius, nuances and novelties. Scott Hoch once called it a "mess" and never lived it down. Woods fell in love the first time he played it and unabashedly calls it his favorite major-championship venue, ever. Jack Nicklaus' dad called it a "goat track," but his son won two British Opens on a course he personally grew to love.
Overton overdosed on double greens, hidden bunkers, teeth-chattering winds that move balls, double fairways, blind tee shots, one-legged stances, and acres of "the green stuff."
"Awesome," he said, grinning like a kid at Christmas. "Loved it, all of it. I really didn't know what to expect. It's exciting stuff.
"You have to hit all kinds of shots, make stuff up as you go along, and that makes it fun. It really requires a lot of shot making and I love that style of golf, especially at a place like St. Andrews.
"With all of the wind changes, today some of the bunkers came into play that won't come into play tomorrow if it changes. You have to hit your points and keep it out of the bunkers out here.
"I am letting it all soak in. I am aware that it's considered the oldest course in the world, the home of golf and all. There are so many little things about it that are so neat, I don't know if you can ever learn all of it."
In terms of his mythic predecessors in the professional game, Overton's grandfather's grandfather's grandfather played at St. Andrews, on effectively the same track. After just a small taste, a veritable crouton on the St, Andrews salad, he's already a true believer.
"You know," he said, "It's just so cool that we can play a tournament like this on the same golf course they did. Maybe we should play here every year."
