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"IF YOU LIKE GOLF"
online golf column
by
Chris Dortch
September 27, 2006
All those former hotshot amateur golfers from Chattanooga who are
toiling away in pro golf’s version of the bush leagues might have
gotten a little boost of confidence on Sunday. One of their own
finally made good.
Eric Axley, the native of
Athens,
Tenn. and a former East Tennessee State player, won the PGA Tour’s
Valero Texas Open. Those of you who remember Axley might remember
him for different reasons. But those of us who watched him play
amateur and collegiate golf remember that he had some game. On
Sunday, at 32 years old, the left-hander finally proved it.
Not that Axley wasn’t already a believer in his talent. You have
to have high self-esteem to subject yourself to what Axley went
through the last 10 years. He left ETSU after his sophomore season
in the early 1990s, kicked around playing state events for a
couple of years, then nearly gave up golf after a mountain bike
accident that hyper-extended the muscles in his right wrist so
severely he couldn’t even grip a club.
After more than a year away from the game, Axley returned, toiling
in obscurity on the mini tours from 1997 until last season.
Playing mostly on the Hooters Tour, where he won twice, Axley had
occasional brushes with success elsewhere. He qualified for the
2004 U.S. Open, his first PGA Tour event, but missed the cut. In
2005 he played in a couple of tour events and made a cut, in
Atlanta.
But his career took a dramatic turn in May 2005 after he
Monday-qualified into the Nationwide Tour’s Rex Hospital Open and
won the thing. It was just his sixth start on the Nationwide Tour.
“This feels awesome,” Axley said at the time. “It is hard to put
into words what this does for my career. It means everything.”
It
turned out he was right.
The money propelled Axley up the money list, and by season’s end,
he found himself playing in the Nationwide Tour Championship. He
finished second, and his 16th-place finish on the
tour’s final money rankings earned him a one-year exemption onto
the PGA Tour.
He missed the cut in his first four tournaments this season before
finally breaking through in his fifth, in Tucson. In great shape
for a top-five finish, he hit a driver out of bounds on the 13th
hole on Sunday and made a triple bogey.
“I
was in sixth place at the time and felt like I should have been in
the top five at the end; instead, I wind up in a tie for 24th,”
Axley said.
Still, he won $24,300, and $19,250 the next week at the Honda
Classic. He put together several decent finishes, but heading into
the final stretch of the season, Axley was in danger of losing his
tour card. Then in late August he got hot.
At
the Reno-Tahoe Open, Axley tied for 36th. He tied for
27th at the Deutsche Bank and 29th at the
Canadian Open. He missed the cut at the 84 Lumber, but then
blitzed the field at the Texas Open last week with a pair of 63s
in the middle rounds. He held a six-shot lead on the back nine on
Sunday, and with no one pressuring him, overcame a double-bogey at
No. 14 and a bogey at No. 17. He walked to the 18th tee
with a two-shot lead and proceeded to rip a drive on the par-4,
leaving him with just a 9-iron to the green. His approach landed
to about four feet and he drained the putt for the birdie and his
first PGA Tour win.
The
first-place check of $720,000 vaulted Axley almost 100 spots up
the money list to 87th. More importantly, he no longer
has to worry about the money list. He’s fully qualified to play
the tour for the next two years. The victory will earn other perks
as well. His sponsor, Titleist, is certainly happy; Axley’s
picture is already emblazoned on the equipment company’s website.
Axley told the media on Sunday that he “always believed” he’d win
a tour event. Now he’s done that, and he has a chance to set
himself and his family up for life.
“I
know a lot of it hasn’t hit home yet,” Axley said after he won.
“But I kind of have a grasp of what comes after a win. So yeah, it
is pretty cool.”
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