The way Neil Spitalny figures it, the best thing that ever happened to him was that he couldn’t putt a lick in college.

Despite that obvious handicap, Spitalny was a two-time All-Big Ten player at Michigan in the early ’70s. But he didn’t roll the ball well enough to consider taking a run at professional golf, and that made him take a more prudent career path. He went to medical school, became an orthopedic surgeon and has run a successful practice in Chattanooga for years.

In between knee surgeries and hip replacements, he’s also played some good golf over the years. He won the Chattanooga Men’s Metro in 1993 and 1994—his peak years—and always seems to be among the leaders in local and state amateur events.

In recent years, Spitalny hadn’t been having too much fun on the golf course, his old nemesis—putting—having reared its ugly head. But this summer, an amazing transformation took place. Spitalny is putting better than he ever has, and the results have been impressive.

Last month at historic Beverly Country Club outside Chicago, Spitalny shot rounds of 77-71 to qualify for match play in the U.S. Senior Amateur, won his first-round match 3 and 2 over Steve Whittaker of Becker, Minn. and shot 4-under in his second-round match against George Zahringer of New York, N.Y., only to lose, 1-up.

Spitalny left Chicago brimming with confidence, and it showed on Thursday in the first round of stroke-play qualifying for the Chattanooga TPC at Council Fire.

The 58-year-old Spitalny shot a 5-under-par 67, by far the day’s best round, four shots clear of Brandon Cissom, who shot the day’s only other sub-par round.

Before Spitalny posted his 67, the story of the day was all the high scores turned in by some of Chattanooga’s best amateurs. The reason: Council Fire’s rough has grown to frightening lengths after the September deluges that dumped record amounts of rain on the city.

The tall stuff didn’t matter much to Spitalny, though. He’s always been a consistent driver and keeps the ball in the fairway most of the time. Now that he’s putting so well, the game has changed for him.

“It makes it much more enjoyable,” said Spitalny, who took 28 and 26 putts in his two U.S. Senior Amateur rounds. “It takes a lot of pressure off your irons, because you don’t have to hit it close to make birdie, and you don’t have to worry about missing greens because you can get the ball up and down.”

Actually, Spitalny was seven under for the day. He played a morning round in the TGA Championship Series at Bear Trace and shot 70.

So what the heck happened to Spitalny’s putting? Could it be, as three-time TPC champion Pat Corey groused when he saw Spitalny’s score posted, that he’s been “playing too damn much golf?”

Spitalny has been practicing and playing more than usual, but the key to his improved bladesmanship is two-fold. First, in June he changed putters, from a Scotty Cameron that he said sent the ball hopping off the face, to a Rife Aussie, which, according to the company’s propaganda, uses a “RollGroove” face to impart quicker, truer roll.

Spitalny could definitely endorse that technology.

He can also thank his son Philip, who gave him a putting tip before he left for the U.S. Senior Amateur.

“As much as I hate to admit it,” Spitalny said.

What was the advice? It’s as simple as can be, a tip long advocated by Sam Snead, and later Tom Watson.

“Listen for the ball to drop,” Spitalny said.

Do that, Snead and Watson always claimed—though they later didn’t heed their own advice and struggled on the greens—and the head doesn’t move, taking the shoulders with it and striking putts with a glancing blow that leads to inconsistency.

Spitalny missed a few putts at Council Fire on Thursday, but he made a bunch of them, too. Ironically, his day started out with a bogey at the short par-4 1^st hole when he missed the green short, chipped to eight feet and missed the putt.

But he quickly got back in the game when he holed out a 65-yard wedge at the par-5 second for an eagle three. He hit the ball close on the next two holes and didn’t cash in, but he drained a seven-footer for birdie at No. 5. Another bogey came after he hit his tee shot right at the par-3 7^th, but he birdied No. 8 from seven feet and turned at 2-under-34.

Spitalny “saved the round,” as he put it, with a chip-in for birdie at the par-3 12^th, birdied the par-5 13^th after he hit a wedge to a foot and a half, saved par at the tricky par-4 16^th and hit a wedge to two feet for a birdie at the par-5 18^th.

It all added up to a 67, which, to tournament director Mike Jenkins’ recollection, was the second-lowest qualifying round in the tournament’s 17-year history. Thomas Smith shot 65 a year ago.

Spitalny will play Coy Mabry in Friday’s first round of match play. Mabry shot 77 to claim the 16^th and final spot in match play.

Will Spitalny’s fine play continue? He’s played well at Council Fire this year. He shot 73 in Tennessee Amateur qualifying to advance to the tournament at The Honors Course—“I was probably the only guy older than 23,” he said—and has his recent fine play in a USGA event and Thursday’s off-the-charts round to give him confidence.

“I’m putting 100 percent better,” he said. “One thing I took from Chicago was that it doesn’t matter how well you hit the ball. It you putt poorly, you can’t beat anyone.”

Thursday’s Qualifying Scores

67—Neil Spitalny.

71—Brandon Cissom.

73—Tom Schreiner, Adam Stephens.

74—John Maupin.

75—Mitch Hufstetler, Pat Corey, Sam Bedwell, Winston Brown.

76—Gary Baker, Tom Baird, Bob Rice, Caleb Roberson, Randy Yoder.

77—Walt Moffitt, Coy Mabry.

78—Matt Mathis.

79—Robbie Treadway, Chris Treadway.

80—Greg Ehmig, Jimmy White III, Wayne Woolfall, Eli Allison.

81—Tripp Harris.

82—Greg Bankston.

83—David McKenna.

85—Jimmy Watkins.

87—Mike Jenkins.

WD—Wes Gilliland, Richard Keene.

Friday’s Matches

2:00 p.m.—No. 3 Tom Schreiner vs. No. 14 Randy Yoder; No. 6 Mitch Hufstetler vs. No. 11 Tom Baird.

2:10 p.m.—No. 2 Brandon Cissom vs. No. 15 Walt Moffitt; No. 7 Sam Bedwell vs. No. 10 Bob Rice.

2:20 p.m.—No. 4 Adam Stephens vs. No. 13 Gary Baker; No. 5 John Maupin vs. No. 12 Caleb Roberson.

2:30 p.m.—No. 1 Neil Spitalny vs. No. 16 Coy Mabry; No. 8 Pat Corey vs. No. 9 Winston Brown.