Beth Bauer was an LPGA rookie star two years ago. Now, she's off to Q-school looking to recapture her form.
By BOB HARIG
Published October 14, 2004
There are multiple reasons why a slew of companies rushed to Beth Bauer's agent, looking to associate themselves with a player close to stardom on the LPGA Tour.
Bauer, who grew up in Clearwater, starred at Bloomingdale High and later at Duke, had an impressive amateur resume. She was the 2002 LPGA rookie of the year, and she was one of few emerging American players on a tour that is dominated by foreigners.
If all of that wasn't enough, there was Bauer the human being. Engaging, personable. A player who would take part in clinics and sign autographs. And one who was always smiling.
Bauer is doing her best to keep up the front, but it is not easy in light of her 2004 performance on the LPGA Tour.
The season is not over, but it is for Bauer, who is not ranked high enough to qualify for any of the five remaining limited-field events. At the final full-field tournament of the season last week in South Carolina, where Bauer knew she needed a decent tournament to crack the top 90 on the money list and remain exempt for next year, Bauer shot 74-78 to miss the cut.
"I wasn't too disappointed until after that last event," Bauer said Wednesday. "I didn't play so great. I thought there had been some good results the last two months, but obviously after last week, I was disappointed. Disappointed the year is over. Disappointed about the way I played.
"I'm also excited to come back and regroup. It's so hard to do that on the road. I've been in a lot worse positions than where I am today. But I'm not quite there yet. The results are not quite happening. But I'm optimistic it will happen again."
Just two years after the accolades and contending in several tournaments, Bauer, 24, had trouble making cuts. In 25 tournaments she earned $78,572 to finish 99th.
Only the top 90 are fully exempt in 2005, so Bauer will return to the LPGA Tour's Qualifying Tournament to improve her position. The top 30 finishers at the Dec. 1-5 tournament will have priority over those players who finished 90th to 125th on the money list.
It is far from where she was in 2002, when Bauer had six top 10s and earned $480,909 to rank 18th on the money list. The next logical step seemed like Bauer's first victory.
But in an effort to get better, Bauer got worse. She changed clubs and began working with noted instructor Mike McGetrick, and both experiments failed. Bauer had just one top 10 last year and dropped to 65th on the money list.
After an offseason of reflection, Bauer entered 2004 with high hopes, but struggled. Bauer's best finish was a tie for 24th. She missed 11 cuts.
And her stats tell the story. Bauer ranked 124th in driving distance, averaging 244 yards off the tee. She was 94th in greens in regulation, hitting 62 percent. And probably worst of all, she hit 69 percent of the fairways to rank 89th.
"My driver let me down," she said. "When I have good rounds, I keep it in the fairway. In Augusta (last week) that second day, I was awful. I'll miss a fairway by 30 yards. A lot of that is about confidence and flow. I don't quite have everything in synch with the timing of my golf swing." Justin Trombley, Bauer's Tampa-based swing instructor, said it is simply a matter of regaining the confidence that always marked Bauer's career, back to when she starred on the American Junior Golf Association circuit or in amateur events or in college.
"In a practice round last week, she hit every fairway," Trombley said. "Then she tees it up and hits only eight. What is that? That's confidence. She played well over the last two months, but she struggled a lot on Sunday. It's not that the golf swing changed, but she was putting more pressure on herself to play well. That's where confidence has to kick in.
"She was always able to find her golf swing. Now, the more you tell her, she gets caught up in it, she gets paralyzed. There is no quick fix."
Bauer is enduring the growing pains any person experiences in their early 20s. She has a boyfriend, Shawn Crews, who caddies on tour for He-Won Han, and her mother, Chris, who traveled with her through the amateur days, is no longer at her side. She said she will spend time getting ready for the qualifying tournament, "where I've got everything to gain and nothing to lose." And she'll keep busy with clinics and outings, too. Bauer has various endorsements with Cleveland Golf, Tommy Hilfiger, Desani, Anheuser-Busch, Rolex, Callaway and Golf Digest.
"I think Beth is a great player, and all great players figure it out over the course of time," said Tim McNulty, Bauer's agent with Gaylord Sports. "Sometimes great players get so far from where they were when they were successful, they just need one or two good things to happen on the golf course. I know she's committed. Eventually it will all turn around. It will just take some time."
