Columns

Austin haunted by potential

By JOHN ROMANO, Times Columnist
Published August 11, 2007

TULSA, Okla.

For a moment, you could see the career that almost was. The applause and the fame, the glory and the riches.

For a moment, as an achingly long putt rolled toward the cup on the 18th green, you could see Woody Austin as he always wanted to be.

And then the ball failed to fall, and Austin swung his putter in utter disgust.

The Tampa native is halfway through what may be the greatest weekend of his career, and already he is berating himself for not being better. You might know it is an exercise at which he is remarkably adept.

After two rounds of the PGA Championship, Austin was in fifth place, four strokes behind leader Tiger Woods. That should be heady stuff for a guy with one top-20 finish in 14 career majors, but you have to understand Austin, 43, has always expected more.

We're talking about a guy who is a self-taught golfer, who didn't reach the PGA Tour until 31. A guy who spent key years of his career working as a teller at GTE Federal Credit Union during the day, and pouring beer at a sports bar on Dale Mabry Highway at night. A guy who still demands perfection of himself even when he knows his best days are long past.

"You've never seen how good I could have been," Austin said after shooting par 70 on Friday. "You ask guys like Davis Love, Lee Janzen and Rocco Mediate. I played them in college, and I was just as good as they were. To spend all those years working at the bank and laying on the couch and watching them win tournaments and majors, it wasn't easy.

"Nobody ever saw me in my prime because I lost my prime."

This story goes back further than Friday's maddening second round when Austin missed a handful of birdie putts. It goes back further than the knee injury that waylaid him coming out of the University of Miami.

This story goes back three decades to a kid playing youth baseball in Tampa and getting overzealous chasing a foul ball. Austin tried to make a sliding catch near a fence and had his knee sliced wide by a broken bottle on the ground. The wound was stitched closed, but serious damage to his tendons was never repaired.

So when Austin wrecked his left knee again at a qualifying tournament in 1987, the problem was exacerbated. The knee had not grown properly because of the previous injury, and total reconstruction was needed. For the next 18 months, Austin could not get back on a golf course.

By then, all the momentum from his All-America career at UM had faded. He had no sponsors. The minitours were not as profitable as today, and so he could not afford to golf full time.

Instead, Austin went to work at the credit union and the bar to raise money for his career. He even tried working an overnight shift at Eckerd Drugs but had to give it up because he had no time to golf.

His wife, Shannon, whom he met at a tournament in Wichita, Kan., when Austin was visiting his sister, worked as a hairdresser to help make ends meet.

Austin spent several years playing minitour events on Monday and Tuesday, and rushing back to Tampa in time to open his teller window on Wednesday.

Those humble beginnings have helped Austin remain hungry. He takes nothing for granted, and scolds himself for every perceived shortcoming.

"I think that's just part of his competitive edge," Shannon said. "Because if you could see him away from the course, it's like black and white, night and day. He is so laid-back and easygoing everywhere else.

"I just think he worked so hard to get to where he is, he never wants to give up."

Austin was named the PGA Tour rookie of the year when he finally broke through in 1994, and has gone on to earn more than $10-million in his career. And still, it is not enough.

Austin, who has since moved to Kansas, is one of the best on the tour with his irons, but has never been solid enough on the greens to suit himself. He has been through different grips, clubs and psychologists. He even tried a hypnotist.

The problem, Austin says, is too much nervous energy. He cannot calm himself enough to have a steady hand with his putter, and thus has rounds such as Friday when he leaves birdies all over the course.

Which is why he was so angry with himself despite being in the best position of his career to contend in a major. Austin said he was annoyed with himself for not capitalizing on a chance to take a lead.

"We live in such an excuse-oriented society. Everybody makes excuses," Austin said. "I tell the truth and I get lambasted because you say I'm too hard on myself.

"Well, I don't blame anything on volunteers. I don't blame anything on my caddie. I'm the one who hits the shots. I take responsibility if it's lackluster or if it's 50 percent of what I know I'm capable of. I'm not going to be happy. That's just the way I am."

And so Austin walked away from the course Friday wondering if he had just blown a chance to lead the PGA Championship with 36 holes remaining. It is a feeling he knows well.

"Look, there's no question I'm happy with my career. After all I went through to get here, I appreciate what I've been able to accomplish," Austin said. "It's just that I can't help thinking what could have been."

John Romano can be reached at romano@sptimes.com or 727 893-8811.

[Last modified August 11, 2007, 01:12:27]