Golf

Tarpon Springs native earns big-time golf opportunity

By Rodney Page, Times Staff Writer
Published February 28, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT [Brian Cassella | Times] Runnerup Kevin Hammer, left, congratulates Patrick Olive on his Gasparilla Invitational win Sunday and PODS Championship berth.

Watch out, Innisbrook. Tarpon Springs' own Patrick Olive is between the ropes next week at the PODS Championship and he's bringing at least 200 of his most vocal supporters with him. Olive won the Gasparilla Invitational on Sunday at Palma Ceia Golf and Country Club in Tampa and that comes with a spot in the area's PGA event.

There will be relatives, golfing buddies, business associates and high school friends following Olive's every shot when the tournament begins on March 6. They will be whooping after every birdie, groaning after every bogey.

Have plenty of those "Quiet Please" signs available. Olive and company may never have this chance again, and they are going to enjoy every hole.

"The whole town of Tarpon Springs is talking about it," Olive's father, Bill, said. "When you grow up here you tend to know everybody. It's going to be a big crowd out there."

Meet Patrick Olive

Olive is 36. He was born and raised in Tarpon Springs and graduated from Tarpon Springs High School in 1990. He lives in Holiday, just over the Tarpon Springs border in Pasco County.

He played two years of golf at St. Petersburg Junior College then got a job and started a family. Divorced with two children, he is brokerage director at Life Brokerage Partners in Oldsmar.

His golf resume includes an appearance at the 2006 U.S. Amateur Championship, but he failed to make the match-play rounds. Sunday's win at the 53rd annual Gasparilla Invitational was his biggest. He shot 68-67 for a total of 5 under in the rain shortened two-day event.

He will be the only amateur in the PODS Championship field of 144.

"It is an incredible opportunity," Olive said. "Especially being from the Palm Harbor, Tarpon Springs area, there will be a lot of people out there. I'm just going to focus on trying to make the cut and get to the weekend."

From outside to inside the ropes

Olive has been attending pro tournaments at Innisbrook since the mixed-team JCPenney Classic moved there in 1990. He and a group of his buddies would walk the course, grab a few beverages and cheer the good shots.

Now his buddies will be watching him. And there will be plenty of them. There will be colleagues, who plan to outfit him with a Life Brokerage shirt and hat, as well as a logo on his golf bag.

"He was supposed to be caddying for me in the Wednesday pro-am," Life Brokerage chief executive officer Kevin Bechtel said. "Now he's in the tournament. Crazy. It's going to be crazy out there on Thursday. I've got 100 day passes for the tournament and I went from trying to give them away to saying, 'Hold on a sec.' I'm getting calls from all over the place about getting tickets."

There will be friends from Wentworth Golf Club, where Olive is a member and plays whenever he can.

"It's a pretty electric atmosphere out here," Wentworth associate professional Frank Reynolds said. "Everybody's real excited. A lot of us are going out there Innisbrook anyway, but to have Patrick out there is extra special."

There will be family. Olive's older brother, Whitney, will be his caddie. His mother and father will be in the gallery.

"I told him there's no pressure, there's nothing to prove," said Bill, who is a member at Innisbrook. "Just go out and play. I've seen him shoot a 65 out there, so I know he can do it. But instead of teeing off with college guys, he'll be teeing off with Vijay Singh or Ernie Els or somebody like that."

Expectations

Olive said he has played several rounds on the Copperhead Course, with his best score between 65-68. A repeat on Thursday and Friday and Olive will be in contention.

But for an amateur with a full-time job outside of golf, making the cut would be a huge accomplishment.

"I tell people all the time that Patrick is the one guy who truly is in the wrong business," Bechtel said. "He should be a professional golfer. I've seen him shoot a 62 and you wouldn't even know it until the round is over."

One thing the Gasparilla title did was get Olive to focus on golf a little more.

"After this it is a serious priority to get back and work on the game," Olive said.

Rodney Page can be reached at page@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8810.

FAST FACTS

PODS Championship

What: A 72-hole PGA Tour event, the second of four on the Florida Swing and the 11th of the season.

When/where: Monday-March 9; Copperhead Course, Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club, Palm Harbor

Purse: $5.3-million, winner earns $954,000

FedEx Cup points: 25,000

Schedule: Monday, pro practice rounds and Aim for the Heart Pro-Am, 1 p.m. shotgun start; Tuesday, pro practice rounds all day; Wednesday, Progress Energy Pro-Am, 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. tee times; March 6-7, tournament play starting around 7:30 a.m., and March 8-9 starting around 8 a.m.

Tickets: Monday, free; Tuesday, $10; Wednesday, $20; March 6-7, $35 in advance ($50 at the gate), March 8-9, $40 in advance, ($55 at the gate). Weekly clubhouse badge, $95 in advance ($110 at the gate). Tickets are available at office@suncoastgolf.org podschampionship.com/ or calling (727) 942-5566.

Weather: Monday, sunny, high 60, low 66; Tuesday scattered thunderstorms, 74/57; Wednesday, sunny, 71/55; Thursday, sunny, 77/58; Friday, mostly sunny, 78/58

TV: 3-6 p.m. March 6-7, Golf Channel; 3-6 p.m. March 8, Ch. 8; 3-6:30 p.m. March 9, Ch. 8

[Last modified February 27, 2008, 21:21:29]