Overton's senior debut impressive

By BOB HARIG

© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 12, 2001

When he finally got to play in his first Senior PGA Tour event, Jay Overton didn't mess around. He tied for 12th Sunday at the Farmers Charity Classic in Michigan, shooting a final-round 71 to cash his first senior check of $27,650.

"It's about time," Overton said this week.

Forgive Overton for his impatience. The former director of golf at Innisbrook, who still teaches at the resort, figured to have played in numerous senior events by this point in the season.

But a shocking failure at the fall Senior PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament and Overton's inability to qualify in numerous Monday attempts meant he had to wait until the 18th regular event on the schedule to play with the 50-and-older group.

"I felt like I had an anvil taken off of each shoulder and each foot. I couldn't wait to play golf," Overton said. "It was so much fun. ... I thoroughly enjoyed it."

Overton has been regarded as one of the top-playing club pros in the country, and when his 50th birthday approached, it was assumed he'd capture one of the eight fully exempt spots at the qualifying. Surely he'd finish in the top 16 to gain partially exempt status.

But after easily winning his first stage qualifier, Overton "imploded" at the finals. And he never found his way into a tournament through Monday qualifying, even though he tried several times for one of the four spots available each week. "I've been missing by one (shot) all year long," he said.

Overton credited a change in putting to last week's success. He switched to a "belly" putter -- one designed by Clearwater's Bobby Grace -- and shot 63 during last week's Monday qualifier. "I made everything I looked at," he said. And his good play continued.

"I started rolling the ball real good," he said. "I quit trying to make putts and I started trying to make the best putting stroke I could make. And the ball started diving in. Then, all of a sudden, you start hitting the ball better. It takes a lot of pressure off."

Buoyed by his performance, Overton hopes to receive sponsor exemptions to future events. For the ones he doesn't get, he plans to try to qualify on the Mondays, with the idea of earning enough money to avoid the qualifying school this fall. That will require quite an effort -- Overton will need to earn a minimum of $280,000 to $300,000 to have even limited exempt status.

But at least now he's got a start.

NOT SO LOVE-LY: Davis Love continued a disturbing trend Sunday at the Western Open, where he failed to win after holding the 54-hole lead. Love has 14 PGA Tour titles, but how many more might he have if he finished off tournaments?

Love has won seven of 19 tournaments in which he led with 18 holes to play and has failed in his last six with the 54-hole lead. Love, who led through 36 holes, has won three of 22 tournaments while leading at the halfway point.

AROUND GOLF: We've learned not to doubt Tiger Woods, but his 20th-place finish at the Western Open was the fifth time this year he's been out of the top 10. Last year, he finished outside the top 10 three times. Nonetheless, Woods heads into next week's British Open with five worldwide victories, the same number as last year at this point. ... Various reports had the PGA Tour on the verge of announcing a new television deal that would be worth $850-million for four years starting with 2003. Among other things, that means purses would increase. ... Scott Hoch's win at the Western marked the first time in his career that he's won twice in the same season. At 45, he became the oldest player to win twice in a year since Hale Irwin did so at 45 in 1990.

TOP TEACHERS: Fifteen golf instructors from Florida made Golf Digest's list of the 50 greatest teachers in the country, including David Leadbetter of the David Leadbetter Golf Academy in Orlando (second) and Jim McLean of the Jim McLean Golf School in Miami (third). The magazine also listed the top teachers by state, and area pros who made the list were: Gil Gonsolves (25), Palma Ceia; Lew Smither (27), Westin Innisbrook Resort; Jeff Hollis (28), Mangrove Bay; Overton (35), Westin Innisbrook Resort and Jim Slattery (37), Belleair Country Club.

- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.

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