The 2010 Ryder Cup will be played at Celtic Manor in Wales on October 1-3. Much attention has centered on whether Ryder Cup Captain Corey Pavin would pick Tiger Woods with his Captain’s pick, and whether he made a mistake choosing 21-year-old Ryder Cup rookie Rickie Fowler. I somehow believe that not enough attention has been focused on another Ryder Cup rookie; Jeff Overton.
Jeff Overton is in his fourth full year on the PGA Tour. He is winless and yet he has finished 7th in the Ryder Cup points list. He earned his way onto the team. It would be 
easy to say that the 27 year old Overton is another example of everything that is wrong with the PGA Tour, racking up $3.3 million in earnings without cracking the winner’s circle. It would also be wrong.
Overton has finished in 2nd place three times this year, and he has finished in 3rd place twice. As I watched these events, I was reminded of an amateur event that I played in that Overton also played in, The 2005 St. Petersburg New Year’s Invitational, at St. Petersburg Country Club in Florida. The fifth hole is a 356-yard par four slight dogleg right that is set at a funny angle with water on the right and total jail through the fairway to the left. Every single person I had ever seen play that hole hit an iron or a utility wood to the fairway making sure to stay short of the trouble on the left, leaving a wedge or nine iron to the green. In 2005 Overton was the first player I ever saw who just grabbed his driver and ripped it as hard as he could in an attempt to go for the green. It was an exceedingly bold move. Not surprisingly, he ended up winning the tournament.
The reason I was reminded of the St. Petersburg New Year’s Invitational as I watched Overton fail to win those PGA Tour events earlier this year is because I saw the same hell-for-broke attitude. While others hit fairway woods to the corner coming down the stretch, he bombed drivers over the corner. He wasn’t playing not to lose. He was playing to win! The young man has a bit of the Seve-inspired swashbuckler in him. Rickie Fowler may look the part, but Jeff Overton actually plays the part!
In watching the Ryder Cup over the years, I have seen the Seve’s and Sergio’s rewarded
time and again with their go for broke attitude. I believe we have some of that attitude on this U.S. team. I would simply love to see an alternate shot pairing of Jeff Overton and Bubba Watson. I can hear the conversation now:
Bubba: Damn Jeff, sorry I hit it way over here.
Jeff: Don’t sweat it Bubba. I hit it over here all the time.
So put me down as the guy who thinks Jeff Overton is going to be a Ryder Cup surprise star. On a team that many are calling a decided underdog, I think you will find that this Ryder Cup rookie will play with no fear. That is the attitude that it is going to take to bring the Ryder Cup back home.
8 Things about Jeff Overton You Might Find Interesting
- Jeff shot 67 in the final round of the Greenbrier Classic, finishing second by one shot to Stuart Appleby’s 59. Appleby’s 59 was the lowest round of the day by four shots.
- Overton shot the low round of the day, a 66 in the final round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, and lost by two shots to Jason Bohn.
- His girlfriend is an opera singer.
- Overton won his final singles match one-up on the eighteenth hole at Chicago Golf Club to clinch the 2005 Walker Cup, the first U.S. win in eight years. He finished the week with a 3-1 record in the Walker Cup matches.
- Jeff played his college golf at Indiana University. He was the 2005 Big Ten Conference Champion.
- He has never played in the Masters Invitational or the US Open, but he has played in the British Open three times, and he made the cut all three times.
- Overton is sponsored by Mizuno.
- Jeff is 6’4” tall and weighs 195 pounds.
