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 twiice. 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...
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