Following the Pros

Written by:	1:56 PM PST - 3/12/2009
Photography by:	|  Next Photo

We asked Whitey Gleason, Jeff MacMurray and Mark Lowe aka 'The Phantom' from the Rise Guys Show, weekday mornings from 5 to 9 on Sports 1140, KHTK to pick a PGA pro and follow him throughout the 2009 season.

They answered.

Kevin Sutherland wonders: “Where do I redeem my FedEx Cup points?”
By Whitey Gleason

Former Fresno State star Kevin Sutherland is a Bulldog in more ways than one. The Sacramento native ranked only 121st in Driving Accuracy last season, but was 17th in Greens In Regulation. Clearly, sparkling irons play and dogged determination were keys to a great '08 for Kevin. The 44-year old finished 18th on the money list, saw his Official World Golf Ranking soar from 150th to 51st, finished in the top 10 at six different tournaments, and made the cut in 22 of 26 events.

Kevin also closed with a flourish, coming within a whisker of winning twice in his final six starts. He ended the year by losing a playoff to Cameron Beckman at the Frys.com Open. Sutherland also came up just short in a 3-way playoff at the Barclays, the tour's first FedEx “playoff” event of the season, in which he tangled with a couple of Tour heavyweights – eventual Cup winner Vijay Singh, and Sergio Garcia. In fact, Sutherland finished 11th in the final FedEx Cup standings.

Kevin's strong finish, coupled with his fondness for the Tour's West Coast events, would seem to bode well for a quick start this season. If you're looking, however, for someone to explain the Byzantine FedEx Cup point system, he's not your guy. Late last season, as his Cup points piled up, we caught up with Kevin on our radio show and asked if he knew what all those points actually meant.

“No. Not really,” he chuckled. “I don't know where to redeem them. I think I get free shipping or something. I don't know.”

This much Kevin does know: his outstanding year was good enough to qualify him for the Masters for the first time since 2003.

The down to earth Sutherland is known on tour for being modest, but his accomplishments in '08 were anything but.

Honk if you love John Rollins!
By Jeff McMurray

I had the occasion to meet John Rollins at the Pro-Am for the 2001 Houston Open at the TPC Woodlands.

Until that Monday, I thought I had a decent golf game. Funny thing about playing with guys who do this for a living…they don't play the same game we do. As the PGA promo says…”These Guys Are Good.”

That leaves guys like me intimidated and trying WAY too hard not to snap hook my tee shot into the lake near the #1 tee.

After snap hooking my tee shot into the lake, we walked to where John's tee shot landed: about 290 yards from the tee in the middle of the fairway.

None of us had heard of him before, but we learned he was from Virginia, had come up through the Nationwide Tour and was a heck of a nice guy.

The “nice guy” was tested on the back 9 when we came to a hole that plays alongside Woodlands Parkway. We were putting out when I asked John if when he was playing on Tour on holes that played near a road if drivers ever honked or yelled “FORE!!” at them…like they inevitably seem to do to amateurs all the time.

Almost on cue a silver SUV sped by honking “BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!!” We had a good laugh. It never seems to fail. Being a Monday and a work day for the rest of us, I had my cell phone in the golf cart and just as I was teeing off on the next hole it rang. Humiliated and embarrassed I ran to the golf cart and quietly answered the phone. It was my wife as she excitedly asked: “Hi honey! Did you hear me honk!?”

Yes Honey…we did.

Mark Wilson, a storybook ending
By Mark Lowe aka “The Phantom”

Pick a PGA pro and follow him throughout the 2009 season. It seemed almost too easy.

Local favorites Kevin Sutherland, Scott McCarron and Nick Watney all enjoyed solid 2008 seasons giving me a worthy group of candidates within a driver and wedge of my own front door.

But, I felt the need to break out, explore a little. And when I did, a real good story was there to be told.

Mark Wilson had ended the ten years prior to the 2007 season in the same place, PGA Tour Q School. Early in the new 2007 season he was playing in the Honda Classic at PGA National and struggling to make the cut when his play drew national attention for the wrong reasons. Playing the par 3 fifth hole he recorded a par, at least initially. Then he found out that his caddy had told playing partner Camilo Villegas what club Wilson had hit on the hole. Mark knew what had to be done. He called a rules official on the 6th tee, told him what had occurred and docked himself two strokes. That made staying for the weekend a very dicey proposition.

But this was a story with a storybook ending. Wilson played the rest of the weekend eight under par, got into a 4 man playoff on Sunday and won the Honda title, the $990,000 first prize and a two year tour exemption. He finished the season with over 1.6 million in earnings and followed that up last year with another 1.57 million in earnings.

And there he is. A good player whose act of sportsmanship was a footnote to his greatest triumph and a player, at 34, who is just beginning to find his place on tour. So good luck in 2009 Mark Wilson, I'll be watching.