Castle Rock – Justin Leonard has played professional golf for 12 years and played in 338 events, with 10 wins entering The International. In all that time, however, the Texan says he still finds himself “amazed” by the weekly extravaganza that is the PGA Tour.
“It is a lot like a traveling circus; I don’t even know the details of what goes on or what it takes to make it all happen,” Leonard said.
Beginning today, the attention is focused on Castle Pines Golf Club, where 144 players will tee it up in the hopes of winning $900,000. The International is the 34th of 47 events being played on the 2006 PGA Tour schedule, one that begins in Hawaii, finishes in Florida and makes stops almost everywhere in between.
As the calliope begins in Colorado, a look at some of the people who make The International, and the Tour, go.
The volunteer
Kathy Wheeler has served as a player registration volunteer for all 21 years of The International.
“I think there’s a bit of a difference here because the players love coming here so much and they’re treated so well, so I usually see them in a good frame of mind. I think it’s a tough life; they’re going from hotel to hotel – it’s definitely not as glamorous as it appears to be.
“In the beginning, my favorite, the one who was so nice to everyone was Tom Watson. Absolutely amazing to people. Now there’s Phil Mickelson, of course, but the guy who just came in who was really neat was Bernhard Langer. Last year he came and he hadn’t been here in years. When he came in, I said, ‘Welcome, Mr. Langer, it is so good to have you back.’ He smiled and said, ‘Thank you, not too many people remember me anymore.”‘
The local
Former Colorado resident Steve Jones, the 1996 U.S. Open champion, is playing in his 16th International.
“You can put pressure on yourself playing at home. You shouldn’t. I try to use it as a way to build momentum, use it to my advantage. But there are times if you’re not playing that good when you start going, ‘Man, I want to play good in front of everybody’ and you start pressing and forcing it, instead of just relaxing. You can’t play good every time.”
The youngster
Lucas Glover, 26, is in his third year on tour. He has won more than $1.6 million in 22 events this season.
“I think I’ve been able to make some head-or-tails of this thing. The first year, you run around hurrying everywhere trying to figure out what’s going on. The second year, you halfway have it figured out, and this year, you get some of the rest and things start to slow down.
“One of the big things is learning that you have to take a day off every now and then and let your body rest. You don’t have to go out and grind every day. You play too much because you think you have to.
“I set my schedule according to courses that I like, or towns that I like, or tournaments that I like: it’s all about liking something. Here, you can’t beat the event, can’t beat the course and can’t beat the hospitality, so why wouldn’t you come?”
The seller
On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of tournament week, equipment representatives are allowed onto the practice area to talk with players. Mike Eggeling, a former Denver resident, works for Cleveland Golf, specializing in its putter line.
“I’ll be out on tour for close to 40 weeks this year. That doesn’t give me a lot of home time, but I’m used to it – my wife (Dale) played on the LPGA Tour.
“There are guys who are under contract with their own companies, so you learn the ones who you can or can’t go to, which narrows the numbers down quite a bit. Then, you’re just out here; some weeks there are guys looking, and if you’re in the right place at the right time, you have a shot at getting a player in play. That’s huge, because it’s a numbers game out here. We’re a relatively new company. We started getting more aggressive last year around the PGA Championship and we’ve gone from being an also-ran to a contender. We’re second in the (player survey) counts, with around 18 to 23 a week, which is huge.”
The shopper
South Africa native Justin Rose has played on the PGA Tour for four years.
“It’s hard not acting like a kid in a candy store. With my driver, and some other parts of my game, like, I won’t even look at another driver because I’m happy. But if there’s another part of my game that I feel could just be a little better, that’s when I tend to look around a bit and see what’s out there.
“Most of the time, if someone approaches me, I just say, ‘No, no, don’t worry about it, I’m cool.’ Sometimes you just chat; I wouldn’t say I was going to put (a product) in play, it’s just, ‘We’ll see.’ I know that’s the goal for them, but it may take three or four weeks of working with a player before they’ll put something in play, but at least it’s a starting point for them.”
The warden
Slugger White is a PGA Tour rules official.
“I’ve been out here for 25 years. I’ll be at tournaments for 28-30 weeks. There are anywhere from seven to eight rules officials per week at a tournament.
“When rules situations come up, I think they’re happy to see a familiar face. The rules are there to help them; we don’t want to hurt them. There are times when they don’t like what they’re told, but that’s just how it is. They know we’ll take care of business and do the best we can.
“Some people say players should know the rules better, but players don’t want to make mistakes (with the rules). They’re in the heat of the battle, and this is what we get paid for. I hate it when a player gets disqualified, it’s the worst thing that can happen. It leaves an empty feeling in you, but it happens. We don’t make the rules, we just enforce them.”
