Lickliter takes care of business at q-school

WINTER GARDEN, Fla. -- In the first round of the 2007 PGA TOUR National Qualifying Tournament, Frank Lickliter made six consecutive birdies en route to a 62.

On the seventh hole in that stretch, which was really the par-4 eighth hole on the Panther Lake Course, Lickliter hit a 4-iron right at the pin and watched his 35-foot birdie try lip out of the hole.

Frank Lickliter has two PGA TOUR victories in his career. (WireImage)

"I turned to one of the caddies and said, 'Can you believe that didn't go in?!'" Lickliter recalled later.

He went on to birdie Nos. 10 and 11 then added birdies on the 16th and 18th holes as well.

"The last seven holes I played in 2 under, so as far as 62s go it was pretty easy. If I could have made three more in a row then we are talking a 57 or 58."

That's the kind of day -- and ultimately week -- Lickliter was having. Everything seemed to go his way. Not only did he wind up shooting 62 during the first round of the six-day tournament, he followed that up with a 62 in the second round as well.

No one else has ever fired a two-day, 20-under 124 total since the PGA TOUR began keeping those statistics.

"It feels pretty good. It's not quite like Neil Armstrong on the moon but it's right up there. The greatest part was setting two different course records in the process," the 38-year-old said.

He never lost the q-school lead after those record-setting two days, staying in a cushiony comfort zone for four more grueling days. Solid rounds of 68-72-68-71 gave him a five-stroke win at 29-under par over runner-up Brett Rumford.

Lickliter, a fiercely private guy, didn't speak to the media until the final day. "[Ben] Hogan never spoke to the media. It was my choice to not let anyone or anything interfere with what I was doing," he explained.

His fiancé, pregnant with twin boys due in mid-February, followed him for every single hole in every round but Saturday.

"[It was good because] I know where she is and that she's not off buying something," joked Lickliter.

But Lickliter didn't want other friends to travel down to watch him, even when it became evident that he would capture his card and return to the TOUR for his 13th season. The two-time PGA TOUR winner avoided thinking about his future baby boys or what his schedule would look like in a year. He forgot about the fact that he wound up 139th on the PGA TOUR Money List at season's end and had to travel to q-school in the first place.

As he put it, even a significant lead didn't cause his focus to waver from the first round on Tuesday to Monday's final.

"It's not a week to entertain. It's a week to stay focused. What we do is entertainment anyway but this week is not about entertaining... even though it's a game, it's what I do for a living. The last thing you need are any distractions."

His ability to read the greens, one of his game's strong points, aided him on the Crooked Cat and Panther Lake courses. Lickliter also ridded his swing of nagging problems just in the nick of time.

"I had 30 weeks to do this on TOUR. I took care of the physical aspects and came back to play in my first golf tournament -- albeit not an official one -- and won it."

Lickliter was shy to talk about the physical problems but eventually attributed them to a recent injury. A little over a year ago, he fell and cracked the radial head in his right arm.

Google "radial head fracture" and you'd find these listed as symptoms: Difficulty in bending or straightening the elbow accompanied by pain; Inability or difficulty in turning the forearm (palm up to palm down or vice versa).

Needless to say, those are two movements that any golfer, much less a PGA TOUR professional, needs when swinging a golf club.

He didn't want to let the injury bother him. Scratch that, he didn't want to believe that having to wear his arm in a sling and skipping the Sony Open in Hawaii affected his season. But he couldn't deny that the crack didn't have something to do with his performance in 2007.

Blaming those "bad shapes" in his swing for uprooting his season, Lickliter eventually admitted those swing deformities were partly due to his injury recovery.

"In the process of healing and practicing, I played with pain and that put me in bad positions. I played in those bad positions again and again," Lickliter said. He missed his first four cuts of the year and never finished inside the top 10 all season.

A week ago, Lickliter met with two different people who turned it all around. First he visited renowned golf teacher Bob Toski. Then Lickliter and his Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., neighbor Vijay Singh practiced together.

"Vijay really reaffirmed what Toski said using different verbiage and it clicked. A week before q-school, it all clicked."

Now he's looking forward to next season. Missing the 2007 Sony Open in Hawaii, the first official tournament he could have played after earning over $1 million in the last seven weeks of 2006, dampened any leftover positive momentum he had from the previous year.

He's hoping to prove himself there in 2008.

"I'm looking forward to Hawaii. I couldn't play there last year because I broke my arm so I'm looking forward to going next season."