Gutschewski finds comfort zone on the Nationwide Tour

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The eyes have it for Scott Gutschewski -- at least as the Nationwide Tour goes and flows.

Badz/PGA TOUR

Scott Gutschewski captured his second Nationwide Tour victory at The Rex Hospital Open.

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Winning scorecard
Stats: 2008 Money list

What Gutschewski sees in a golf course is what counts. It's how he locates his comfort zone. It determines how well he will perform.

Case in point: TPC Wakefield Plantation. If the Nationwide Tour could pack that 7,257 yards into its Tour Operations truck each week and transport it from tournament to tournament the burly Gutschewski would be one happy camper.

"It just suits my game,'' said Gutschewski of the Hale Irwin-designed, par-71 layout that plays host to The Rex Hospital Open in Raleigh, N.C. "I like what I see, how it feels, how the land moves. I have good feelings there.''

One other little item "Gootch" neglected to mention. He absolutely is crazy mad in love with the numbers he scribbles on his scorecards there. He has played eight competitive rounds at Wakefield Plantation and the only "7'' to enter the picture followed a "6'' on a round total.

Check the stats. He's eight-for-eight in rounds in the 60s. The best of the lot was the sweet 66 he shot Sunday to roar from behind in the final round and capture his second career victory on the Nationwide Tour by two shots over Chad Ginn and Esteban Toledo.

Gutschewski's victory followed a missed cut at the LaSalle Bank Open at The Glen Club in suburban Chicago. There's a simple explanation for bad followed by good in what has been a feast or famine 2008 season. Gootch said The Glen Club layout "feels awkward.''

"I just don't feel comfortable on it,'' said Gutschewski, 32, who makes the Glen Club sound like its fairways are made of glass shards and he has to play barefoot.

That feeling has gotten him six times in 12 starts this season.

"I honestly think it's some sort of mental block,'' he said.

As for the other six, Gootch hasn't strayed outside the top 25, results that add up to an average of $27,789 when he earns a paycheck. Needless to say, the $90,000 he picked up Sunday enhanced the take-home pay and moved Gutschewski up 27 spots to eighth among "The 25," the place where Nationwide Tour players need to be on the final money list if they are to graduate to the PGA TOUR in 2009.

That's where Gutschewski has been for the better part of three seasons with checkered results. Although he earned more than $1.1 million, he has never finished better than 149th on the money list, meaning he found himself back at the PGA TOUR National Qualifying Tournament after each year. A 44th-place finish in 2007 carried him back to the Nationwide Tour in '08.

"I struggled out there,'' he said of the TOUR. "I never played well on the West Coast in three seasons and got behind the eight-ball. It was tough getting into events.''

For example, Gutschewski did not play consecutive weeks in 2007 until after the U.S Open and more than 30 percent of his 22 entries came in the seven-event Fall Finish, when players are chasing money to squeeze inside 125 on the money list.

"Sitting gets frustrating,'' he said.

But if truth is told, Gutschewski likely took the wrong approach when he began his PGA TOUR career in 2005 after he made the cut in 20 of 25 Nationwide Tour events and earned $206,308 to finish 17th on the money list.

"I went out there thinking I had to birdie every hole,'' he said. "I was way too aggressive.''

That's not something a player with holes in his short game should attempt. It took a while, but Gootch now realizes his mistake.

"It was kind of stupid,'' he said. "But now I'm getting older and, I hope, wiser.''

Gutschewski's quest for golf's Holy Grail -- a place on the PGA TOUR -- is a neat story. It began when Gutschewski graduated from Nebraska in 1999 and immediately turned pro. He tried his hand on the Midwest's Prairie Tour for 18 months and attempted to Monday qualify into Nationwide Tour events whenever they arrived in his neighborhood. He also played the Canadian Tour and the Hooters Tour and was plying his trade on the Tight Lies Tour in 2003 when opportunity knocked.

Gutschewski, who was part of the best Nebraska team in school history in 1999 which finished 14th in the NCAA Championship, was offered a sponsor's exemption into the Nationwide Tour's Cox Classic in his hometown of Omaha. And he caught lightning in a bottle.

Gutschewski finished in the top 25 and earned entry into the following week's event. The top-25 results snowballed. He did it again and again and again and again, for five weeks running. All of a sudden he had earned enough cash to gain exempt status. A victory at the Monterey Peninsula Classic would follow.

"I went from the depths on the mini-tours -- which can beat you up -- to a victory on the Nationwide Tour very quickly,'' said Gutschewski, who compiled eight top-25s in 12 events, including a victory, and finished a highly respectable 26th on the money list. "That was a very satisfying four months. I gained confidence in my ability. It taught me how to play 72-hole tournaments, something you don't get much of on the mini-tours.''

And now Gutschewski is attempting to re-construct his confidence back on the Nationwide Tour, where he knows the ropes. He'd like nothing more than for this season to provide this same opportunity 2004 did. Gootch discussed that with D.J. Brigman when they were paired together during the second stage of the PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament.

"This is the path my career has taken,'' he said. "D.J. and I agreed it wouldn't be the worst thing to go back to the Nationwide Tour and get our games and confidence back. This isn't supposed to be easy. But if you keep playing well, they can't keep you down.''