Rookie Streelman looking forward to round with Woods
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents
LA JOLLA, Calif. -- Kevin Streelman lingered on the practice green at Torrey Pines on Thursday morning, hitting a few putts and waiting to see if he, as the last alternate, would get to play in the Buick Invitational.
| Inside the Numbers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Streelman thru 36 Holes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
At one point, the PGA TOUR rookie reached down to pick his ball out of the hole. As he straightened up, he almost did a double-take as he practically came face-to-face with Tiger Woods.
"Boom, he was right in front of me," Streelman recalled Friday. "I was of awestruck for a second, and then I said, 'wow, I guess I am on the PGA TOUR.' It was pretty cool."
The 29-year-old Streelman admitted that he was "too scared" to introduce himself. He'd better get his nerve up, though, since on Saturday, just three tournaments into his PGA TOUR career, Streelman will play with Woods in Saturday's final group.
Woods leads the Buick Invitational, which he has won each of the last three years, by four strokes over the surprising Streelman. Stewart Cink, who will complete their pairing Saturday, and who has also never met the rookie, is another stroke behind.
"It's going to be, for me, very gratifying, I think, ... obviously to be able to walk next to him -- probably be a little bit behind him -- to just kind of see what he does and just kind of try and compare," Streelman said.
"If I play great, great. If I don't, it's going to be a tremendous learning experience that hopefully, I'll be able to build on down the road."
The week has already been a whirlwind for Streelman. What's another adventure? After all, he had four minutes to get to the first tee on Thursday when Mathew Goggin withdrew. He went out and shot 67 on the North, then followed with a solid 69 on Friday on the more difficult South to climb up the leaderboard.
"I was blessed to get in this week," Streelman agreed. "I ran to the first tee and fortunately found the fairway and ever since then the putter got hot. I've been making a good amount of putts and keeping the ball in the fairway. Everything has felt good, so it's been a nice start."
As he headed to the first tee, Streelman, who is ranked 1,114th in the world, just above India's Vevek Bhandari, called his fiancée Courtney Caples, who was working out at the gym back home in Phoenix. She rushed home, showered, packed and caught a plane, and was at the course by the time Streelman was on the 13th tee.
"I had some sponsors that I called (who were) like an hour away from here and they didn't even make it in time," Streelman said, chuckling.
Had he not gotten into the Buick Invitational, Streelman probably would have headed home to practice in Phoenix, where Caples is finishing her MBA at Arizona State. The two, who plan to be married in May, met at a restaurant in Las Vegas, where Streelman was attending a bachelor's party.
"I was excited, shocked actually, (when he called)," Caples said. "With about an hour left, he had texted me to say it doesn't look good. I was already planning the weekend.
"But I am so excited to have him out here. It will be exciting to see him play with Tiger, but I am more excited that he has reached the level he's always dreamed about reaching."
Streelman has been plying his trade on the mini-tours since graduating from Duke in 2001 with a degree in sociology. Along the way, he put about 320,000 miles on two Nissan Altimas and another 20,000 on a Toyota Camry he bought last year.
When he survived all three stages of the PGA TOUR qualifying tournament, though, Streelman decided it was time for a treat -- a Nissan 350Z.
"It was kind of my dream car," he said with a grin. "I said if I ever get on TOUR, it's my trophy to myself."
He certainly deserved a splurge. Getting through q-school wasn't exactly easy. Streelman had to drop a snake of a 12-footer on the final hole of the first stage to cap a run of four birdies in his last five holes and make the cut on the number.
"It's been a very difficult road," Streelman admitted. "It's one where you have pitfalls and tremendous highs and lows, and in this game you lose more than you win, obviously. Especially when you're scrounging money to get to the next tournament and to put gas in your car sometimes. It can be quite an experience.
"At the same time I think that makes you a stronger person and a stronger golfer at the same time. So I think in a lot of ways my trials and tribulations the past seven years has kind of been -- they've been building blocks that I've been able to grow both as a golfer and as a person."
Woods never had to crisscross the country in search of places to play for his next paycheck like Streelman did. The game's No. 1 player knows, though, that the difference between success and failure on TOUR is a much thinner line than many people would think -- which is why Streelman's story is so compelling.
"The great thing is watching people take advantage of opportunities, whether they're an alternate like is happening this week or they get an exemption into an event and they play well," Woods said. "Those are fun stories to see."
And make no mistake about it, Streelman has stories. Like the time he was at the second stage of q-school and torrential rains forced the cancellation of the third round -- with Streelman 5 under through 13 holes -- and later the fourth. As a result, he fell two strokes short of advancing to the finale where he would have at least earned some degree of status on the Nationwide Tour.
"I'm a believer that things happen for a reason and it just wasn't my time yet," Streelman said. "I don't think I was as prepared as a golfer and as a person as I probably am now. I'm a touch more mature and everything, but that was a tough one to get over."
And what about the time he was stranded in California with about $400 in his checking account? Streelman had found a sponsor for the year -- or so he thought -- and he headed for the West Coast to try the Monday qualifying route.
He missed in his first attempt, but made the field for the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. After a missed cut there, he headed San Diego to try to grab one of the spots in the Buick Invitational. When he failed again, Streelman called his investors in search of more money so he could head to Los Angeles.
"And they stopped answering the phone calls," he recalled with a wry grin. "To this day I have not heard a word from this guy. So I was living in Chicago (and) stranded in Southern California. A week ago I had been in a PGA TOUR event. It was just like a slap in the face."
At the same time, Streelman had met a businessman at the Monday qualifier for the FBR Open that started that string of disappointments. He held onto his business card and decided to call. The man, who loaned Streelman $5,000, became the first of group of investors who have remained with him to this day.
"I drove all the way cross country to Arkansas for a Hooters event and finished second, made $11,000 or $12,000 there and kept going with it," he recalled.
All the way to the PGA TOUR.
Get the best deals on the best equipment all at the SHOP.PGATOUR.COM.
FANTASY GOLF
