Always on the bright side, Pappas feels good about his game
By Dave Lagarde, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
AVONDALE, La. -- There's a story Brenden Pappas likes to tell on himself that happened at the Deutsche Bank Championship in September of 2005.
Pappas was on his way to losing his PGA TOUR playing privileges. In contention and in line for a major payday on the final nine, Pappas, who was 9 under and in third place with seven holes to play, came apart like a cheap suit with a matching pair of double bogeys and bogeys.
The second double came on the 16th hole when Pappas's approach missed carrying a water hazard by a whisker. It left him in shock standing on the 17th tee. When it came time for him to play his tee ball, Pappas was staring off into space.
Finally, Pappas' swing coach Mark McCann, who was caddying for Pappas, broke an awkward silence, saying, "Brenden it's your turn. You have to hit.''
Pappas, who would finish in a tie for 15th, finally snapped out of his daydream.
"Forgive me, Mark,'' he said. "I was just wondering what color jacket I would be wearing when I greeted people at Wal-Mart next year.''
Pappas, an affable South African and a pro for 15 years, obviously has been blessed with the ability to laugh at himself and his golfing foibles. What's more, Pappas has been in the position of chasing cash late in the season for so long that last year he came up with a nickname for himself: Bubble Boy.
Bubble Boy finally took care of his financial business at the Nationwide Tour Championship last year, earning enough to fight off the wolves and finish in 22nd place on the season-ending money list. He returned to the PGA TOUR in 2008, older and wiser as well as battle-tested and battle-scarred.
That's why Pappas, who is playing in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans this week, did not go into panic mode when he missed his first four cuts of 2008 and fell back to square one when the TOUR made its first reshuffle of the season.
"Somewhere between the (Nationwide) Tour Championship and (PGA) TOUR School (which Pappas played in an attempt to improve his status), I lost my train of thought on the golf course,'' he explained. "And I started putting poorly.''
The indifferent putting carried over to the West Coast Swing and on into Mexico. Poa annua greens have long been a Pappas bugaboo. "They are so alien to me,'' he said.
Forced into a month-long hiatus because he could not gain entry into any of the three Florida events, the 37-year-old Pappas returned to Ocala, Fla., worked with McCann to simplify things and spent quality time with his family, wife Berdene and twin sons Troy and Alexander, who turn 3 in July.
"That's the beauty of being a partially non-exempt member of the PGA TOUR,'' Pappas said, laughing. "I had time to work on my game and play with my sons.''
Pappas and McCann focused on two or three things in an attempt to remove the clutter inside the golfer's mind. It seems to have worked. Fast forward to last Sunday.
Pappas returned to the PGA TOUR for the Puerto Rico Open presented by Banco Popular, an event played opposite the World Golf Championship-CA Championship. He played his way into contention with rounds of 67, 69 and 69 and was inside the top five through 11 holes on Sunday. He made double bogey on the 12th and a bogey on the 14th, negating his chances for his first victory. He hung on to finish solo ninth, though, a top-10 that got him into the New Orleans event, which features a decidedly stronger field in 2008, and won $101,500.
"Basically, I didn't hit the ball any differently,'' he said. "I had a good putting week.''
Pappas enters the Zurich Classic ranked 152nd on the money list and could use another hefty payday to help his status. Otherwise, he's looking at another long, forced layoff that could last until the AT&T Classic outside Atlanta in mid-May.
"I'm not feeling any pressure (to perform this week),'' Pappas said. "If I don't play well, that's five more weeks at home with time to work on my game. The way I look at it, I'm going to get at least 20 opportunities. That should be enough.''
Pappas also believes the current setup on the PGA TOUR, where Nationwide Tour graduates and q-school qualifiers must play extremely well to get into events at the start of the season, eventually pays off for the betterment of the game.
"Ultimately, it will prove the quality of players, making them work hard earlier to establish themselves,'' he said. "That will make for better players, stronger players 10 years down the line. It's better than having it handed to you on a platter. Hopefully, we'll have fewer Ty Tryon stories.''
Tryon became the second youngest player to make a PGA TOUR cut in 2001 at The Honda Classic. He turned pro later that year becoming the youngest player to earn a PGA TOUR card. But he failed to keep his playing privileges and rarely has been heard from since.
That sort of failure isn't in Pappas's line of sight in 2008. He claims to be as good mentally as he ever has been because he looks on each shot as a separate event.
"That's what it has become to me,'' he said. "I'm responsible just for that one moment in time. I won't be thinking about the result on the hole, the round or the week. Just that one shot and its immediate result. I've done that to maintain my sanity. It's simple and logical. And I'm comfortable.
"Ultimately I believe in myself.''
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