Back in 'The Show' Williamson looking to make best of opportunity

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AVONDALE, La. -- If a golf tournament was a sprint rather than a marathon, you'd find Jay Williamson's name a lot higher on the PGA TOUR's official money list in 2008. But there he was Thursday, off to another good start, a solid, but-could-have-been-better 4-under-par 68 in the opening round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans..

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Jay Williamson

Jay Williamson

Through 18 holes

STATS Rnd1 TOT RANK* EAGLES -- 0 N/A BIRDIES 4 4 T22 PARS 14 14 T14 BOGEYS -- 0 N/A DOUBLE BOGEYS -- 0 N/A OTHER -- 0 N/A DRIVING ACCURACY 86 85.7 T4 DRIVING DISTANCE 279.0 279.0 T40 PUTTS PER ROUND 27 27.0 T51 PUTTS PER GIR 1.692 1.692 T37 GREENS IN REG 72 72.2 T19 SAND SAVES -- 0 N/A

Here's the thing about Williamson, who was well-positioned in a tie for fifth after 18 holes at the TPC Louisiana, so far in '08. It hasn't been the starts that have bothered him. It has been the weekends and his failure to finish what he started.

Williamson gets to the third round -- moving day in the TOUR vernacular -- and, save for a 66 at the Sony Open of Hawaii, he does a spot-on impression of an immovable object. That is followed by a lethargic fourth round where he has shot better than 74 once in five tries. In other words, the weekends have been expensive propositions for someone who is 134th on the official money list with $128,251.

Take the Sony Open in Hawaii where Williamson shot 76 to tie for 20th after opening with three rounds in the 60s. Or the FBR Open where a final-round 74 led to a tie for 58th and the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am where a 75 dragged him down to a tie for 34th.

"I figured I've spent more than $100,000,'' Williamson said, referring to the cash he has let slip away. "I had three really good chances. The results just haven't been there. It's frustrating not being able to put four rounds together.''

Williamson hopes those sullen 70-somethings are in his rearview mirror. After receiving a swing tip from caddie Bill Zimmerman on Tuesday, he believes he may be onto something that will put an end to those weekend retreats.

"The problem with playing bad rounds on Sunday is, you always want to tinker and adjust,'' he said. "Sometimes I think I just have to play smarter.''

Or tell yourself it's Thursday.

"I wish it was Sunday,'' Williamson said when he walked into the media center on Thursday. "But it's definitely not Sunday.''

What happened Tuesday, though, may be the key to Sunday for Williamson. Zimmerman noticed Williamson's right shoulder was passing the club at the top of his swing. That made Williamson want to cast the club rather than swing it.

"That's usually something a 20 handicapper does,'' he said. "Now I'm staying back and letting gravity take care of the rest. My swing feels more connected.''

It showed Thursday as Williamson, 40, toured the TPC Louisiana layout without a blemish on his card. He said he "did what I'm supposed to do. I didn't give anything away, but it's not the best I could have shot.''

Williamson is just happy to have another shot in The Big Show. He spent parts of the last two seasons on the Nationwide Tour, questioning whether he was still cut out for the tournament grind.

Williamson got back out on TOUR the hard way, too, parlaying a sponsor's exemption at the Traveler's Championship in late June into a runner-up finish (he lost to Hunter Mahan in a playoff) and a $648,000 paycheck that went a long way toward earning special temporary membership for the remainder of the 2007 season. He finished the year 123rd on the money list with $835,515, a career high in 11 seasons on the PGA TOUR.

Williamson credited his experience on the Nationwide Tour with paving the way to his success. In April he won that Tour's Fort Smith Classic, which marked his first victory in a PGA TOUR-sanctioned event in his 338th start. Prior to that, his last win as a pro had come 17 years earlier at the Kansas Open.

"Look, it's difficult to go back in anything, but going back to the Nationwide Tour made me a better player,'' Williamson said. "Every week I was playing with all those young guys, like Matt Jones and Johnson Wagner, who were knocking it 20 yards past me and making putts.

"I didn't know if I was good enough. You have to claw and scratch every week. You can't just play well two weeks and have it made like out here. You have to make cuts and earn paychecks every week. That's why winning was a big boost for me. Playing on the Nationwide (Tour) was great for me. It forced me to get better, to go out and show I can play and beat those younger kids.''

Williamson smiled.

"This has been a fabulous reward,'' he said of his return to the PGA TOUR. "I mean, the odds of me losing a playoff on the PGA TOUR last year weren't very good. And the odds of me playing golf out here this year weren't very good.

"Everyone wants to get to The Show, but once you're gone it's difficult to get back. So maybe I appreciate all the things this TOUR does for us a little bit more now.''

And his appreciation would grow in leaps and bounds if he finds a couple of rounds in the 60s this weekend.