Can on-the-number Janzen channel Stricker in Playoffs?
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
PARAMUS, N.J. -- He was in by eight points. Then he was out by five.
He was number 138 for a while. Number 144 when he signed his card; number 146 not long after.
Then he made it by 20 points. Right on the number.
Player number 144 in a field of ... 144.
Welcome to Lee Janzen's roller coaster of a Sunday afternoon at the Wyndham Championship.
He makes putts, he makes the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. He misses them and ... well, he's already scrambling for the top 125 and full exempt status for 2009 and not being here ... let's just say that would have been a huge setback.
Janzen is no stranger to days or seasons like this. He's a bounce-back kind of guy. An overcomer, he says. Someone who knows he's going to get where he's going. It just might take some time -- and then some more time.
Two years ago, he went to work on a swing full of bad habits. A year ago, he decided to stop focusing on what wasn't working and concentrate on what he needed to do.
And now? The two-time U.S. Open champion has thrown abstract thinking into the mix. The results were a tie for 21st at the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open and a tie for 15th at the Wyndham Championship -- finishes that earned him a spot in The Barclays this week at Ridgewood Country Club.
"Right now, all I have is an opportunity to play well,'' said Janzen, who won the 1994 Barclays when it was a regular field event. "If I play well and miss the cut, I haven't gained anything, because 145 and 144 are basically the same.
"I have the opportunity to move up. A good week, hopefully at the end of this week, we can look back and say this was a great opportunity.''
Janzen turns 44 next week, and nothing would be sweeter than making it through to the next Playoffs event. He's struggled for so long now -- you have to go back to 2003 to find a $1 million season -- and that's hard for any top player. Let alone one with a pair of majors.
In fact, he's found himself playing Monday qualifiers to supplement his past champions status. He's seen success in a round or two, but rarely four straight. And last year, he played his way out of the Playoffs with seven straight missed cuts.
"If there was a turning point, it was when I realized I was focusing on all the things I was doing wrong, and I wanted to focus on all the things I wanted to do,'' he said. "And focus on what I needed to do right.
" ...My whole life up until the last few years ... anything going on in my life, if I put effort into it, I could turn it around. And it wasn't happening ... I kept thinking I would, but I wouldn't.
"I'm not there yet, but I'm going to get there.''
As if on cue, Steve Stricker walked in the door.
"There's an inspiration right there,'' Janzen said smiling and saying hello. "He's what? Three in the world? Four in the world?''
Actually, he's 10th. But that hardly matters -- and he was third early in the year.
The point is, Stricker has been where Janzen is right now. Nowhere. Reaching. Fighting back. He turned it around, starting at the 2006 U.S. Open and culminating with his 2007 win at The Barclays and a second-place finish behind Tiger Woods in the inaugural FedExCup.
"He just worked at it,'' Janzen said. "His goal was to get better. That's the first thing. Some guys don't want to get better. They're happier complaining. They walk around with a dark cloud over them.''
Janzen is a do-er. His first move was to start working with swing coach Mike Bender. That was more than two years ago, and Janzen is still shaking his head over their opening session.
"The first day we worked, if he told me we would have got my swing to where it is now, I would not have believed him,'' Janzen said. "In fact it was a challenge the first day to get my hands moving in my swing where I needed to go.
"But I knew I had to do something. I could not play the way I was playing. It's been a long thing, a long process. Sometimes, I wonder if it would have been better if I just took a year off and worked on my swing. Trying to work on your swing and trying to play golf at the same time, not easy.
"I marvel at guys that make swing changes and continue to play great; Tiger and Phil both have done that, and Vijay, too. But it's very difficult to change your swing and play week to week and get any momentum going.''
Some weeks, he hits it great. The next week, nothing's there. But, he said, his misses are better than they were. No more of this four great drives followed by one 30, 40 yards off the fairway.
And there's his new thought process -- abstract thinking over the ball.
"It's very strange the first because I always wanted to be thinking about my swing and about the shot, and I figured why I wasn't successful was because I wasn't thinking hard enough about it,'' he said. "And they wanted me not to think about it at all.''
Instead of visualizing the shot or swing, he'll think about simple things like math, eight plus three, a number. Anything to clear his mind.
"Once you get the feeling of that more quiet mind, it's easier to go there,'' he said. "But you have to know what it's like.
"You look at Tiger, and he looks totally free when he hits it. But there are times when he says he doesn't remember what he did. Which I find hard to believe sometimes, but I've actually had a few shots this year when I've had to ask my caddie which way did I miss that putt because I have no recollection of which side of a hole I missed it on. I don't remember because I've hit it just the way I want.''
The key? To hit every shot as though you're on the range and it doesn't matter. Just swing free.
Janzen looks at this week as progress. Another up in this roller coaster season.
Eight solid rounds -- and an early season tied for 10th at the PODS Championship -- got him here. Four really solid rounds, and he's moving on. Four extraordinary rounds, and he could be this year's Stricker.
He smiled. "You look at (Stricker),'' he said, "and you realize I can do that.''
It's just a matter of confidence; of swinging free. Of eight plus three or the top 125.
Or in FedExCup terms, one playoff field down, three to go.
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