After years of struggle, Gay learns to win, and win big
By Craig Dolch, PGATOUR.COM Contributor
Nobody knows how difficult it is to win on the PGA TOUR more so than Brian Gay. It took him a decade and 293 tries before he finally lifted a trophy last year.
But once Gay started winning, nobody with the exception of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson or Kenny Perry the last two years has made it look so easy.
Gay may not have won with the frequency as the aforementioned stars, but when he finds himself in the lead on Sunday, he has proven he won't take his foot off the accelerator.
Gay's two victories this year, at the Verizon Heritage and the St. Jude Classic presented by FedEx, have come by a combined total of 15 shots. This included a whopping 10-shot triumph at Hilton Head, where Gay became just the sixth player in the TOUR's modern history (since 1970) to record a double-digit victory.
This dominant half-dozen isn't a shabby group: Woods, Mickelson, Johnny Miller, Jose Maria Olazabal and Steve Jones. All of them are major champions.
Gay knows it makes no sense. It took the 38-year-old a half-dozen years to make it to the PGA TOUR, and a least another half dozen more years before he felt comfortable making a living inside the yellow ropes. So how is it that in his late-30s he could almost be accused of running up the score, ala another famous University of Florida alumnus, Steve Spurrier?
"I wish I could give you the answer why," Gay said Monday night from the Buick Open, where he's playing this week in Grand Blanc., Mich. "I didn't even look at a leaderboard in Hilton Head -- I just kept my head down. All I can tell is you is my focus is heightened in those situations. You can get distracted with negative thought in your head or you can just keep going."
Gay has chosen the latter, displaying the type of closing instinct usually exhibited by superstars such as Woods and Mariano Rivera.
Ask even the most accomplished golfer, and they will tell you that playing with a lead is one of the most challenging parts of their profession. The bigger the lead, the greater the concerns.
Players at the top of the leaderboard quickly go from trying to win to trying not to lose. Instead of stretching their lead, they try to protect it. Gay said he was trained for this art throughout his childhood.
Gay was an Army brat who was introduced to golf by his father, Joseph, a master sergeant of flight operations at Fort Rucker, a U.S. Army post in Southeast Alabama. This may not have been like The Great Santini, but Gay, an only child, wasn't given a lot of mulligans growing up. His dad was tougher than a $4 steak.
"My dad was a sergeant in the Army, so I think I get a lot of my toughness from my dad," Gay said.
With his dad constantly traveling overseas, Gay spent most of his free time on an 18-hole course at Fort Rucker, usually by himself. By the time he turned 10, he was invited to play rounds of golf with the older military men. That toughened Gay up, too, a lesson that still serves the 5-foot-10, 155-pounder well.
"I think I've always had to be tough just because even as a kid, guys would outdrive me (by) 30, 40 yards," he said. "I've always had to deal with hitting first from the fairway and talking myself into (that) I can beat them, even though they're hitting three, four clubs less into the green. I think I've always had to be tough in that respect."
The art of playing well on the lead remains a work in motion. Given his first chance, early last year in Mexico, Gay admits he didn't handle it well. He held a five-shot lead entering the final round, but he played conservatively and it almost cost him. He had to make a clutch birdie putt at the 16th hole to keep Steve Marino from closing within one shot of the lead.
Gay escaped with a two-shot victory -- and a lesson. "I learned a lot from that," he said. "If you're playing well enough, like I was, keep trying to make birdies."
Gay relied on that knowledge at Hilton Head, where he took a three-shot lead after 54 holes. Instead of protecting on Sunday, he attacked, using an early eagle to steadily pull away for the emphatic victory.
Trust us, there wasn't a lot of strategy going on between Gay and his caddie, Kip Henley at Hilton Head. Gay doesn't like to look at leaderboards when he's playing and he wasn't going to get much help from his bag man.
"I didn't even ask my caddie until 18 -- 'Who's in second?' He said, 'I don't know.'
"I said, 'How far ahead am I?' And he said, 'I don't know.'"
The two had a better idea where Gay stood on the final hole at Memphis, where he led by one shot after each of the first three rounds and were in position -- leading by four -- where Gay could play safe at the 72nd hole. Instead, Gay ignored the pond to the left of the pin and stuffed his 7-iron a few feet away from the cup.
As soon as the ball took off from his club, the caddie looked at his boss incredulously and uttered one of the best lines on the PGA TOUR this year. "What did you do that for, Goober?" Henley asked.
Doesn't exactly rank up there with Hal Sutton's "Be the right club today!" final-hole exclamation when he outdueled Woods at the 2000 THE PLAYERS Championship, does it?
Gay could have turned to his caddy, who has been on his bag for all three wins, and replied: "Because I could."
Instead, they smiled, having slammed the door on another lopsided win.
"We were between a 6 and a 7, and Kip wanted me to hit the 6," Gay explained. "I just thought it was a perfect 7."
And it's proven to be a perfect season for Gay. On the heels of last year's 31st-place finish in the TOUR's money list, he's currently in the top 10 in FedExCup points (eighth) and earnings (ninth with $2.78 million). He is a career-best 36th in the Official World Golf Rankings, has earned his first trip to the Masters and is now just one place out of claiming an automatic spot on the U.S. Presidents Cup team (Anthony Kim's third-place showing in Canada dropped Gay from 10th to 11th).
Gay has a chance in the next three weeks to move back in the top 10 and secure his first international team competition as a pro. Don't be surprised if he closes this deal as securely as he has his last two tournament titles.
"I do think I'm ready to go to another level," Gay said.
Craig Dolch is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.
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