If anyone is owed anything at Bay Hill this week, it's Owen
By Stan Awtrey, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
It was at Bay Hill three years ago that Greg Owen was on the brink of a life-changing experience. It changed. Just not the way expected by the Brit, nor the rest of the golfing world.
Owen had a two-shot lead coming to the 71st hole at the Bay Hill Invitational, but couldn't hold on. The collapse didn't have the drama or the same big stage as Jean Van de Velde's disaster at the 1999 British Open, but it remains the defining moment in Owen's career.
"That's what everybody remembers," Owen said a year ago when he was competing in the Nationwide Tour's Athens (Ga.) Regional Foundation Classic. "It would be nice to be remembered for something else, but that always seems to come up."
In 2006, Owen had a three-foot putt for par on the 17th hole at Bay Hill. If he could do that -- and make par at the difficult 18th hole -- and he would be standing beside Arnold Palmer for a victory ceremony. It would mean the largest paycheck of his life. It would vault him into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings, meaning a spot in the Masters and the other World Golf Championships events. Most importantly, he would secure a life-changing two-year exemption on the PGA TOUR.
But things quickly spun out of control. Owen's par putt missed to the right. The ensuing two-footer for bogey caught the cup and horseshoed out. He was suddenly tied for the lead with Rod Pampling.
The robbery on the greens wasn't over. Owen struck a nice putt on the 18th hole, a 12-footer for par, but it hit the back lip and spun out. Pampling made par and took Owen's place next to The King at the awards ceremony.
"You don't get that many chances to win on the PGA TOUR," Owen said at the time. "I had it in my pocket. It was there. And I threw it away." (For T.J. Auclair's list of the most memorable finishes at Bay Hill, click here).
Owen played well the rest of the year, finished 69th on the money list and topped $1.3 million in winnings for the second consecutive season. But things turned dark in 2007, when Owen struggled because of back problems. He was able to shed the mental pain from Bay Hill, but fought a bad back all year.
It was the classic Catch-22 situation: he couldn't practice enough to improve, and he couldn't make cuts because he couldn't practice. He fell to No. 157 on the money list and had to make that unwanted trip to the Nationwide Tour.
Like most of the guys who have played on the PGA TOUR, Owen would have preferred the Texas Valero Open to the Valdosta Classic, or THE PLAYERS Championship over the Price Cutter Championship. But Owen didn't complain. In true British manner, he kept a stiff upper lip and went about playing his way back onto the TOUR.
"It's not what I would have chosen to do, but this is the way it is," said Owen, who lost in a playoff to Robert Damron in Athens, one of two runner-up finishes he had in 2008. "The goal is to be back on the PGA TOUR (in 2009)."
He stuck with his guns. He played only once on the PGA TOUR, even though he could have gotten in additional tournaments due to his status. Owen decided to aim for one of the automatic spots that go to the top 25 Nationwide money winners. He made the cut in 14 of his 17 starts and wound up No. 10 on the money list. Congratulations, Mr. Owen, you have regained your PGA TOUR card.
So far, he's had middling success in his return. His best finishes have been a tie for 13th at The Honda Classic and a tie for 20th at the Mayakoba Golf Classic. He missed the cut last week at the Transitions Championship in Tampa.
This week, Owen returns to the place of infamy. You aren't afforded many second chances in professional golf. And those mulligans don't freely flow at a tournament like Bay Hill, which this week boasts a field that includes Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, Adam Scott and a resurgent Retief Goosen.
Owen asks for no favors, but wouldn't it be a great story to see him in the same spot on the 17th green on Sunday? And no one could really complain if he knocked it in this time, would they?
Stan Awtrey is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily reflect the views of the PGA TOUR.
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