Nationwide Tour Insider: Reifers' season improving

text size

Badz/PGA TOUR

Reifers recently finished tied for second at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open.

It doesn't seem that long ago that Kyle Reifers took the Nationwide Tour by storm, winning his first tournament after turning pro.

The year was 2006 and Reifers, fresh out of college at Wake Forest, won the Chattanooga Classic for his lone Tour victory.

"Has it really been that long?" said Reifers, who at age 26 is now in his fifth year of professional golf.

Reifers spent one season on the PGA TOUR, and the rest of his time has been on the Nationwide Tour. This season he has slowly improved, making three cuts in three tournaments. He had his best showing at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open, where he tied for second with Brian Vranesh and Scott Gutschewski, six strokes behind the winner, Argentina's Fabian Gomez.

Reifers, who needed a birdie on his final hole Friday just make the cut, shot two 67s on the weekend to work his way up the leaderboard. The second place finish moved him from 72nd on the money list to 15th.

"It was a good week for me," Reifers said. "I've been working hard on my game and it's nice to see some of the results like that."

For this season on the Nationwide Tour Reifers has changed a few things, both on and off the course. He's moved from Charlotte, N.C. to Atlanta, which will allow him to drive to as many as nine Nationwide Tour tournaments.

He's also getting help with his game from Joey Wuertemberger, a master instructor and director of outside operations at the Jim McLean Golf School in Fort Worth, Texas.

"He can drive it as good as anybody on both tours," Wuertemberger said. "We're kind of focusing on the wedge game and the putting. He's really improved and it's because he's keeping his swing more natural."

In addition to having Wuertemberger at every other tournament, Reifers also continues to work with his father, Randy, an accomplished amateur player who is a member of the Ohio Golf Hall of Fame.

One of the things Reifers continues to fight is being too results oriented.

"Really what I've been working on is being more natural and not so technical," Reifers said. "I think I tend to get too technical and for some guys that works, but for me I've been just trying to kind of get the ball to the hole and being more natural with my swing is the best way for me."

After several years of experience, including 77 Nationwide Tour events and 27 PGA TOUR events, Reifers has also learned that it's easy to get into a funk.

"I think it's a little easier now because I know the courses a little better and played one year on the PGA TOUR," Reifers said. "With both tours you realize how the traveling can affect you and everything else, so there's definitely a learning curve."

The Nationwide Tour will take two weeks off before resuming at the Fresh Express Classic at TPC Stonebrae in Hayward, Calif. from April 12-18.

On cut day in Louisiana it appeared that Reifers' break was going to come early but on the ninth hole he made birdie, his 18th hole of the day, to just make the cut. The hole was playing 470 yards into a stiff wind.

"I had about a 12-footer for birdie and made it, so that was gratifying to make the cut," Reifers said.

Reifers, a college teammate of PGA TOUR players Webb Simpson and Bill Haas, had an outstanding amateur career before graduating with a religion degree from Wake Forest.

Last season on the Nationwide Tour, he was in contention a few times and had three top 10 finishes. He was 56th on the money list, after finishing 47th on the list in 2008. Now that he's inside the top 25, staying there is his goal for the rest of the season.

"It's a long season but I can't really focus too much on what might happen," he said. "The plan is to take care of the golf and not put any more pressure on myself and just kind of enjoy the process."

Reifers feels that of the players in their mid-20s on the Nationwide Tour, he probably has the most experience. He hopes that will help him as the season progresses.

"I think I'm a lot better player now than I was," Reifers said when recalling that first victory in 2006. "There's so much great competition out there on the Nationwide and I just have to keep plugging away and it will happen for me."

John Dell has covered golf for the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina for the last 15 years. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.