Insider: Gutschewski's home game not a stay-cation
John Dell, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
Scott Gutschewski didn't always look at the big picture back when he was starting out as a professional golfer. Nowadays, he can look at the long and winding road of the season and exhale from time to time.
That outlook has helped him in his career on the Web.com Tour and the PGA TOUR since 1999.
"Yeah, I've been at this about 13 years now," said Gutschewski, 35, who is very much looking forward to this week's Web.com Tour's Cox Classic presented by Lexus of Omaha.
This week's Web.com Tour stop is a home game for the Omaha native, who along with his wife and three kids, have recently moved back to Omaha from Dallas, Texas.
"We've been talking about it awhile and decided to pull the trigger and do it," Gutschewski said about moving back to Nebraska. "We've moved a bunch of stuff and now we hope our house sells in Texas."
Gutschewski comes into this week's tournament playing some of his best golf of the season, and it comes at a good time. He is 21st on the Web.com Tour money list after two top-five finishes in his last five starts, including a tie for second at the Utah Championship.
On Sunday he wound up tied for 14th at the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational in Columbus, Ohio. His finish pushed him up from 29th on the money list.
"I have to be honest, I don't look all that often at where I stand on the list," Gutschewski said.
Gutschewski is very familiar with both the PGA TOUR and the Web.com Tour, where he has combined to win $2.5 million in his career. He's won twice on the Web.com Tour in his career.
"I've been getting the ball in the fairway a little more," Gutschewski said about this season. "I don't feel like I've been playing bad at all except for maybe a bad hole here and there. I haven't been able to put it together for four days, but I'm getting closer."
Last season, Gutschewski made a late run to secure his PGA TOUR card but couldn't get there. He played in 23 tournaments and made 12 cuts but wound up 189th on the FedEx Cup points list and 183rd on the money list.
He made some changes in the offseason and says they have started to pay off.
| Inside THE 25 | ||||||||||||||||||
|
"I just missed the (FedEx Cup) playoffs last year and I started to work with Chris O'Connell, and he's helped me a lot and showed me a lot of good things," Gutschewski said. "There were some things I needed to work on and just here in the last two months I've started working with Mike Bury a little bit and that's helped."
Bury's advice has been about making better use of his practice time.
As Gutschewski heads into this week's tournament he's excited because he gets to play in front of his family and friends but he's also excited about where his game is right now.
"The course is probably 15 minutes from my parents' house," Gutschewski said. "My in-laws are members there at Champions Run as well."
The Web.com Tour is embarking on a stretch of 12 tournaments in the next 13 weeks, but Gutschewski said he doubts he'll play them all. He says what's best for him is taking a week off here and there to recharge his batteries.
"I won't play them all," Gutschewski said. "It would be really tough to do that and I'm sure some guys will do it because they feel like they have to. But I would probably take a week off at some point. I'd rather have a really good week as oppose to playing all those weeks in a row."
Maybe in his younger days he would try and play all of the tournaments in a row but because he's been around for awhile he knows it's a long season.
"Just the fact that I've done it before there's no need to panic," Gutschewski said. "It's a long year and it seems like it goes quick. Hitting one bad shot or having one bad week isn't the end of the world. You have to just move on and keep doing your best."
Heading into this season, Gutschewski had played exactly 111 tournaments each on the Web.com Tour and the PGA TOUR. During his time on the Web.com Tour he's been amazed at how competitive it has become.
"It's tough and it's so competitive and we have so many reshuffles that you have to keep playing well or you are left behind," Gutschewski said. "There's a lot of pressure out here and guys are fighting to make a living so of course you feel it. I guess maybe because I've been through it so many times I don't feel it as much but there's pressure and everybody feels it."
That pressure won't be as severe this week, because Gutschewski will relish playing in his home state.
"I'm looking forward to playing in Omaha and it's one of our best stops out here," Gutschewski said. "It's just fun and it's a great atmosphere. Getting to play in front of my friends and the whole family gets to come out and watch will be nice.
"It doesn't happen too often that we all get together but I'm also looking to play well."
John Dell has covered golf for the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina for the last 18 years. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR. You can reach him at johndell@triad.rr.com.
