Scott Verplank trending nicely after getting healthier

PGA TOUR Champions player Scott Verplank has the shoulders of an ambidextrous pitcher from the 1970s, one of those guys who trotted out there and threw 300-plus innings a year, year after year.

Which is to say he has been broken down on both sides pretty much since shortly after he turned 50.

“I had surgery on my right shoulder in 2016 and after it healed, I was fine and played OK in 2017,” Verplank said Tuesday, just two days removed from his best finish since 2017, a T-9 at the Cologuard Classic. “I needed to get the same surgery on my left shoulder, and I didn’t for two years. I finally got it done last year after the Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS Championship. I’m just now getting stronger and to the point where I can sort of hit it now.”

Verplank, 55, hasn’t had the PGA TOUR Champions career that his PGA TOUR career portended. He was a consistent force on the TOUR, posting seven consecutive seasons in the top 50 on the money list and five victories. He played on two Ryder Cup teams and two Presidents Cup teams.

He has yet to win on PGA TOUR Champions. In fact, he has only 10 top-10 finishes in 92 starts. And more than anything else it has been various injuries that have held him back. Over the course of his career he has had wrist, elbow and shoulder problems. Verplank also is a Type 1 diabetic, and he carries an insulin pump while he plays.

But he has been dealing with diabetes for a long time and didn’t put much blame on it for his playing woes.

“It feels like I’ve just had so many problems since I’ve been out here,” Verplank said. “And once the left one heals the right one needs something done.”

Verplank opened the 2020 season at the Morocco Champions having not played much at all and without a single competitive round under his belt for seven months. And it showed in Marrakesh as he finished in a tie for 59th.

But two weeks later at the Chubb Classic in Naples, Florida, the left shoulder was feeling a little stronger. Verplank managed a T23, and he followed up strongly at the Cologuard Classic in Tucson, Arizona. He finished at 11 under, seven shots behind winner Bernhard Langer.

“I had the AC joint fixed, had bone spurs and a cyst in the bursa sac,” Verplank said of the shoulder surgery. “They shaved down the end of my clavicle to give the AC joint room to work. Took out the bursa sac.

“The first surgery wasn’t as bad as this one. It was pretty much the same type of surgery with a little more to do and clean up. … Both shoulders are feeling better than they have in eight to 10 years.”

Perhaps it’s no coincidence, then, that Verplank’s best year on PGA TOUR Champions was in 2017, after he had healed from the surgery on his right shoulder. He posted six top 10s, including two runner-up finishes. He was 20th in the Schwab Cup race, his career best.

Now that he’s feeling pretty good about both shoulders, he hopes to put himself in position to win again.

“If I get healthy and play well, I would expect to have some chances,” Verplank said. “I had two or three pretty good chances in 2017.

“It’s not that I have different expectations or higher expectations. If I can hit the ball solidly for the first time in several years, I just will play better. That’s all I want to do. I want to have that feeling that I can hit it like I want to.”

The timing seems to be perfect for Verplank to extend his good play. His only top 10 last year came at the Hoag Classic in Newport Beach, California, where the schedule takes the players this week. Verplank finished T10, largely courtesy of his PGA TOUR Champions career-best 7-under 64 in the second round.

“I love this place,” Verplank said. “It’s a good gold course for me. The greens are difficult, and you have to be on top of your game.”

What would it mean to Verplank if he can break through and win on PGA TOUR Champions for the first time in 2020?

“It would be great just because it isn’t much fun when you don’t play very well,” Verplank said. “It would be a tremendous thrill honestly, because I’d have to play some pretty decent golf. That would mean as much to me as anything.”