Golf: Under-60 man star turn for NZ Open

By DAVID LEGGAT

Picture the scene.

It's the PGA Tour qualifying school, the six-round marathon for golfers trying to secure a prized card for the full year on the most competitive circuit in the game.

You are hunched over a birdie putt on the 18th. A glance at the scoreboard shows you have accumulated 58 shots. Birdies on the previous three holes have put you within reach of one of the Everests of the game, a sub-60 round.

"Eight foot, left to right, break about a ball and a half," David Gossett recalls. This is not the first time he's recited that line.

He drained the putt.

The round of 59 capped off a remarkable year for the 21-year-old, who will be one of the star turns at next week's Telstra Saturn New Zealand Open at The Grange.

"The course wasn't set up easy, and to do it in a tournament, that's something I'll be able to draw on down the years."

The only hiccup came over the following two days, when Gossett was unable to round off the tournament by taking one of the 35 tour cards on offer. He finished with rounds of 74, 71, and will spend his year on the secondary Buy.com Tour.

"If I could do it again I would have been a little more aggressive on those rounds. I thought be patient. I learned a good lesson there."

However, the previous 12 months turned around the life of Phoenix-born, Germantown, Tennessee-raised Gossett.

At the famed Pebble Beach course in August 1999, Gossett won the US Amateur championship, beating Korean Sung Yoon Kim 9 and 8 in the final. No champion - and try Palmer, Nicklaus, O'Meara, Mickelson, Leonard and Woods for starters - has matched that margin in the past 50 years.

That turned the full glare of expectation on to Gossett. He was in elite company, but admitted he has not spent much time dwelling on it.

"I haven't given it much thought. But it gives me a lot of confidence to be in that fraternity. It's nice to be in that sort of company at 21."

That opened the door to appearances in three of last year's four majors, the Masters, British and US Opens, the latter again at Pebble Beach, where Gossett saw three-time amateur champion Tiger Woods decimate the field, and the course.

Gossett arrived at Augusta National last April for his first Masters and found himself paired on the opening practice day with one of the greats, Texan Ben Crenshaw. For the University of Texas graduate, that was significant.

The next day it was Arnold Palmer. On Wednesday, there were the other two of the legendary triumvirate of the last 40 years, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus, waiting on the first tee.

"That wasn't a bad deal. I was ready to go home from there," Gossett laughed.

It got better. Gossett made the cut and on Masters Sunday, one of golf's most celebrated days each year, he partnered Nicklaus, who knows more about the course than anyone and has six green jackets in his wardrobe.

So did the Golden Bear share his wisdom as they trod the famous fairways?

"Jack was great. He was very encouraging - more in the practice round than on the Sunday - and he was gracious when he didn't have to be.

"He was extremely focused and it was great to see in person how determined he is, even at 60."

Gossett didn't start out as a three-year-old wunderkind swatting balls around the local courses. His first loves were baseball and basketball, and he didn't pick up a club until he was nine.

His father, a pilot in the US Air Force, played baseball and did not take up golf until he was 30. Mum does not play. But there must be something in the blood. His 18-year-old sister, Joni, is on the golf team at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

"I was about 15 when I really decided I wanted to give this a shot. I wanted to pursue a college scholarship [cue Texas], so I stopped playing the other sports. Actually I haven't missed them as much as I thought I might."

Gossett estimates he will have seven sponsors' exemptions to PGA Tour events this year - starting with the AT&T Pro-am, at Pebble Beach again, at the end of January.

But he has priorities.

"My focus has to be on the Buy.com. I want to be on the PGA Tour next year and if I spread myself too thin ... " he added.

So what is he doing Down Under?

The Buy.com starts in March, he had some time to fill in and wanted tournament play, so he is playing in this week's Victorian Open, The Grange and then in Sydney for the Canon Challenge next week.

Life is pretty good right now? "Yeah, life is great."