Golf: Unsung hero can match the best

By GEOFF CUMMING

Grant Waite stood on the 18th green and knew he had Tiger in trouble. The Palmerston North golfer, needing to pick up a shot to force a playoff, was on the par-five green in two.

Woods' tee shot had veered right and landed in a bunker. Between his ball and the hole, 218 yards away, was a lot of water.

The only sensible approach was to hit out of the sand for the middle of the fairway. But not Woods. On the advice of his New Zealand caddy, Steve Williams, he took a six iron and sent his ball soaring over the water, stopping 20 feet from the flag.

The miracle shot left Waite pipped at the post for the second consecutive weekend.

"You're not supposed to do that," he told Woods afterwards.

But in finishing second in the Canadian Open on Monday, Waite won a more important battle - with himself. His improved form and the confidence he will take from his encounter with Tiger should ensure that his winning drought is broken soon.

He knows that - but for the phenomenal Woods - he would have won the $3.3 million tournament with ease. He coped with the pressure of the hole-by-hole duel and the unruly galleries which follow Tiger.

Afterwards, Waite would liken the atmosphere to a rugby match.

Americans went into raptures over the tussle, which drew a television audience of 2.7 million, ESPN's biggest of the year.

As Woods said afterwards, the New Zealander matched him "shot for shot, toe to toe."

Yet back home, the reaction included some churlish mutterings about Grant Waite missing out again.

With little inkling of the realities of the PGA tour, New Zealanders have tended to under-appreciate Waite's career.

He deserves greater recognition.

Second placings on consecutive weekends on the Canadian section of the tour have boosted his income for the year to nearly $US1 million and put him in 35th place on the money list.

It is 17 years since he left New Zealand to take up a golfing scholarship at Oklahoma University with age group titles in Australia and New Zealand under his belt.

Tall and athletic, he had a superb natural swing. It was not long before he was saddled with the tag "the next Bob Charles."

Since he first made the tour in 1990, Waite has not quite met those expectations, despite making at least $US150,000 in a bad year.

A 1993 win in the Kemper Open, 15 top-10 finishes and, after Canada, five second placings are the high points of his career from 236 tournaments.

Outside the United States, he won the 1992 New Zealand Open and has performed brilliantly for New Zealand in the Dunhill Cup.

But in a great era for Kiwi golf, he has been overshadowed by the tournament wins of Frank Nobilo, Michael Campbell and Greg Turner - no matter that most of their successes have come outside the United States, where the stakes are highest and the competition fiercest.

His standing in New Zealand has also suffered from isolation. Qualifying commitments in the United States have limited his appearances on our summer circuit, unlike Nobilo, Campbell and Turner.

PGA tour veteran John Lister says it takes a special determination to do what Waite has done, grinding it out for so long on the tour without reaching the top bracket.

Living out of a suitcase, the hungry pack play from Thursday to Sunday, usually catching a plane to the next venue soon after walking off the course. Tuesday is practice day, on Wednesday a pro-am.

They see little of the places they visit beyond the course and the hotel room.

Who would marry a pro-tour golfer? Waite, twice married, says his Italian-American wife, Lea, and their children, Osten (his mother's maiden name) and Tanner, join him on tour as much as they can. The boys, aged 6 and 5, go to school in Orlando, Florida - the Waites' home since 1992.

"I try not to spend more than two weeks away," says Waite. "It's very important for me to be involved and spend as much time around them as I possibly can.

"That's the downside to what I do, but I'm not complaining."

More often than not at this time of year, with the tour drawing to a close, Waite has found himself in a scrap for survival.

Only the top 125 money earners retain their tour card, guaranteeing entry to about 30 lucrative tournaments next season. Lose it and you are consigned to the lottery of qualifying rounds, or must rely on sponsors' invitations, just to get a start.

Waite lost his card at the end of last year but he is now sufficiently established to get by on sponsors' invitations. And his form this year ensures he will be back next American summer.

His mother, Rae Calvert, says he has always ruled out switching to a less-arduous circuit like Europe. He is absolutely determined to make it on the toughest tour of all.

He has always been like that, she says. A North Island soccer representative in his teens, he also shone at tennis, swimming and long-distance running. The harder the challenge, the more determined he became.

At the end of August, Waite was in familiar territory heading into the Air Canada championship in British Columbia, perilously close to the cutoff mark at 121st on the money list.

All that changed with his brilliant fortnight, which netted him $US680,000.

The display against Woods raised his standing among his peers, while proving to Waite that he has the ability to win at the very highest level.

"A lot of the players understand the level I played at and they expressed that, which is nice."

But is Waite's transformation permanent or just a purple patch?

His former coach Ross Morpeth, from the Manawatu Golf Club, is in no doubt that, at the age of 36, Waite has the ability to make the top 20.

"Look at Mark O'Meara [who won two majors in 1998] - he played his best golf in his 40s."

Historically, Waite's weakness has been his putting. His driving and long iron shots are consistently ranked among the best on tour for distance and accuracy. But approaching the green, the yips set in.

Despair at his putting game has seen him use the broomstick (long-handled putter) and even try left-handed.

His problem is one which every weekend hacker can relate to - he thinks too much.

American coaching guru Chuck Hogan summed him up on a 1997 visit here: "He is an extremely intelligent, sensitive person and when the smoke clears, he will be one of the great players."

Waite says his troubles begin with wayward approach shots to the green, particularly with the wedge. "It's a blockage - you know you can do it but you start trying too hard, and when you get in that mode it becomes very difficult."

He credits sessions with Dean Ryman for his improved fortunes. The San Diego-based coach addressed some technical faults and taught him to read greens better.

Perhaps more importantly, he has learned to relax mentally and not try so hard.

While the rewards have come in the past fortnight, Waite pinpoints the Greater Milwaukee Open two months ago as the turning point. Since then, he has played 25 sub-par rounds out of 26. His last nine rounds have all been under-70.

Rae Calvert, a former regular player, has watched the transformation on television from her Palmerston North home.

"Everything about him has matured. He's so focused in what he's doing. Where his game has improved is in his mental approach and in reading the greens."

A gauge of Waite's progress came from Woods, when he compared the final-round slog with his battle against Bob May in the PGA Championship.

"The fact that we never made a mistake, no bogies, 13 birdies and shot for shot we went toe to toe together and no one backed off an inch.

"It was a lot of fun to play that way."

There is another reason for New Zealanders to swell with pride at what happened in Ontario.

In fourth place, after a final round that matched Waite's 66, was his friend from Palmerston North, Craig Perks.

Two years younger, Perks has followed Waite since they showed outstanding potential as teenagers, practising together under Ross Morpeth at the Manawatu club and representing Palmerston North Boys' High School. Waite took up a golfing scholarship in 1983 and Perks joined him at Oklahoma University a couple of years later.

Morpeth, still in regular contact with the pair, says Waite had a superb swing from an early age and found golf quite simple. Perks had flair. Both were prepared to work hard, practising for hours on end.

"To see where they are now and for them to perform so well in the same tournament - it's a special buzz."

Waite was still buzzing from the duel with Woods two days later, in a conference call with New Zealand and United States journalists.

He praises Woods' ability to produce shots under pressure, which people will remember for years. He aims to do the same.

At one point, Waite slips into his bad habit of dwelling on his technique.

Don't go there, Grant - get that Tiger off your tail.