McCARRON SHOOTING FOR A LITTLE LESS DRAMA
Defending Shaw Charity Classic champ used to nail-biters, writes Wes Gilbertson
Someday, ideally as soon as this weekend, Scott McCarron would love to enjoy a stress-free stroll down the finishing hole.
McCarron returns to Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club as the defending champion of the Shaw Charity Classic.
During Sunday’s closing round last summer, he arrived at No. 18 clinging to a one-shot lead.
An enviable spot on the leaderboard but far from a sure thing.
“It was one of those tournaments I felt like I could have had a three- or four-shot lead coming in,” McCarron recalled. “I hit it close but missed a short putt on No. 16 and then missed a short putt again on No. 17, or else I would have had a little easier walk coming up No. 18.
“I’ve been very fortunate now to win seven times on the PGA Tour Champions, but six of ’em were by one shot and one was in a playoff. So I haven’t really had the luxury of strutting down No. 18 and waving to the crowd and really enjoying that walk. Each one has been a little nerve-racking and just trying to stay in the moment.
“That’s one of the keys is to be able to control your emotions and not get too high, not start thinking about what you’re going to say in your victory speech and really just focus on the task at hand, which is the next shot.”
McCarron managed to do exactly that at the 2017 Shaw Charity Classic, clinching his victory with a two-putt par on the last.
Thanks to a three-round tab of 16-under 194, he finished one stroke better than fan fave Miguel Angel Jimenez and received the white-hat treatment as tournament champion.
That unique keepsake is now displayed in the bar area of his home in California.
“I did wear it once,” McCarron reported of the cowboy hat. “I went to a Rascal Flatts concert and beforehand, I put it on for a little pre-party.”
If things had unfolded a bit differently, McCarron might still be hawking hats and shirts instead of shooting for trophies.
He quit competitive golf for four years after his collegiate career with the UCLA Bruins, joining his father in the sports apparel business and only teeing it up in corporate scrambles as part of his sales pitch.
Any guy who can fire rounds of 63, 64 and 67 from the 7,086yard tournament tees at Canyon Meadows would be a force in a scramble format, but McCarron can rack up plenty of birdies on his own ball.
Now 53, he won a hat-trick of titles during his PGA Tour prime and has made a habit of hanging around the top of the leaderboard since joining the senior circuit.
“A lot of times, people ask what’s one of my favourite moments on the PGA Tour, and I would have to say just getting through the qualifying school in 1994 to get on the PGA Tour,” McCarron said. “I spent all three qualifying rounds right on the number. I made it through first stage on the number. I made it through second stage on the number. And then I got my card basically right on the number. So if I’m one shot higher in any one of those, I probably wouldn’t have had a career on the PGA Tour.
“And then my rookie year on the PGA Tour, I was way down the money list. I’d only made about $48,000 with two events left, and I played really well in Las Vegas — finished third on my own — to make enough money by $2,500 to get my card for the next year. So if that didn’t happen that week, in the secondlast tournament of the season, I would have had to go back to Q-School and who knows if I would have gotten through?
“All those moments prepare you for when you do have a chance to win a golf tournament. Just getting my PGA Tour card, that was probably one of the most pressure-packed situations I have ever been in over my entire career. Because if you don’t do it, you don’t have a job for the next year. On the PGA Tour or the PGA Tour Champions, if I don’t get it done that week and instead of winning, maybe I lose by a shot … well, I still have next week.”
Next week to have another opportunity, that is, to savour that stress-free stroll down No. 18.
Perhaps, that will come this week at Canyon Meadows.
McCarron’s defence officially starts with Friday’s first round of the three-day, US$2.35-million showdown.
“It’s always a good feeling coming back to a tournament that you won the previous year,” McCarron said. “I really like the golf course, Shaw is one of the best sponsors we have on the PGA Tour Champions, and the tournament is supported so well by the city and the fans, so it’s just a blast. And we’re able to help them raise a lot of money for local charities. Every stop we go to, that’s always one of the most important things — how much money we can raise for local charities — and Shaw just does a fantastic job of capitalizing on us coming up there.
“So it’s a tournament I look forward to every year. And it just happens to be that I’ll probably look forward to it a little more this year because I’m coming back as the defending champion.”
It’s always a good feeling coming back to a tournament thatyouwon the previous year