Club pros get to play on world stage
One practises with Canadian PGA Tour member Dave Hearn
ROCHESTER, N.Y. Among his responsibilities as first assistant pro at Paa-Ko Ridge Golf Club in Albuquerque, N.M., David Muttit handles scheduling for inside and outside staff, including himself.
That was a good thing when it came to arranging the time away required this week so Muttit can play in the PGA Championship.
“I said, ‘Guys, I’m not going to be here,’” Muttit said Wednesday. “They have been great. They’ve allowed me to do what I need to do.”
Muttit played practice rounds with PGA Tour members David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., and Chris Stroud of the United States. When the fourth and final major championship of the men’s professional golf season begins, Muttit will spend Thursday and Friday with tour regulars Charlie Beljan of the U.S. and Brendon De Jonge of South Africa.
It’s a worldwide stage for Muttit, a 30-year-old originally from Dallas. He qualified for this week’s event at Oak Hill Country Club by tying for ninth in the PGA Professional National Championship at Sunriver, Ore., in June.
“It’s crazy,” Muttit said. “The sheer amount of people ... look at it out there. What day is it? Wednesday? I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like in the next four days.”
Muttit, Lee Rhind of Midland, Texas, and 18 other club pros qualified for the field of 156 at Oak Hill by placing in the top 20 in Oregon. At least until the field is cut after two rounds — to 70 and ties and any other golfers within 10 strokes of the lead — they’ll bask in an atmosphere they never experience anywhere else.
Rhind, a 34-year Scot who is now a Midland Country Club assistant pro, said he was having a blast signing autographs and, in doing so, making children smile.
Last week was a blur of a different kind because of Midland’s member-guest tournament, teaching and other club duties and getting ahead on the to-do list.
“I really didn’t know what to think,” about the PGA Championship at Oak Hill, Rhind said. “That was the problem. How everybody would be? what was going on? ... so it has only been since I got here that I understood what it was really all about: the fans, all the players, all the stuff that goes on.”
Having spent parts of two days with Stroud and Hearn and having watched tour pros at close range, Rhind said what struck him most was how ingrained their swings were thanks to hundreds and thousands of practice shots.
“Everything they do in their lives is geared around hitting this little white ball down the fairway,” Rhind said. “You can just tell they are very prepared physically, mentally. Everything is just geared for playing golf.”
While nobody really believes any of the 20 club pros to pose a threat to the eventual winner at Oak Hill, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that a small number of them might survive the cut, although Muttit said playing well was roughly the extent of his goals.
“I don’t know what that is, where that is,” Muttit said. “Whether that’s a win, 10th (place), 20th, I’m not really worried about where I finish. I want to control myself and play well.”