For the moment, at least, Chip Beck was back. Back in the spotlight, however small. Back in his element. Back where he belongs.
“I’m so, so happy for him,” said Waukegan native David Ogrin. “His struggle was deeper and longer than anything I’ve experienced. His fall was greater because he was one of the elite players of the game. How many cuts did he miss in a row? But he never gave up.
“Now he’s getting his confidence back. It’s quite possible, for somebody like Chip, once he gets his confidence back, to run the table.”
The 45-year-old Beck, who lives in Lake Forest, shot a 5-under-par 67 in Thursday’s first round of the LaSalle Bank Open on the Buy.com Tour. He’s two strokes behind Gene Sauers, whose 65 was a course record from the back tees of 7,217 yards. If you’ve been paying attention to Beck’s long free fall, that’s a good sign. Coming after his third place in Omaha last week, it’s very good sign.
A four-time PGA Tour champ who played on the 1993 U.S. Ryder Cup team and is best known for his 59 in the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational, Beck has won more than $6 million. But a string of 47 straight missed cuts in 1997-98–a span when he earned only $21,000–made him Exhibit A for every pro who has ever worried that someday it will all just vanish.
“I’ve been slowly getting better,” Beck said. “But [instructor Jim] Suttie saw me at [the Western Open] and we made three adjustments, including a grip change. I’ve worked really hard with him since the fall of 1998. It’s nice there’s a guy with enough skill to help a guy who was in as much trouble as me.”
After a bogey-free round, Beck also credited his switch to a new set of fitted Vulcan clubs. He also gave thanks for his good fortune: a chip-in birdie on the par-3 17th and a 7-iron to within 4 feet of the cup on No. 9.
Beck could be excused for wondering if this is just another false alarm.
“False alarms, depressions, it has all hit me at one time or another,” he said. “The only way out is to keep moving forward, focusing on what you can control.”
The 44-year-old Ogrin, who shot a 74 to match Barrington native Gary Hallberg, would agree. Ogrin took last year off to work with Tim Nugent on the design of his new course outside Houston, High Meadow Ranch. He also had cartilage surgery on his right knee. The winner of the 1996 Texas Open and $2.8 million is starting over on the Buy.com circuit–and playing like it.
“You can see where I am on the money list [147th, $9,789] so you can tell how happy I am,” he said. “I’m not shooting in the 60s. That’s the problem.”
Hallberg, 44, won the 1983 San Diego Open, 1987 Greater Milwaukee Open and 1992 Buick Southern Open before a wrist injury sent him into a tailspin. His win in the Buy.com Northeast Pennsylvania Classic in June, where he came from 10 strokes off the pace with a closing 64, signaled the worst may be over. Hallberg’s win broke a 10-year drought and was worth $81,000.
“I spend more time on the course practicing,” said Hallberg, who last played here in the ’96 Western. “That’s what it takes. There’s no magic bullet.”
LaSalle Bank Open
The leaders
%% Gene Sauers -7 (65)
Chip Beck -5 (67)
Dave Stockton Jr. -4 (68)
Arron Oberholser -4 (68)
Jason Buha -4 (68)
%%
About the leader
Thirty-nine-year-old Gene Sauers’ best years on the PGA Tour were 1986-92, when he regularly finished among the top 40 players on the money list. The native of Savannah, Ga., won two official PGA Tour events–the 1986 Bank of Boston Classic and 1989 Hawaiian Open–and an unofficial one, the 1990 Deposit Guaranty Classic.
Round of the day
Sauers’ bogey-free 65 included birdies on the 2nd, 4th, 7th, 8th, 11th, 14th and 18th holes. He almost eagled No. 8, where his pitch shot slid 2 feet past the cup.
Toughest hole
The 205-yard par-3 17th hole played as Thursday’s toughest. There were 94 pars, 36 bogeys, 14 double bogeys and four triple bogeys–and only seven birdies.
