Arch-F2 Golfer Gets Front Page Coverage...
Front Page coverage of F2 Sponsored player Brian Gay...
Not bad PR on a week when Tiger Woods is Playing...
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Picture this: Gay moves closer to first victory
May 9, 2001
By Michael Arkush
PGATOUR.COM Contributor
Mention the name of Brian Gay, and one image quickly surfaces: He was the guy who made the putt that didn't count at the Honda Classic last year.
The putt was a 30-foot birdie effort on the 17th hole that appeared to put Gay in a tie for the lead with Dudley Hart. The ball hovered on the edge of the lip before it eventually dropped in.
Unfortunately, for Gay, though, the drama was too good to be true. Gay was assessed a one-stroke penalty for waiting longer than the allotted 10 seconds. So instead, he was given a par. With a bogey at the last, he tied for fourth, two strokes behind Hart.
"It kind of felt like something was stolen from me afterwards," said Gay. "I still felt good about the way I played but it was a big distraction for a while because, obviously, a lot of people saw it. Everywhere I went, people were talking about it."
Gay eventually got over it. Besides, he became more interested in replacing that image with another -- holding a trophy on Sunday afternoon. It's an image that he may not be far from creating.
After an uneventful opening to the 2001 season, Gay, 29, has come on strong in his last two performances. He tied for 13th at the Shell Houston Open and then held a share of the lead at the midway point of the Compaq Classic of New Orleans before tying for fifth.
Gay, who had tied for 10th at the Sony Open in Hawaii back in January, has already earned $417,032, good for 49th on the money list. For someone who finished in 206th place in 1999 and 102nd last year, that's quite an improvement.
Yet Gay doesn't see much difference in his play. If anything, he's just being a little more consistent.
In general, the University of Flordia alumn seems pretty subdued, although there is one thing he wishes he could change.
"I wish I had done more in college," said Gay, a two-time All-American who was the only player to win the SEC Championship twice. He was also a member of the 1993 United States Walker Cup team. "If I had another chance, I would have worked my tail off. I didn't work very hard."
Still, Gay expected to have success once he turned pro. It didn't happen quickly, though. Instead, he had to spend three years on the mini-tours. His stops included the Emerald Coast Golf Tour, the Gulf Coast Tour, the Gary Player Tour, the Tommy Armour Tour, the Golden Bear Tour and the South Florida Tour. It's a wonder he didn't become a tour guide at Disney World.
But the seasoning paid off. Gay made it to the BUY.COM TOUR in 1998, and, finally, to the PGA TOUR in 1999. His rookie season, however, was hardly an impressive one. He missed 18 cuts in 26 appearances.
"I was a little intimidated at first," Gay recalls. "I felt lost every week. I was behind from the beginning and then I was pressing."
Once he started to play a little better, he wasn't eligible to get into tournaments. Adding to the pressure was the fact that his wife, Kimberly, was expecting their first child. Their daughter, Makinley, was born in September.
Gay's not intimidated any more. Paired with Phil Mickelson in the final group last Saturday, Gay played well, shooting a 2-under 70, on the way to the fifth-place finish.
It was a much nicer image to behold.
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