Hot hand rides broomstick into contention

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By Craig DeVrieze | Monday, July 14, 2008 |

SILVIS, Ill. — Jay Williamson swept himself into John Deere Classic contention with a broom-handled putter on Saturday.

He’s not quite sure how he feels about that.

“I don’t want to use it, but I’m a better player with it, so I can’t fight it,’’ said Williamson, a journeyman pro from St. Louis who can clean up the confusion of an undistinguished year and career with that broom handle today.

The 41-year-old Williamson swept himself into the fight for a $756,000 first-place payday with a tourney-low round of 62 Saturday that featured 25 putts, 10 on an inward 29 that is believed to be a TPC Deere Run back-nine record.

It was a 9-under dance that matched his lowest score in 12 years on the premier circuit in the professional game.

And it lifted him from a share of 30th place at Saturday’s start into fourth starting today, a mere shot behind a trio of leaders that includes Tuesday dinner partner Kenny Perry, the hottest shot in this JDC field.

So why so conflicted?

“Because it just doesn’t seem athletic to me,’’ Williamson confessed of a putter he has employed for the past two weeks. “It almost seems like cheating. But it’s not.’’

Nope. In a game with a list of arcane rules longer than the putting stick that stretches nearly to the 5-foot-10 Williamson’s chin, virtually anything goes on the greens.

Williamson and several other long-putter practitioners merely are rolling with the legally allowed punches.

Perry very nearly rolled to victory here last year with a putter of similar length. And while he is employing a shorter, more conventional putting tool in a year that ranks just short of Tiger Woods’ lengthy yardstick, he hardly shares Williamson’s reticence about the righteousness of the broomstick stick.

“I never felt like I was cheating, no,’’ he said. “I never felt that way with a long putter. It helped me when I went back to the short putter.’’

Will MacKenzie, who shares fourth place with Williamson, almost agreed.

“If they are going to let us do that, then, yeah, by all means, you should do it,’’ he said.

“I think it would be cool if it was all the same. …I started putting with the claw and I won. And then, of course, I left it. I felt a little guilty. It just felt a little weird.

“Everybody wants to go conventional and do it the old-fashioned way. That’s what we all want to do. But we go through phases, and if you (can) go out there and win a tournament with the long putter or the claw (putting grip) or the belly (putter), then by all means, do it.’’

That’s golf. Any way to get the ball in the hole within the legally mandated means works.

Certainly, Williamson’s wife, Marnie, understands. She was the one who recently convinced him to re-employ the long putter he has used and then forsaken several times in the course of his career.

“She said, ‘You need to commit to this — you need to marry the long putter for better or for worse,’ ” he reported. “And that is really what I have done.’’

To good effect. Williamson was 138th in Tour putting and a frustrating 161st on the money list on arrival at Deere Run. He is tied for 12th on the greens this week, his average of 27.3 putts per round a key factor in what is shaping up to be his best finish since he lost a playoff last year in Hartford, Conn.

He said he took a hard look at his Tour standing while standing at a locker room urinal, of all places, on Tuesday.

“I probably made a mistake doing that,’’ he said of his quick perusal of Tour statistics posted there. “Because it took me an hour to come to grips with where I am on the money list. I think this is the 12th cut I have made, and I haven’t performed well on the weekends.’’

Stats bear that out, foremost among those a final-round scoring average of 74.2 that ranks 196th.

He will try and clean that up with the broom handle today.

“I think the putter is going to help me because I haven’t putted well on Sunday,’’ he said. “And if you watch Tiger play golf, Tiger doesn’t win with his driver on Sunday, he wins with his putter.’’

If Williamson should do likewise to day, trust this: He’ll gladly ride that broomstick straight to the bank.

Craig DeVrieze can be contacted at (563) 333-2610 or cdevrieze@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.