ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 26, 1997 TAG: 9704280064
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: GREENSBORO, N.C.
SOURCE: RANDY KING THE ROANOKE TIMES
Chip Sullivan's game isn't what he would like, but he isn't giving up hope he can find the stroke that put him on the PGA Tour.
When the cheers cascaded from the first tee at Forest Oaks Country Club at 1:49 p.m. Friday, a Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic official standing within earshot of the commotion reached for his pairings sheet.
``Who in the heck is in this group?'' he asked.
When told the roar had been reserved for Chip Sullivan, the man in the green jacket responded, ``Chip who? Never heard of him.''
Except for the estimated 150 Roanokers on hand Friday - let's call 'em Chip's Chaps - few at this week's PGA Tour stop knew the story of the underdog from Hanging Rock.
Well, he's the guy who shot 76-74, missed the cut, and found himself with another weekend off in a profession where if you don't work Saturdays and Sundays you don't get paid.
``I couldn't believe that gallery from Roanoke,'' said Sullivan, humbled that so many would come watch him play after a first-round 76.
``I was a little choked up by that. I told my wife last night I bet there wouldn't be five or six people here. It's flattering.''
Unfortunately, Sullivan's golf game isn't these days. The driver that treated him like gold in December at tour qualifying school now kicks him around like a rented mule.
And so another missed opportunity. The 32-year-old Sullivan played ``MC'' for the sixth straight tournament. And that's Missed Cut, not M.C. Hammer.
``I know there's something there,'' Sullivan said. ``It was there in tour school. I've just got to find it.''
Sullivan, who stands 204th on the PGA money list with $6,340, desperately needs some good finishes for his dream to carry into 1998.
But if Sullivan never cashes another tour check, don't fret too much. In addition to living out his dream of a lifetime, he's not exactly going broke, either.
In addition to his $75,000 backing from a quintet of Roanoke investors, Sullivan's financial plight has been eased greatly by endorsement money that grows on tour like rough at the U.S. Open.
Sullivan, like every other player on tour to varying degrees, gets paid to play certain brands of clubs. He gets paid $1,200 a week for simply playing with an Odyssey putter. He gets another check from Callaway to use its new Biggest Big Bertha driver.
Sullivan receives free balls, shoes, gloves and hats from Titleist.
``There are a lot of perks for just being out here,'' Sullivan said. ``You do real well in the endorsement end. It's like being a kid in a candy store out here ... you can get anything you want.''
Sullivan got some more help recently from the Virginia Tourism Bureau, which is paying him a fee to wear shirts emblazoned with the slogan ``Virginia Is For Lovers.''
USAir came calling a couple weeks ago. Sullivan will begin displaying its logo on his golf bag in the next couple weeks in exchange for free airfare.
Then there's the various corporate outings being arranged through his Richmond-based agent David Maraghy. Sullivan made $2,000 for playing Monday in a Gatlin Brothers outing in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
``We're doing a lot better than some people may think,'' said Sullivan's wife, Kari, who gave up her job as a second-grade teacher at Oak Grove Elementary to follow her husband on tour.
``It was a tough decision for me to quit teaching. But then I thought to myself: Chip's going on tour and there's no way I'm staying home. It's an opportunity of a lifetime.''
Kari serves as her husband's personal assistant, handling all roles from travel agent to psychologist.
``I try to keep him pumped up,'' she said. ``Lately that's been hard. He's down on himself with all the missed cuts.''
During the nights on the road, the couple spends most of its time in the motel room watching television. A big night is picking up the phone and calling Domino's for a pizza and a subsequent trip to the hotel jacuzzi.
Of the two, Kari does 99 percent of the socializing. She's had breakfast with Kevin Costner twice (at Pebble Beach), talked with Tiger Woods and Greg Norman.
``She already knows most everybody on tour,'' Chip said. ``She knows a whole lot more players than I do. She fills me in every night on who she met that day.''
Sullivan mostly hangs out with a handful of tour pros from his days at Ole Miss, where he was SEC champion in 1986.
``You always say hello to the other guys in the locker room,'' he said. ``But it's not something where you hang out and have dinner with the big names
``But it's tough to get to know them because you're out here to do a job all day long and you're in your own world practicing and playing. So there's not much time left to socialize with the gang.
``Besides, if you have time to go out partying at night, you can't be practicing too hard.''
Sullivan, who was the only club pro to win a PGA card at the tour school, has found the circuit to be tougher than advertised.
``The big thing is these courses are set up tough, tougher than anything I've ever been used to,'' he said. ``Playing in Pro-Ams back in Virginia and shooting 68 or 67, that is so easy when I look back at that now compared to a 68 or 67 on the tour.''
Not to mention these cats are tough to beat. Sullivan is competing against the best in the world, not a bunch of club pros out of Roanoke, Richmond or wherever.
``These guys out here are good, real good,'' Sullivan said. ``They have a lot of confidence. You can see it just the way they carry themselves, the way they walk around.
``They just want to kick your butt. They want to put you back in your car, packing as quickly as possible.''
As dusk approached Friday at Forest Oaks, Sullivan was doing just that. Packing up early. Again.
``It's disappointing,''he said, describing Greensboro and the season to date.
``I haven't accomplished what I expected. Of course, we all have the dream of winning right when we get out here. But you've got to be realistic, too.
``Still, I look up on that scoreboard now and see two rookies from tour school up there. So that tells me it can be done.
``Somehow, some way, I've got to stay positive about this. I've got to realize I have another week, I have another month, I have until October to try and have something work.''
And if it never works?
``No matter what happens,'' said Sullivan, ``nobody can ever take away from me that I played on the PGA Tour.''
And cheers to that.
LENGTH: Long : 137 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY THE ROANOKE TIMES. 1. With his name absentby CNBfrom the leaderboard behind him, Roanoke's Chip Sullivan misses a
birdie putt on No. 4 Friday. He made the next putt for par en route
to a round of 74. 2. Chip Sullivan, his wife, Kari, and their dog,
Daisy, get ready in their hotel room to head to the course Friday
morning to prepare for Chip's 1:49 p.m. tee time. color. 3. Chi
Sullivan and his group of fans watch a shot he had to hit out of the
gallery area on the second hole Friday. Sullivan birdied the hole.
4. Chip Sullivan may not be making a lot of money playing golf, but
his pockets are always full of good luck items: his PGA clip, an
antique marble his wife's uncle found his farm, a two-dollar bill
minted in his birth year of 1964 and a quotation from one his wife's
students that the student's father carried when he played sports.