THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 14, 1996 TAG: 9606140747
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MICH. LENGTH: 85 lines
There's nothing amazing about the fact that Woody Austin is tied for the first-round lead of the United States Open after shooting 3-under-par 67 Thursday.
What's amazing is that Austin is even here, that the statute of limitations on his self-confidence and determination survived seven years of hell.
Austin's tale is unlike anything else you will hear this week at Oakland Hills, or anywhere else tres' chic golf is played.
A highly competitive golfer at the University of Miami in the mid-1980s, Austin tore ligaments in his left knee shortly after failing in his first attempt at earning his PGA Tour card.
When doctors got inside his knee, they found that the circumference of the bone in his left leg was one inch smaller than his right leg. Austin had torn ligaments in the same leg when he was 12 and it never healed correctly. Doctors told him that the development of his left leg was eight years behind the right. Instead of simple knee rehabilitation, and another crack at the Tour in six months, if Austin really wanted to be a pro golfer, he'd have to rebuild the entire leg.
That was 1987. For 18 months, he didn't touch a club.
He took a part-time job as a teller at a credit union in his hometown Tampa. A couple nights a week, he would tend bar. Whether it was the retiree depositing a pension check or a group of guys out for a night on the town, when the subject of his real occupation came up and he told them he was a professional golfer, but was hurt, the response was always the same.
Bull.
``People would say, 'Yeah, right, and I'm in the NFL, I just work because I want to,' `` Austin recalled. ``Or they'd say, 'If you're so good, what are you doing here?' Why aren't you out there?'
``People were so snide, and in a way, it helped. They motivated me.''
Not everyone scoffed. Melissa Harris, branch manager at the credit union, allowed Austin to work Wednesday through Friday so he could play Mondays and Tuesdays in mini-tour events - when he could afford the entry fee.
His wife Shannon worked as a hairdresser and behind the cosmetics counter at a local drug store.
``I know I could have given up a long time ago,'' Austin said. ``I feel like I've paid my dues. Back in college, I felt I was as good as Lee Janzen and Davis Love III. But they were being touted as the greatest young players so many years ago, and I wasn't even playing. I knew I could compete with them in college and I knew I could compete with them out here. I just needed to be given my chance. I just had to work a little bit harder.''
When he wasn't working, Austin was hitting golf balls. He found a 24-hour range in Tampa and he beat balls deep into the night.
He spent a year in Japan, hoping to capitalize on having won the U.S.-Japan matches as a collegian. A series of frustrating technicalities kept him from competing in any tournamwents.
When he came back, broke again, his job at the credit union was waiting. He played the Dakotas Tour, finally earning enough to try again for his card in 1994.
This time, he was medalist.
Last season, Austin won the Buick Open, hauled in $736,000 and was rookie of the year. It was no fluke. In 20 events this year, Austin has pocketed $355,000, with three top-10 finishes, six others in the top-25.
He taught himself the game, reading Jack Nicklaus how-to articles in golf magazines, watching Nicklaus on TV. A couple of weeks ago, he asked Nicklaus if they could play a pracrice round together Open week. Nicklaus referred him to Tom Watson, who was putting together a foursome.
Austin approached Watson, with whom he's become friends, and asked if there was room for him. Watson, kiddingly, said yes, but only if Austin got down on his knees and begged.
Without flinching, Austin did.
``And we had a great time,'' he said. ``It was nice to see those guys as they really are, and not just what you see of them on TV, when they're in the thick of competition.''
After seven years with nothing, the good life takes some getting used to. Austin, 32, just purchased his first car two weeks ago, a gift for Shannon. He was so uncomfortable driving the Buick Riviera came with his victory package last year that he tools around town in his wife's used clunker.
In a couple of weeks, the Austins will close on their first home, in Missouri. That doesn't mean he has made a clean break from his past. He still sends his winnings to that Tampa credit union for safe keeping.
This week's check could be a whopper. First place in an Open is worth $425,000, about what he'd count on a very, very good day.
That's another story, he says, no one in Tampa believes. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Woody Austin missed this birdie putt, but he's still tied for first
after a first round 67. by CNB