Sept. 1, 2005
By Jeff Babineau
Golfweek Deputy Editor
Norton, Mass. - That tall kid standing barefoot as he hit balls next to Fred Couples on the far end of the practice tee at the Deutsche Bank Championship wasn't Jethro Clampett or Huck Finn, nor was it some hayseed just off some lobster boat lost somewhere along the New England coast. No, it was Michael Putnam, a strapping 22-year-old from the Pacific Northwest whose days ahead on the PGA Tour are expected to be bright ones.
Better size him up for some spiffy winged tips.
To say Putnam has been on a good run is a bit of an understatement. He capped his All-American career at Pepperdine by coming within a whisker of winning the NCAA individual title this spring (losing to James Lepp in a three-hole playoff), and stayed amateur long enough to help the United States once again taste victory in the Walker Cup, something this country hadn't done since 1997.
So when he was summoned from the U.S. Amateur and enticed by a dangling carrot to play last week's Buick Championship in Hartford, Conn. - he figured the exemption offer hit his cell phone about the same time he was flying over Iowa en route to the U.S. Am in Philly - Putnam grabbed the opportunity. What proceeded to transpire last week at Hartford was one of the truly great, if not relatively unnoticed, professional debuts of our era. Putnam shot 63 at TPC at River Highlands on Sunday, tying for fourth place and collecting a check for $177,733. Suffice to say, the money padded the college bank account that got him through Pepperdine quite nicely, and the top-10 finish paid an even bigger bonus: With it came a starting spot in the Deutsche Bank Championship that begins Friday outside Boston.
Did the whole scene - getting into the heat of contention on Sunday in his first pro event - take him aback?
"If you had asked me that early in the night (Sunday), I would have said it didn't overwhelm me," Putnam said. "I just went out to dinner with my dad and my family and my agent, and we didn't really talk much about the golf tournament. We talked more about stuff we need to do; how much taxes I was going to pay and all this stuff. I was getting my feet wet."
Actually, what he'd accomplished began to hit him about the same time his head hit the pillow Sunday night.
"When I was laying in bed, I couldn't fall asleep," he said, "because I was just thinking about what just happened. It took a while to fall asleep. So I guess it did overwhelm me then."
Amid a sports landscape awash with contract holdouts and steroid suspensions and me-first athletes, Putnam represents a bit of a refreshing tale. All he wants to do is play. Sure, the money is nice, because he's thought about playing professional golf for a long time, and now here he is, living a dream. Beyond the fancy two-decker hospitality suites and the filled grandstands and all those great Tour perks (like the courtesy car he's driving, which he wouldn't be old enough to rent, and box seats to Fenway Park) he knows not to lose sight of the heart of the matter. That's the golf.
He can be as wide-eyed as any rookie outside the ropes and walking around the grounds, but inside the ropes, he's just a golfer playing the game he loves. He played on Tuesday at TPC of Boston in the pouring rain, just to play.
"I still find it funny that people come out and pay to watch golf," he said. "We're having fun out here. It's not my 'job' - it's just what I do."
From grade school to Pepperdine to here, despite the fact that this week's winner will take home $990,000, the mission hasn't changed. Get the golf ball into the hole and do it in the fewest strokes possible.
"I feel different when I'm around the tournament, but when I'm on the golf course, I don't," he said. "When you're around the tournament and hear about the $5 million purse, a car for the winner . . . then it feels a little different. But once I step on the golf course, it feels like any other round of golf I've ever played."
In Hartford, Putnam leaned on his biggest strength - ballstriking - and then "got a little hot" with the putter on Sunday, when he shot 7-under 63 and climbed into contention. Truth is, when you can hit a golf ball like Michael Putnam, you don't have to get all that hot with the flat stick to have a little success. Last week, he finished fifth in driving distance (305.6 yards) and tied for second in greens in regulation, hitting 56 of 72.
"I played with him on Tuesday," said fellow Pepperdine alum Jason Gore, "and he's one of the best talents I've seen out here. He's good. Very good."
Gore was asked to assess the best part of Putnam's game.
"Oh, besides the fact he's 6-foot-4 and as strong as an ox?" Gore retorted with a smile. "He drives it very well, and he's under a lot of control with his golf swing. He's a good player. He's smart. He's going to be very good. Very, very, very good."
This is the time of year when players realize quickly whether they paid enough attention in all those math courses through the years. There's the top 30 (Tour Championship), top 70 (entries into the invitationals), top 125 (Tour cards), top 150 (special temporary status, as well as the ability to bypass the second stage of Qualifying School) and it can get downright dizzying. The task of a player such as Putnam or Ryan Moore or Spencer Levin - that is, a face fresh out of college trying to earn enough in a very limited window of playing time to secure a card for next season - is nearly impossible these days.
So despite getting a huge jump by winning 177 large on Sunday in Hartford, Putnam isn't counting on more than tripling those one-week winnings and parlaying it into a card.
"I'm not too worried about it," he said. "I'm still planning on going to Q-School as of right now. If I don't, it's just an added bonus."
Putnam spent Tuesday night in nearby North Attleboro, Mass., attending a special screening of "The Greatest Game Ever Played," a Disney picture that chronicles amateur Francis Ouimet's improbable victory in the 1913 U.S. Open. The real-life story unfolded nearly a century ago, not too far down the road at The Country Club in Brookline. Putnam said the movie "sort of" reminded him of how he felt last week, the unheralded rookie going against the best professionals in the world. Like Ouimet, he did OK.
"I enjoyed it," Putnam said.
He was talking about the movie he watched. As for the one he's living, that one isn't so bad, either. With or without shoes on.
Pass the popcorn and keep an eye on this kid. It could be quite a show.