TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Klauk At Home On A Golf Course

The Associated Press

Jeff Klauk waits to putt on the 18th green during the final round of the Honda Classic golf tournament in Palm Beach Gardens.

ADVERTISEMENT

By MICK ELLIOTT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 17, 2009

PALM HARBOR - It comes as no great surprise that Jeff Klauk arrives at this week's Transitions Championship as the PGA Tour's top-performing rookie.

He knows all the ins and outs of a golf course.

Klauk's father, Fred, was the longtime superintendent at TPC Sawgrass, the home of the Players Championship, before retiring last year.

The son grew up around and quite often on the famed course in Ponte Vedra Beach the PGA Tour calls its home.

"And that makes you go mow greens and fairways after you get a speeding ticket; that's what I had to do," Jeff Klauk said. "Having mowed greens and fairways and all that stuff, and then coming to a tournament just makes me appreciate things a lot more than a lot of other people."

Klauk, 31, a former Florida Southern golfer and two-time winner on the Nationwide Tour, has made eight cuts in nine events this year. With one top-10 finish, he is 23rd on the FedEx Cup points list.

Klauk remembers growing up with pretty much free run at Sawgrass - even when he was not supposed to have it.

"We used to get in trouble every now and then, me and my brother, because we used to be in places we shouldn't be," Klauk said. "Like the back of the practice round that's supposed to be only for pros."

But Klauk learned early he could earn money on the golf course - right after getting a speeding ticket driving home from an AJGA event.

"I remember getting home and telling my dad and I immediately started mowing greens to pay that sucker off," he said. "And my brother and I both worked during the summers to pay for our golf tournaments and stuff."

This year, Klauk has earned $544,265.

Hitting greens is so much better than mowing them.

JUST LIKE THE CLARET JUG, HE HAS TO GIVE IT BACK

Bob VanSweden, of the Missing Links Driving Range in Largo, recently was named National Club Fitter of the Year by TaylorMade Golf.

On Thursday he gets a heck of a trophy.

That's when TaylorMade's multimillion-dollar golf workshop of wheels that follows the PGA Tour from tournament to tournament will be at Missing Links from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and open to the public.

"This is my toy for the day," VanSweden said at Innisbrook Resort, sitting in the trailer where company technicians custom-build clubs for the pros. "The public can get a close look at a PGA Tour trailer at my facility. I feel like I won the lottery."

Visitors interested in purchasing a club will be allowed to use the facility's hitting bays and launch monitors to have a club custom built on the spot for their swings.

VanSweden was chosen as TaylorMade's Club Fitter of the Year by a company selection committee. The honor is for club-fitting expertise and customer satisfaction, knowledge of the product and sales.

"I never thought my 1,000-square foot shop in Largo, Fla., would be the top club-fitting site in the country," he said. "I'm very proud of that."

SORRY, CAN'T MAKE IT

Michael Bradley, the Valrico resident who won Sunday in Puerto Rico, withdrew Tuesday from the Transitions.

Also out is Vijay Singh.

Bradley earned a two-year exemption with his win Sunday, his first in 11 years, to put him in the local event. But Tuesday he withdrew without giving a reason.

Singh pulled out because of swelling in his right knee. The three-time major championship winner had knee surgery in January and was hoping to play for the second straight week for the first time since the operation.

David Mathis replaced Singh, while David Berganio Jr. moved into Bradley's spot.

AROUND THE GREEN

Twenty-seven players who have won in 2008 or 2009 are entered in this week's tournament. ... Michael Campbell, the 2005 U.S. Open champ, will make his first PGA Tour start since last year's PGA Championship. ... Seventeen-year old Japanese pro Ryo Ishikawa is in this week's field on a sponsor's exemption. Ishikawa, who will play in next month's Masters, won an event on the Japan Tour at age 15. After turning pro last year, he won a second Japan Tour title in November.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT