WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – Bounce back, the PGA Tour-generated statistic, measures a player’s ability to follow a bogey or worse with a birdie or better on the following hole.
Bounce back, perhaps the working title for Chris Stroud’s book about his rookie year on the PGA Tour (if he had any interest in writing one), also measures the size of this Texan’s heart.
Stroud should come with a disclaimer: “For best results, place back against wall and poke with 2-iron.”
Consider the approachable 24-year-old’s first trip through the PGA Tour rinse cycle: Like most rookies, he showed up on the practice range in Hawaii with his clubs, yardage book and autograph book.
“It took a while to sink in. I don’t know where I actually started to feel at ease,” said Stroud, a walking testament to the power of positive thought.
It’s a familiar tale. Boy earns Tour card, boy finds Tour treadmill a bit faster than he had envisioned, boy loses Tour card.
But this yarn has a twist.
After missing his first four cuts, Stroud faced a reshuffle-imposed four-week exile. Instead of stewing, Stroud practiced, and when he finally got another chance at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans he finished tied for fifth.
His Big Easy breakthrough was also the year’s big moment and as good a description of his game and drive as any statistic the Tour catalogs.
“Throughout my career I tend to play better when my back is against the wall,” Stroud said. “That’s what I did last year at final stage. My back was against the wall and my job was on the line and I played well.”
After two rounds at this year’s final stage, his back and the rest of him is cruising along just fine.
After rounds of 69-68, Stroud is tied for 15th, well within the top-25 line to reclaim his Tour card, but more important, he’s 13 strokes better than he was one third of the way into last year’s Fall Classic.
“I shot 73, 77 the first two rounds last year and shot 17 under the next four rounds to make my card,” Stroud smiled like a sheepish fifth-grader who had just aced a spelling test. “I was elated. I went from 108th after two rounds to 15th. Anything is possible over six rounds. There’s no question.”
Not that Stroud’s 7 under total – which is 13 shots behind Frank Lickliter II, who Stroud was paired with in Rounds 1 and 2 and has left everyone else in the 165-player field playing for 25th – will require a “Plays of the Week” rebound. But it’s nice to know he can bounce back.
Maybe the best example of Stroud’s resilience came this fall, just week’s after what he quickly admits was the basement of his first trip to the Big Leagues.
Safely inside the cut with one hole to play at the Wyndham Championship, Stroud roped his 3-wood second shot to 30 feet at the par-5 18th. Four putts later, his FedEx Cup playoff hopes had been overnighted to oblivion and he faced another four-week vacation.
“I didn’t have any pressure on me. I was inside the cut. It was an easy two-putt,” Stroud said. “We wanted to get in the FedEx Cup (playoffs) and missing that cut was big.”
Missing the weekend in Greensboro, however, gave Stroud a chance to rest and work on his game. The result was one of the best rebounds of the Fall Series. A tie for sixth in Texas followed by back-to-back top 15s (T-12) at the Fry’s Electronics Open and Ginn sur Mer Classic lifted him from 165th in earnings to 133rd.
His fall rally made him exempt to final stage and assured him at least a few starts next year as a conditional member. More importantly, it helped fuel his confidence and prepare him for Orange County National.
“Compared to what I felt at third stage last year to how I feel this year is two totally different feelings,” Stroud said.
“Just one year on the Tour, it’s amazing how at ease I feel on the golf course. Last year at third stage, on that Stadium Course, I felt like I could never lose focus for one second or you could make bogey or double.”
Of course, what problem is a bogey, or worse, when you can bounce back as well as Stroud?
Posted: 11/29/2007
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