AUGUSTA, Georgia – Drew Weaver’s emotional scars will heal. He’s young. He’ll get over it.
There was just no way to tell him that after his second round.
He didn’t need advice. He needed tissues to dry tears of frustration.
Weaver stepped out of the scorer’s hut after posting a second-round 80 to go with an opening 76 for a 12-over-par Masters, a nightmare compared to the fantasies he’d dreamed for nine months since his British Amateur victory earned him a ticket to golf’s most elite tournament.
He needed time to compose himself, time to seek solace in loved ones.
The Virginia Tech junior first stepped into the arms of college coach Jay Hardwick, then the arms of girlfriend Elizabeth Bills, then mom Kathy, followed by anyone else with connections to Virginia Tech or High Point, N.C., his home town.
Weaver’s tears had hardly dried by the time he reached the awaiting press. Nor were they ever very far away.
“It’s tough when you work so hard to get ready for something and when it doesn’t happen it’s tough,” Weaver said. “It’s the biggest event in golf and I thought I was prepared. It’s a lot of frustration and embarrassment.”
The frustration was understandable, but put embarrassment down to youthful pride. There is nothing to be embarrassed about shooting 80 around Augusta National, as he will come to realize later in life.
Weaver’s round can be put down to a touch of the hooks. He hit it left on five of the first nine holes. Hooks at the first, second, fifth, seventh and eighth cost him dearly. He was 3 over for that stretch and went out in 39.
By the second hole, Weaver was down on his haunches after needing three shots to find the fairway still some 130 yards from the pin. He walked off the second green with his second consecutive bogey with his head down.
His head dropped again when he hooked it badly off the fifth tee. Not only did his head go down, but so did the driver, dropped to the ground in his follow-through at the sickening sight of yet another drive heading left.
“I’ve gotten used to reading body language,” said Kathy Weaver, his mother, “and his doesn’t look good right now.”
Weaver won the British Amateur last year with father John carrying his bag, but employed coach Jim Brotherton for his Masters appearance. Also in attendance was sports psychologist Dr. Bob Winters. Brotherton and Winters shared a brief conversation on the eighth hole after another hooked tee shot.
“I’ve just told him to square up his shoulders and hit it hard,” Brotherton said.
Weaver managed to do that on the ninth hole when he piped one down the left side of the fairway. He took the Tiger line over the fairway bunkers and landed his approach shot 20 feet from the flag. His birdie putt just skimmed the hole.
Virginia Tech fans tramped down the 10th tee hoping for a miracle. “He’s still in contention to make the cut,” said Hardwick.
Reality set in at No. 10, when Weaver missed a 4-footer for par to move to 8 over.
“It’s a difficult golf course. When you start hitting it off line you can really get into trouble,” Weaver said. “Obviously a major is physically and mentally trying and I’m exhausted. It’s kind of tough to see it come to an end, but what can you do.”
Although it will come as no consolation, fellow amateurs Trip Kuehne (6 over) and Michael Thompson (7 over) also missed the cut.
Weaver plays in the ACC Championships next week. He leaves for the tournament on April 16, the anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre. Weaver’s proximity to that tragic incident, and his emotions since, have been well documented.
“Next week will obviously be tough,” he said. “Hopefully I can continue to represent Virginia Tech in a good way.
“That’s why I wear the logo and carry the bag.”
Posted: 4/11/2008
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