James Raia On Golf . . . Statistics, Kenny Perry & Harrison Frazar, 7/17/08
http://golftribune.com/articles/377/1/James-Raia-On-Golf----Statistics-Kenny-Perry-amp-Harrison-Frazar-71708/Page1.html
James Raia
By James Raia
Published on 07/17/2008
With rare exception, I look at PGA Tour event results every Monday morning to see results of guys like Kenny Perry and Harrison Frazar. It reminds me of my youth when I was a statistics junkie.
I’d watch the San Francisco Giants’ night games, particularly when they played the Los Angeles Dodgers. I’d keep a scorecard and then do the math at the end of the game. If Willie Mays was batting .304 entering the game and went 2x4 or 0x4, I’d update his average — sometimes without paper and pencil. I did the same for a few other players.
With rare exception, I look at PGA Tour event results every Monday morning to see results of guys like Kenny Perry and Harrison Frazar. It reminds me of my youth when I was a statistics junkie.I’d watch the San Francisco Giants’ night games, particularly when they played the Los Angeles Dodgers. I’d keep a scorecard and then do the math at the end of the game. If Willie Mays was batting .304 entering the game and went 2x4 or 0x4, I’d update his average — sometimes without paper and pencil. I did the same for a few other players.
With rare exception, I look at PGA Tour event results every Monday morning. It reminds me of my youth when I was a statistics junkie.
I’d watch the San Francisco Giants’ night games, particularly when they played the Los Angeles Dodgers. I’d keep a scorecard and then do the math at the end of the game. If Willie Mays was batting .304 entering the game and went 2x4 or 0x4, I’d update his average — sometimes without paper and pencil. I did the same for a few other players.
The next morning, I’d check the Giants’ averages in the San Francisco Chronicle to confirm my math. More times than not, it was correct — unless the newspaper rounded averages down. I always rounded up.
Like other statistic junkies, I used the read the entire results page — NBA boxes to transactions lists — and that’s the connection to reading PGA Tour results.
I can’t name more than a few players on NFL, NBA or Major League team rosters anymore, and I haven’t figured out a player’s batting average in probably 30 years.
But I look at the PGA Tour results, although it’s not see how Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson or Vijay Singh have fared. I like guys I’ve had the opportunity to speak with through the years — Scott Simpson to Kenny Perry, Esteban Toledo to Harrison Frazar. They’re guys I like.
Simpson won the U.S. Open more than 20 years ago and he’s won on the Champions Tour. There’s no one nicer in golf.
Perry has won a nine PGA Tour events, including three in the 2008 season. A dozen years ago, I sat next to him on a bus for a couple of hours en route to a golf tournament in Morocco . . . but that’s another story.
Toledo’s background in boxing and his upbringing in poverty in Mexico and his journey into golf warrant following fluctuating career.
And then there’s Frazar.
Nine years, I wrote a cover story for PGA Tour Partners Magazine on Frazar. The idea was to follow a player (and his family) at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Frazar was still a young player at the time and he gave the magazine permission for me (and a photographer) to shadow him for a week.
I met Frazar’s wife, his mother and father and heard about Frazar’s special needs brother. Frazar rented a home in Pebble Beach and after each round we met, discussed the day and the plan for the following day. Frazar documented his daily expenses on a laptop computer, keeping close tally of his money. He let me into his life, and I learned a lot about how young players begin their careers.
Frazar and Justin Leonard were teammates and roommates at the University of Texas; Leonard’s had great success on the PGA Tour; Frazar has never won. This season, after a decade of top-125 money list season finishes, he’s playing without a full exemption.
The PGA Tour, of course, has its country clubs and player courtesy cars. Fans want to shake your hand and corporate CEOs want to be your friend.
But until they’re established, PGA Tour players have to play well to earn a living. Frazar won once on the Nike Tour and he’s finished second four times, but he’s never won on the PGA Tour. He won $1.4 million in official earnings a few season ago, but now he’s playing via sponsor exemptions and in other large-field events. He has only one top-20 finish in majors in his career and he tends to start tournaments well and the fade on the weekend. He told me once a few years ago that for many years he thought about not winning everyday.
I don’t feel sorry for Frazar. He’s a smart guy who’s now also a course consultant/designer in Texas. He’s 36 years old and a father of young children. I’m 17 years his senior.
My reason for looking at the PGA Tour final results every Monday morning is that I want nice guys like Kenny Perry and Harrison Frazar to win. I guess that makes me a fan.
I’d watch the San Francisco Giants’ night games, particularly when they played the Los Angeles Dodgers. I’d keep a scorecard and then do the math at the end of the game. If Willie Mays was batting .304 entering the game and went 2x4 or 0x4, I’d update his average — sometimes without paper and pencil. I did the same for a few other players.
The next morning, I’d check the Giants’ averages in the San Francisco Chronicle to confirm my math. More times than not, it was correct — unless the newspaper rounded averages down. I always rounded up.
Like other statistic junkies, I used the read the entire results page — NBA boxes to transactions lists — and that’s the connection to reading PGA Tour results.
I can’t name more than a few players on NFL, NBA or Major League team rosters anymore, and I haven’t figured out a player’s batting average in probably 30 years.
But I look at the PGA Tour results, although it’s not see how Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson or Vijay Singh have fared. I like guys I’ve had the opportunity to speak with through the years — Scott Simpson to Kenny Perry, Esteban Toledo to Harrison Frazar. They’re guys I like.
Simpson won the U.S. Open more than 20 years ago and he’s won on the Champions Tour. There’s no one nicer in golf.
Perry has won a nine PGA Tour events, including three in the 2008 season. A dozen years ago, I sat next to him on a bus for a couple of hours en route to a golf tournament in Morocco . . . but that’s another story.
Toledo’s background in boxing and his upbringing in poverty in Mexico and his journey into golf warrant following fluctuating career.
And then there’s Frazar.
Nine years, I wrote a cover story for PGA Tour Partners Magazine on Frazar. The idea was to follow a player (and his family) at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Frazar was still a young player at the time and he gave the magazine permission for me (and a photographer) to shadow him for a week.
I met Frazar’s wife, his mother and father and heard about Frazar’s special needs brother. Frazar rented a home in Pebble Beach and after each round we met, discussed the day and the plan for the following day. Frazar documented his daily expenses on a laptop computer, keeping close tally of his money. He let me into his life, and I learned a lot about how young players begin their careers.
Frazar and Justin Leonard were teammates and roommates at the University of Texas; Leonard’s had great success on the PGA Tour; Frazar has never won. This season, after a decade of top-125 money list season finishes, he’s playing without a full exemption.
The PGA Tour, of course, has its country clubs and player courtesy cars. Fans want to shake your hand and corporate CEOs want to be your friend.
But until they’re established, PGA Tour players have to play well to earn a living. Frazar won once on the Nike Tour and he’s finished second four times, but he’s never won on the PGA Tour. He won $1.4 million in official earnings a few season ago, but now he’s playing via sponsor exemptions and in other large-field events. He has only one top-20 finish in majors in his career and he tends to start tournaments well and the fade on the weekend. He told me once a few years ago that for many years he thought about not winning everyday.
I don’t feel sorry for Frazar. He’s a smart guy who’s now also a course consultant/designer in Texas. He’s 36 years old and a father of young children. I’m 17 years his senior.
My reason for looking at the PGA Tour final results every Monday morning is that I want nice guys like Kenny Perry and Harrison Frazar to win. I guess that makes me a fan.