Two Schwab rookies find themselves creeping to the top  PGATOUR.com Editorial Coordinator SONOMA, Calif. -- Joe Ozaki swore he would not return to the United States to play golf.  Joe Ozaki is the youngest of his famous Japanese golfing family. (Condon/PGA TOUR)
After an eight-year PGA TOUR career from 1993-2001, the 51-year-old from Toyko, Japan, couldn't again face the struggles both on and off the course. "Obviously, when I first came [to America] it was my first time coming here, and I was homesick a lot so that was tough to go through. I'm still feeling that right now," Ozaki said through his caddie and interpreter Allen Turner. A trip back home, which he's already made nine times this season, takes nearly a day. He misses -- he jokes that it's in this order -- being able to communicate, the food and his family. He misses his chance to watch his nine-year-old and 17-year-old sons grow up. As a good luck charm, he carries a photo of them while on the course. He misses his wife, who has only been able to make the voyage three times. And imagine packing for months at a time and having only that week's hotel as a place to call home. But, for reasons unbeknownst even to him, the youngest of the famous golfing Ozaki brothers -- "Jumbo" and "Jet", his siblings, earned their nicknames due to their size. "Joe" (given name Naomichi), the smallest, allowed fans to select his nickname with "Joe" winning over "Jackie" and "Joker" -- returned to the U.S. after years on the Japan Tour for q-school, where he qualified for the Champions Tour in 2006. By mid-2007, he had almost found his way into the winner's circle for the first time in a PGA TOUR-affiliated event. The 35-time international winner was in contention at this year's Senior PGA Championship. He birdied the final hole at the Boeing Classic to make a seven-man playoff. He lost both tournaments to Denis Watson. __________ Denis Watson didn't know if he'd ever play professional golf again. A string of surgeries and fluke injuries plagued the former PGA TOUR winner for over two decades. He went from on top of the world after three TOUR wins in 1984 to ... where is he now? In fact, Watson was often only remembered for his second place finish at the 1985 U.S. Open that contributed to an eventual rule change. He was assessed a two-stroke penalty during the first round after waiting more than the allowed 10 seconds for a putt that hung on the lip of the hole to drop. His putt finally sank, but it was too late -- his birdie was nullified, he dropped two shots and eventually lost the tournament by one stroke to Andy North. "That was my infamous moment so, unfortunately, they changed the rule a little bit," the 52-year-old native of Zimbabwe said. "...You know, that was what I was most remembered for for a while. It would come up at U.S. Opens and things like that."  Denis Watson's late-sinking putt followed him for years. (Grayson/WireImage)
Twenty-something winless years later, Watson was finally healthy and mentally ready for competitive golf again. But pain in his shoulder wasn't getting better, only worse as he practiced, so he endured a nasty surgery in January 2006. The self-described perfectionist had a one-track mind following that surgery -- rehab, rehab, rehab. He rehabbed for seven months -- "I was a little bit insane at times", he said -- before teeing it up again in August of that year, only to whack it all over the place and lose about four or five balls in his return to the links. "It's an interesting thing with golf. Golfers talking about having goals. They want to win. They want to win twice, and a major, and stuff like that. I threw all that stuff out. My goal became just to play and play to my potential." Working with his friend and instructor David Leadbetter, who had confidence in his game, and his wife, a psychologist who had confidence he could handle the mental grind, Watson returned to golf full-time on the Champions Tour in 2007. "I started swinging quite well, was working hard and [Leadbetter] said to me, 'You know, if you can swing like this, if you can hit like this, you're going to do fine. Go after it,' he said, 'Once you get there, you'll remember how to play.'" Watson earned a tie for second in his first tournament at the Turtle Bay Championship. Two more top-5s followed before Watson erased a 23-year winless streak at the Senior PGA Championship in Kiawah Island, S.C., then iced his 2007 cake with a victory at the Boeing Classic in an unprecedented seven-man playoff. Watson cried with relief and happiness when he won in South Carolina. __________ They took different roads to get to the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, but both earned their first trip to Sonoma, Calif., after placing in the top-30 on the Champions Tour Money List this season. "It's been unbelievably great. You can't put it into words," Watson said. "It validates your desire to be a golf professional and pursue this all those years with failure." "To be honest, I think I'm surprised to be where I'm at today, right here playing in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, but, like I said, all the tough times and all the struggles that I had to go through and I went through on the PGA TOUR is what made me what I am today and that's why I'm here," Ozaki added. But being here wasn't enough for the two international golfers. After two rounds, Watson is tied for second with Jim Thorpe at 11-under par, while Ozaki is tied for fourth at 9 under. An 8-under 64 made Watson the biggest mover of Friday's round, adding nine birdies -- including four straight to close his round -- to his card. Ozaki had the second lowest round of the day, firing a bogey-free 65 that featured seven birdies. Just think: two years ago, neither imagined they'd be playing golf, much less being in the top-5 after two days at the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship. |
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