With a little coaching, Damron back on track

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In at least one respect, and that from a professional standpoint, Robert Damron was a nowhere man in 2007.

Out of sight, out of mind and nursing a pair of nagging injuries to his neck and shoulder that kept him homebound in Orlando for more than 12 weeks, Damron, 35, made a total of 14 starts on the PGA TOUR and Nationwide Tour combined. To make matters worse, only two checks worth $38,060 combined were direct-deposited into his bank account.

Robert Damron was forced into a playoff by England's Greg Owen, who birdied his last two holes to catch up, but Damron's birdie on No. 18 sealed the win for him. (Benc/Getty Images)

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Face facts. It's extremely hard to build any momentum or confidence in your slumping game when you're slamming the trunk of the car just about every Friday when you tee it up with the play-for-pay set. And it was tap city in November for Damron after he failed to advance out of the second stage of the PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament for the second year in a row.

"I had reached my limit,'' acknowledged Damron, who had kept his PGA TOUR card for 10 successive seasons from 1997-2006. "I just wasn't very competitive, and I had to make a decision about whether to keep playing full time or use my past champions status (Damron's lone PGA TOUR victory came in the 2001 Byron Nelson Classic) to play in about 10 events.''

Nothing really mattered, though, until Damron came to grips with what was ailing his golf game. He had fallen into some debilitating swing habits where he was flipping at the ball with his arms rather than swinging the club.

"I knew what the problem was,'' he said. "I knew I had to get my hands leading through impact, but I was either too lazy or too scatterbrained to fix it. Basically, I got what I deserved. The road got long. All those nights in hotels started weighing on me. It wasn't fun anymore.''

All the down time at home with his wife Molly and children, Katherine, William and Robert, convinced Damron he wasn't quite ready for the golf scrap heap. He realized that the competitive fire still burned within his belly.

"I thought about it a lot when I was sitting around (waiting for his injuries to heal),'' he said. "As much as I love my family, I just wasn't ready to be Mr. Mom. I was not ready to be retired.

"I hit a crossroad. I kept telling myself, 'I'm too young not to do this.' ''

The desire bubbled, forcing Damron to seek out swing coach David Leadbetter to correct his faults. He worked on "shaft lean'' until his problems were fixed. It showed when Damron got into four PGA TOUR events in February and March. He didn't trip the light fantastic, but he played solidly enough to make three cuts and finish between a tie for 22nd and a tie for 34th. That's progress when put next to his dismal results from 2007.

Thanks to a putter that glowed in daylight, Damron took a considerable step forward last week in Athens, Ga., in his sixth career start on the Nationwide Tour. He entered Sunday's final round of the Athens Regional Foundation Classic in a five-way tie for 11th but closed with a six-under-par 66 to collar Greg Owens, who shared the 54-hole lead with Brendon Todd. Owen forced overtime with birdies on the 71st and 72nd holes, but Damron had a quick answer on the first playoff hole when he jarred a 14-foot birdie putt from the fringe for the win.

"I really wondered if it ever was going to happen again,'' Damron said late Sunday evening as he drove toward Orlando.

In many ways, it was a great escape for Damron, who hit a bunch of crooked shots but constantly got out of jail free, thanks to his putter.

"Certain parts of my game were just hideous,'' he said. "They were genuinely frightful. I flirted with trouble all week long, but I came out smelling like a rose. A hot putter makes up for a lot of mistakes. When it's your week, it's your week.''

The victory, worth $94,500, sent Damron rocketing to seventh on the Nationwide Tour money list and provides him with a scheduling dilemma about whether to concentrate on the Nationwide Tour or catch as catch can when opportunity presents itself on the PGA TOUR. The whole idea is to regain status on TOUR.

"It's something I have to deal with,'' Damron said. "I think I have a good chance to get into Atlanta (the AT&T Classic, scheduled May 15-18), but, come early summer, I'll make a decision.''

It's never easy for a pro to amend his comfort zone, and Damron admits the idea of playing the Nationwide Tour didn't necessarily appeal to him. But when options are extremely limited, it does provide an avenue for the top 25 on the season-ending money list to graduate to the PGA TOUR.

"I'd be less than honest if I said this is something I want to do,'' he said. "Don't get me wrong. This is a great Tour with so many young and talented players. Matter of fact, I'd bet there were five or six players in last week's field that are talented enough to be in the top 10 in the world some day. It pumps out the majority of the guys on the PGA TOUR.

"My point is, it's still golf. You still have to play well and beat everyone over 72 holes to win. And there's no denying I just took a step in the right direction.''