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This week, for the first time in PGA Tour history, five former players off the same college golf team will compete in the PODS Championship in Tampa Bay, Fla. If you follow Arizona State golf, you’re going to love this story.
Teeing off today at Innisbrook Golf Resort will be Paul Casey, Jeff Quinney, Matt Jones, Jin Park and Chez Reavie, who were all student-athletes on that same Sun Devil golf team in the fall of 2000. Even though Reavie was a red-shirt freshman at the time, the other four were the top players on the highly rated squad.
Adding just a bit of a twist to this long-and-winding story, by the spring of 2001 Casey had turned pro and had left the team, and it was Reavie who took his place at the NCAA tournament.
Twisting it a little further, ASU finished a disappointing fifth at the national championship that year. Almost as much of a shocker, the unheralded Reavie finished fourth individually.
“Looking back, that was a great collection of players and kids,’’ said ASU coach Randy Lein, who recruited that fabulous fivesome. “I guess had Paul stayed in school, we wouldn’t have brought in Chez. . . . But in the end, I’m glad they all realized their dream.’’
For the record, 40 former ASU players have played on the PGA Tour at one time or another. But the next-best number of former Sun Devil teammates who did it is just two, which has happened three times.
The PGA Tour doesn’t keep such records, but a little research revealed that Jay Delsing, Corey Pavin, Steve Pate and Duffy Waldorf all played together at UCLA in 1983 and at one time on the PGA. More recently, Tiger Woods, Casey Martin and Notah Begay III were teammates at Stanford in 1995 and also went on to play at one time on the PGA.
The tale of how this former Maroon-and-Gold gang arrived on the PGA this week is complicated one. I remember them well, even if it did take some recall efforts from Lein and ASU sports information golf guru Doug Tammaro.
As it happened, Casey dropped out of school at the semester break that season back in 2000-01. He had been the No. 1 player through much of his first three seasons at ASU, leading the team to 10 team titles, setting numerous scoring records, and winning three straight Pac-10 titles by himself. But he never came back for No. 4, which also would have been a record to go with his still-standing 60 he shot in the 1999 Pac-10 finale.
Then again, that was, and is, the controversial and sometimes brash Casey, an Englishman who splits his time between his native country and Scottsdale. In fact, even though the “Mad Dog’’ has seven wins in Europe, has played on two Ryder Cup teams and is ranked No. 26 in the world, this is his first full-time season on the PGA Tour.
“Paul always had a lot of talent, and he could go low with the best of them,’’ Lein said of Casey, who got into a bit of a jam four years ago when he was quoted in a London tabloid as saying Americans were “stupid.’’
That rap has weighed heavily even though Casey never actually used the word stupid. But apparently he’s over it – finally! -- as Lein said Casey plans to play in the minimum 15 PGA Tour events in 2008 and earn his card.
Quinney, another Scottsdale guy who recently made a Sunday run at another former ASU All-American, Phil Mickelson, in the final round of the Northern Trust Open, also “had his moments at ASU,’’ according to Lein.
“I guess to some people, Jeff kind of burst on the scene when he won the (2000 U.S.) Amateur,’’ recalled Lein. “But I remember one time up in (Las) Vegas, where he posted three straight 67s at Rio Secco to win the tournament by nine shots, and another where he shot a course record 62 at (ASU) Karsten, which was amazing.’’
Jones, an Australian who turned pro after his sophomore season in 2001, blew everybody away last weekend at the Honda Classic. Especially NBC broadcaster Johnny Miller, who called Jones’ swing “simply wonderful,’’ noting that it looked even better than that of Luke Donald, who already has won twice on the PGA. Jones, who hasn’t missed a cut in seven starts, ended up in a tie for fourth at the Honda.
“When Matt is on, I’ve never seen a better ball-striker,’’ Lein said of the laidback “Jonesy,’’ who had been Quinney’s roommate in Scottsdale for the past three years, although they now own their own homes.
As for Reavie, Lein loves the little guy with the big heart who never did win a tournament as a Sun Devil. “I never had a more consistent player. Chez always was in the top 10,’’ said the coach.
The biggest surprise of all, Lein added, is the little-known Park, whose biggest accomplishment came in his last college season, when he was named second team all-conference.
“Jin literally made himself into a great player, and that doesn’t surprise me because no one in college golf ever hit more balls or worked harder,’’ said Lein of Park, who also overcame a near-fatal car wreck in the East Valley in 2004.
Asked why all that talent never translated into an NCAA title back then, Lein laughed good-naturedly.
“Well, if they had been playing back then like they are playing right now, I’m pretty sure we would have two national titles,’’ noted Lein, whose only NCAA claim to fame at ASU came in 1996.
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