British Open Capsules: Open poised to produce another surprising champ

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Louis Oosthuizen still remembers getting together with other kids from the Ernie Els Foundation to watch highlights of their hero winning the British Open at Muirfield in 2002.

The shot out of a pot bunker on the 13th. His birdie on the 17th to tie for the lead. The bunker shot on the 18th hole to win the longest sudden-death playoff ever in a British Open.

“We were actually getting goose bumps,” Oosthuizen said. “Just seeing that ... you’re always thinking, ‘I hope that happens to me.”’

Hard as it is to imagine — even to the 27-year-old South African — it just might.

After opening with a three-putt bogey, Oosthuizen played with remarkable poise on another windswept afternoon at St. Andrews. He never dropped another shot, never stopped smiling, and finished with a drive onto the 18th green for one last birdie and a 3-under 69.

It gave him a four-shot lead over Paul Casey and put him one round away from becoming the first player in 46 years to capture his first major championship at the home of golf.

This, from a player who had only made it to the weekend one time in eight previous majors. From a South African who had never won on the European Tour until four months ago.

“I don’t think anyone was thinking I was going to be up there,” Oosthuizen said. “You’ve heard yourself, no one can actually say my surname, so they don’t even know who I am out there. It’s great being up there. I just want to enjoy everything about it. I loved it out there. It was great fun for me. And hopefully, tomorrow will be the same.”

Gary Player left him a message at his hotel. Els called Saturday morning for support, telling Oosthuizen to enjoy himself on a stage like no other in golf. Eight years after leaving the Els foundation, Oosthuizen still follows his instructions.

Oosthuizen (WUHST-hy-zen) was at 15-under 201. A victory Sunday would make him the first player since Tony Lema in 1964 to win his first major at St. Andrews.

“The Open at St. Andrews would be something special,” Oosthuizen said. “It’s one of those things you dream of.”

Everyone kept waiting for him to fold, and the final test in the third round came on his second shot to the 17th green, where the pine was planted perilously behind the Road Hole bunker. With a slightly uphill lie, Oosthuizen couldn’t bounce the ball away from the bunker and onto the green. So he played it safe, riding a 5-iron with right-to-left wind, keeping it between the bunker in front of the green and road behind it. He didn’t mind that it ran through the green and onto the 18th tee, just as Casey was preparing to hit his tee shot.

Casey smiled. Lee Westwood walked over to the ball and acted as if he was going to smash the ball back at Oosthuizen.

The way he’s playing, even that might not have stopped him at St. Andrews.

“I’m loving the fact I’m playing absolutely great golf and I’m four shots behind Louis,” Casey said.

Casey went out in 31 when the wind was at its strongest, and mostly into his face. He finished off a bogey-free round of 67 that puts him in the final group of a major for the first time. He was at 11-under 205.

It might be a two-man race between players who have never seriously challenged in a major. In fact, none of the six players within nine shots of the lead have won a major.

Oosthuizen was seven shots clear of Martin Kaymer of Germany, who had a 68 and was alone in third. Another shot behind — and eight shots out of the lead — were Henrik Stenson (67), Alejandro Canizares (71) and Westwood (71), who didn’t make a birdie on the front nine but did well to at least stay in the game.

Americans have won six of the last eight Opens at St. Andrews, but they have disappeared in this one. Dustin Johnson birdied his last two holes for a 69 and was nine shots behind.

Tiger Woods, who won the last two times at St. Andrews by a combined 13 shots, has never been within four shots of the lead all week, and he wasn’t even close Saturday. He had four long eagle putts — only one of them on a par 5 — and three-putted for par on three of them to shoot 73. He was 12 shots behind, sure to match his longest start to the season without a victory in his seventh tournament.

“I’m playing better than my position,” said Woods, who was tied for 18th. “I certainly have had a lot more putts on the greens than I ever have, and that’s something that has basically kept me out of being in the final few groups.”

Phil Mickelson, who had a chance at the start of the week to go to No. 1 in the world, was another shot behind. Whatever momentum he had was lost with a 5-iron that he hooked out-of-bounds for a double bogey on No. 16 for a 70.

The South African heritage at golf’s oldest championship dates to Bobby Locke winning four times in a nine-year stretch after World War II. Player won the claret jug three times, and Els was the most recent in 2002.

Oosthuizen, whose career was made possible by the Ernie Els Foundation at Fancourt, had to wait 28 hours from his last putt on Friday to his opening shot Saturday.

“It felt like a week-and-a-half,” he said.

He promptly three-putted for bogey as his lead shrunk to two shots. Considering it was only the second time he made it to the weekend at a major, it looked as though it wouldn’t be long before he wilted from the pressure. It was his only bogey. He picked up his first birdie on the seventh hole, then added a surprise birdie late in his round with a 60-foot putt.

Even with a four-shot lead — the largest 54-hole lead in the Open since Woods led by six shots in 2000 — the real test comes Sunday.

Casey ran off three birdies in a four-hole stretch early in his round, and he got as close as one-shot with a two-putt birdie on the ninth. But he had to settle for nothing better than par on the back nine, missing a 5-foot birdie on the 18th.

“I’m having a great time, and I’m going to go out there tomorrow and enjoy myself and have a good attitude,” Casey said. “I know what this golf course can do. It can give you some great moments, and it can give you some horrible ones.”

A few weird moments, too.

Miguel Angel Jimenez added another highlight to the infamous Road Hole when he turned his back on the green and banged a shot off the waist-high wall, where it caromed back over the road, up a slope and onto the green.

Mark Calcavecchia wound up with a quadruple-bogey 9 on the par-5 fifth hole when he hit into a gorse bush, played a provisional for a lost ball, picked up his provision shot when he heard the ball was found, then learned that the ball wasn’t his. That explains his 77, which sent the 50-year-old tumbling down the leaderboard.

Woods also hit into the gorse for a bogey on the fifth. On the next hole, he hit a low shot to the front of the green for a birdie chance, but the wind blew it some 20 yards back into the fairway before he got there.

Moments like those might be enough to give Westwood hope.

Johnson had a three-shot lead going into the final round of the U.S. Open and shot 82. The largest comeback in British Open history is 10 shots by Paul Lawrie at Carnoustie, but that required a debacle by Jean Van de Velde on the last hole.

“Strange things have been happening this week,” Westwood said. “It can be done — we know that. It depends on the weather. If it’s a miserable, windy day, anything can happen. But Louis and Paul look like they are playing well.”

Rule Britannia! Casey in the hunt for claret jug

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Go ahead, pile the hopes of all of England on Paul Casey’s shoulders. The rest of the United Kingdom, too. He doesn’t mind.

A year after a rib muscle forced him to miss three months of the season, Casey is in contention to become the first Englishman to win the British Open since 1992. His bogey-free 67 Saturday afternoon matched the low round of the day, and pulled him within four strokes of Louis Oosthuizen.

“Sitting here right now, I’m ecstatic,” said Casey, who couldn’t stop grinning. “You know, even right now, occasionally I feel the muscles in the ribs. In no way do they affect my golf. But it’s a small reminder that quite often you take for granted a lot of things, and nothing is better than an Open Championship at the home of golf.

“So I’m loving it. I’m loving the fact I’m playing absolutely great golf, and I’m four shots behind Louis.”

While conditions at the Old Course were challenging on moving day, there were birdies to be had for those who played it right. Casey played the front nine at 5-under, and then parred out to earn a spot in the final pairing Sunday. Martin Kaymer is in third place after a 68, and Henrik Stenson matched Casey’s 67 to climb into a tie for fourth.

Former British Open champ Mark Calcavecchia also made a move — in the wrong direction.

Trying to become the third straight member of the senior set to steal the show at the British Open, the 50-year-old instead opened with three straight bogeys. He then had a quadruple-bogey nine — yes, a nine — after being assessed two penalties worth three shots over a lost ball.

Calcavecchia rallied with three straight birdies on the back nine, but he’s now at 2 under for the tournament, 13 strokes behind Oosthuizen.

“It was unfortunate for Calc there, and he had a tough few holes,” said Oosthuizen, his playing partner. “He started off rough and he came back nicely, made very nice birdies there in a run there on the back nine.”

While Americans win their national championship with regularity, the British Open is often a source of consternation for the British. For all the great young golfers they’ve produced the last two decades — Casey, Justin Rose, Ian Poulter, to name a few — no Englishman has won the Open since Nick Faldo at Muirfield.

The stats aren’t much better when you throw it open to the rest of the U.K., with Scotland’s Paul Lawrie in 1999 the last Brit to hoist the claret jug.

But the British arrived at St. Andrews brimming with confidence, thanks to their recent run of success on both sides of the Atlantic. Golfers from Britain and Northern Ireland won four PGA Tour events in five weeks, including Graeme McDowell’s surprise victory at the U.S. Open, and seven players in the top 20 hail from the U.K.

That it’s Casey, not Lee Westwood or Rose, near the top of the leaderboard might be the only surprise.

Casey had climbed to No. 3 in the world last year before straining the rib muscle a week before Turnberry. He tried to let it heal with rest and treatment, but withdrew early in the first round at Firestone and then again at the PGA Championship. He would not play a full round again until the World Match Play Championship in October, where he lost all three of his matches.

Casey had a couple of top-10 finishes earlier this year, but it was more time off that really turned things around for him coming into St. Andrews. After Pebble Beach and the BMW International, he actually took a vacation. In the summer, the height of golf season.

He returned the first week of July at the charity J.P. McManus Invitational Pro-Am in Ireland.

“I will admit I had no clue where the golf ball was going to go at J.P., but I didn’t care because I was relaxed. Bit of a tan, nice and chilled out, and, you know, just enjoyed myself on the golf course,” Casey said. “And I feel fresh and feel ready to play good golf. I feel ready to work. I’ve got a good attitude. And I’m really looking forward to the rest of the year, which I wasn’t four or five weeks ago.

“And whatever happens tomorrow happens. But already I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Catching Oosthuizen might be tough considering how the South African is playing. He’s had four bogeys in the first three rounds, and just one — on the first hole — on Saturday. But Casey is eager to try.

Though he grew up playing links golf — and did it quite well, getting four victories without a loss in Britain and Ireland’s 1999 Walker Cup win — he got away from it after he moved to the United States to attend Arizona State. The U.S. game requires higher ball flight, and Casey found himself not trusting his instincts when he played in Britain.

He has just two top-20 finishes at the British Open; his best result was a tie for seventh at Royal Birkdale in 2008.

“It’s in there,” he said. “I know how to do it, and I love doing it.”

And if it brings him — and England — a British Open title, so much the better.

“I desperately want to be a major champion, and I think I have the ability and I think I’m working hard enough,” Casey said. “But that doesn’t guarantee anything, as we know. So we will see.”

-- Nancy Armour

Woods faces 12-shot deficit heading to Open finale

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Tiger Woods was clearly enjoying himself between shots, yukking it up with good buddy Darren Clarke as they played 18 holes at the birthplace of golf.

Not a bad way to spend a sunny afternoon.

But the number on the card needed to be lower.

A lot lower.

All Woods could manage Saturday at the British Open was a second straight 73, despite having four putts for eagle on the Old Course. None of them would drop, and the distance between the world’s No. 1 player and the only spot he really cares about grew from eight shots at the beginning of the third round to a daunting dozen by the time it was done.

Woods will be a mere sidelight on the final day, no matter how many times someone yells, “You da man!” Even at a tournament that can change drastically, given in the fluky elements of the Scottish seaside, no one has ever come back to win from more than 10 shots down heading to the fourth round.

The man of the moment is an unheralded South African, Louis Oosthuizen, who will take the lead into the final round of a major for the first time in his life. At least he knows he won’t have to worry about Woods bearing down on him in the rearview mirror.

While Woods was on the fringe of contention at his first two majors post-scandal, he hasn’t been much of a factor at St. Andrews since opening with a 5-under 67 in pristine conditions Thursday.

“I hit it good,” Woods said. “I striped it all day. I just didn’t get anything out of the round. I couldn’t build any momentum. I wasn’t making any putts.”

It was easy to zero in on the root of his problems: Look no further than the flat stick.

Woods had a putter in his hand with eagle on the line at the ninth, 12th and 14th holes, the latter being the lone par-5 among them. Two birdies and a three-putt par was the best he could do.

He finished the round with another squandered opportunity, driving the green on the short par-4 for the second day in a row — then taking three more putts to get down for par on a hole where anything worse than birdie is a disappointment.

“I’m driving it beautifully and I’m not making any putts,” Woods said. “It’s just one of those things where you just have to be patient. I was grinding. I was as patient as I possibly could be, and I was just trying to plod my way along. I just didn’t get anything going.”

Woods whacked at it 35 times on Saturday — only five players put more miles on their putter. He’s taken 99 strokes on or around the massive greens over the first three rounds, which essentially accounts for the margin between him and the leader. Oosthuizen has used his putter 88 times, third-fewest in the field.

Woods broke out a new club for St. Andrews, hoping it would help him judge the slower speed of the greens. It hasn’t done much good, but he refused to blame his equipment.

“No, no. I just need to have better speed,” he said.

This performance will do nothing to quell the doubts about Woods being able to regain the dominating aura he possessed before his personal life made tabloid headlines.

He certainly hasn’t been the same player he was in 2000 and 2005, when he romped to dominating Open wins at the birthplace of golf, helping build a collection that has grown to 14 major titles, just four shy of Jack Nicklaus’ career record.

While wife Elin isn’t around for the third major in a row and Woods won’t discuss the state of his marriage, he has vowed to change his ways when he’s at the course, whether it’s cutting down on his temper-fueled outbursts or just being a more pleasant person.

He appears to be making headway, especially when paired with someone whose company he enjoys.

Sure, there were a few times when Woods muttered to himself about a poor shot, and he swung his club angrily after an errant approach at the second hole. But generally, there was plenty of banter, smiles, even a few laughs as he chatted with Clarke.

“We’re both focusing. We’re both playing. We’re both grinding, both trying to fight our way and get back in this tournament,” Woods said. “Granted, we’re great friends, but still, we’re competitors out there. We’re both trying to get ourselves back in the golf tournament so we can have a chance at winning it.”

That’s not likely to happen on Sunday. Paul Lawrie’s win at Carnoustie in 1999 was the greatest comeback in major-championship history, but it was only made possible by Jean Van de Velde’s historic meltdown on the 72nd hole.

Wood just keeps saying that he’s not that far off, just as he did after tying for fourth at the Masters and the U.S. Open.

“I’m playing well,” he said. “I’m playing better than, obviously, my position. I certainly have had a lot more putts on the greens than I ever have, and that’s something that has basically kept me out of being in the final few groups.”

-- Paul Newberry

Without Woods conducting, Open has different tune

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — It’s already been a rocky year for American golfers, even those not named Tiger Woods. Little that’s happened at the British Open so far suggests that’s about to change.

By the end of the third round, there were five Yanks among the 18 names atop the leaderboard at a venue they’ve practically owned stretching back more than 40 years. The highest place belonged to Dustin Johnson, who was seventh and eight strokes behind South Africa’s Louis (Who?) Oosthuizen heading into Sunday.

Woods won the last two times the Open was held at the Old Course. But with this generation’s alpha-alpha golfing male still searching for his mojo out in the gorse bushes and rough of the Old Course, it’s almost certainly the end of a run that has seen Woods and his countrymen win three straight and six of the last eight at St. Andrews.

The rest of the world hasn’t just taken note. They’re practically giddy with anticipation.

Englishman Ian Poulter kicked things off on the eve of the Open by saying the best Americans were getting long in the tooth — perhaps a backhanded slap at Woods, who is still just 34 — and noted that the talented kids who were supposed to replace them were still stuck in the pipeline.

“So,” Poulter reasoned, invoking the royal pronoun, “we have a 15-year window.”

Fellow Englishman Lee Westwood used the occasion of the British golf writers’ dinner Tuesday evening to pile on. First he lauded American Steve Stricker for winning the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Ill., only two days earlier. Then he locked his gaze on Tim Finchem, commissioner of the PGA Tour, where Europeans have won an unprecedented three tournaments in a row — including the U.S. Open — and four in a five-week span.

“It’s always nice,” said Westwood, who claimed one of those tour victories, “to see an American win on your tour.”

But it isn’t just Europeans stepping into the void, and it’s not limited to the PGA Tour. Americans still hold down four of the first five spots in the world golf rankings, but Woods is the only one younger than 40. And only two more Yanks are included in the top 20. Small wonder pronunciation guides have become hot items in TV network booths on both sides of the Atlantic.

Queuing up behind Oosthuizen by the end of Saturday was a veritable United Nations — a fellow South African, two Englishmen, two Swedes, two Spaniards, a German, an Irishman, a Northern Irishman and a Korean amateur.

“Given the dominance of the Americans here over the recent past,” someone asked Woods after his round of 73, “are you surprised there’s not a little more red, white and blue on the board?”

“I haven’t even looked,” Woods replied. “We all know them as just players.”

That’s easy for him to say — Woods is practically a country unto himself when it comes to majors. He’s won a dozen of the 42 already in the books since 2000, just one fewer than all his countrymen combined. The rest of the world has 17 over that span. But there’s a feeling that unless or until Woods becomes Woods again, the balance of power could shift.

There’s no easy explanation beyond the cyclical nature of the game, much the way that Englishman Nick Faldo and Spaniard Seve Ballesteros led an international cast of characters picking off majors once America’s dominant quartet of Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer and Lee Trevino started sliding toward the senior tour.

“It comes and goes. Form comes and goes,” said Swede Henrik Stenson, who is tied for fourth. “If you look at all the players over a long perspective, everybody goes through ups and downs.

“But sure,” he added, “it’s been a good summer for Europe.”

It could be an even better fall. The Ryder Cup is set for Wales in October, where the same cold, wet and windy conditions often encountered by golfers on the European tour — and every single day so far at St. Andrews — could be a big factor.

“I hope,” Germany’s Martin Kaymer, who’s in third place, said with an impish smile, “it’s going to be bad weather, to be honest.”

Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke(at)ap.org

Mickelson’s momentum disappears with two bad holes

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Next time, Phil Mickelson should wait until the end of his round to visit the concession stands at the British Open.

An errant tee shot that bounced into the hospitality area started a three-stroke slide Saturday afternoon, bringing a quick halt to a charge that could have put Lefty in the mix for his first claret jug. Mickelson’s 70 was still his best score of the week, but at 2-under for the tournament, he’s 13 strokes behind leader Louis Oosthuizen going into Sunday’s final round.

“I’m disappointed in myself because I let a good round slide,” Mickelson said. “I let a good opportunity to get back into the tournament somewhat, to where a good round tomorrow could maybe get it done, I let it go and I’m disappointed in myself.”

A win at St. Andrews would have given Mickelson the No. 1 ranking for the first time in his career, but he struggled to get anything going in the first two rounds.

As word spread that the four-time major champion was getting on a roll Saturday, his gallery — never small — swelled. He was at 3 under for the day through 10 holes, then added another birdie on the 13th.

But after scrambling to save par on 14 after putting his tee shot in a valley of rough so deep spectators couldn’t see the top of his head, Mickelson came undone with a double bogey on the par-4 16th.

He hooked a 5 iron off the 16th tee so badly the ball hit the road that runs along the right side of the hole and bounced into the big, grassy area that’s home to concession stands, the merchandise tent and sponsor displays. That, of course, is nowhere close to being inbounds.

“It was just a bad swing,” said Mickelson, whose best finish at the British Open was third at Troon in 2004. “I was trying to hit a low hook, and I hit it a little too quick.”

There was more trouble on 17, when Lefty’s approach shot flew the green and the road, landing in thick rough less than a foot from the old stone boundary wall. Mickelson made a nice recovery, running it up within 15 feet, only to two-putt for bogey.

He did close the round with another birdie, but the damage was done.

“If I could have picked one up, finished at 5 or 6 (under), you just never know what’ll happen tomorrow,” Mickelson said.

Instead, he’ll likely be coming in right about the time the leaders are going off Sunday.

-- Nancy Armour

Elsewhere

America’s birthplace of golf remains unsold

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Mike Stevens is part of a group that travels to West Virginia every summer for an old-time re-enactment of golf at its American birthplace.

They use hickory-shafted clubs and yesteryear fashion statements, and hold onto hopes that Oakhurst Links can keep its heritage going, too.

Oakhurst has been on the market for more than a year. Lewis Keller Sr., the owner for 51 years, is frustrated over the lack of movement, considering Oakhurst’s significance.

The nine-hole course and museum in White Sulphur Springs are listed at $2.5 million, down from the initial offering of $4.5 million.

“It has been a bit of a disappointment,” Keller said. “But maybe things will turn around. I’m an optimist.”

Oakhurst, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, held its first competition in 1884, predating by a few years the St. Andrews Golf Club of Yonkers, N.Y.

“We want so much for it to remain in someone’s hands that will really have the stewardship and interest that we have had in it and maintain the history for the state as well as for golf itself,” Keller said.

The listing agent, Linda Brandt of Country Road Realty in Lewisburg, said the property will be sold to whoever wants it, even if it means becoming a future restaurant, bed-and-breakfast or wedding venue.

“We’re just anxious to sell it,” Brandt said.

Oakhurst is a mecca for the National Hickory Championship, where players shun modern technology that some claim makes the game too easy and predictable.

Stevens, a golf instructor from Tampa, Fla., won the tournament in June, adding to the title he earned in 2005. He doesn’t sound positive he will get the chance to seek a third one.

The course’s phone number has been temporarily disconnected and its website hasn’t been updated in some time. Gone are the sheep that until recently mowed Oakhurst’s fairways the way it was done a century ago.

“It’s kind of disappointing to a lot of us that go there annually to play because it’s really a one-of-a-kind facility in the United States,” Stevens said. “It’s a tough economy, too. I don’t know anybody that purchases it would make any money on it. It would have to be some sort of a labor of love.”

Count out any interest from Jim Justice, the owner of The Greenbrier who has pumped tens of millions of dollars into rejuvenating the resort, including landing this month’s PGA Greenbrier Classic.

He doesn’t want to revive nearby Oakhurst, too.

“Oakhurst Links holds a very distinguished place in American golf history and given its proximity to The Greenbrier, I do have an interest in seeing it continue as a tourism destination,” Justice said. “However, at this time I am not considering or discussing the possibility of purchasing the property.”

Keller’s daughter, Vikki Keller, said she’s noticed people staying at The Greenbrier drive up to Oakhurst to view the course because “they’re not sure if they would have another chance” to see it in its current playable state.

Oakhurst shunned today’s advanced metal clubs, golf bags and electric carts. The course’s own replica hickory clubs were made entirely of wood. Visitors formed tees from a mix of water and sand, hit balls that carry a few hundred yards at best and carried their clubs by hand.

“We all love going there every year,” Stevens said. “It’s such a little respite from the real world because it’s a beautiful location.”

Keller first learned about Oakhurst Links in the early 1950s from friend and golf pro Sam Snead, who lived just across the Virginia border. It was first owned by Russel Montague, who became addicted to golf while studying in Great Britain.

According to Keller, Montague’s doctor advised him in 1878 to move from Boston to a healthier climate. Montague chose White Sulphur Springs, partly because of stories about its so-called healing waters.

Montague and a small group of colleagues built the course and held the first golf competition around 1884 in the Scottish match play tradition, predating by a few years the St. Andrews Golf Club of Yonkers, N.Y.

But Montague and most of the original members eventually moved away. Play on the course stopped after 1910.

Keller, a New York native, bought the property in 1959 to use as a summer retreat and raise horses. He had a vision about restoring the course, but didn’t act until some coaxing from a golf writer.

Golf designer Bob Cupp heard about the course and volunteered with the restoration.

Work started in 1991 and was done by hand, with newspaper and magazine clippings and course photos serving as guides. The 2,235-yard course reopened in October 1994.

During the years that followed, the museum was filled with snapshots of visits from golfers such as Snead, Lee Trevino and Tom Watson, who is The Greenbrier’s golf pro emeritus.

Keller would greet visitors with a smile, a handshake and offer of a glass of lemonade.

Now, the 87-year-old Keller, whose wife of 60 years, Rosalie, died earlier this year, wants to focus on family.

“When we left, everybody was hoping somebody would purchase it, keep it as a course,” Stevens said. “But we left that same scenario after last year’s tournament, too.

“It would be a shame if it did close down. Once it’s gone, we’ll never have anything like it again in this country.”

-- John Raby

Traveling salesman? Golfer Heintz has Yale degree

RENO, Nev. — Bob Heintz’s economics degree from Yale no doubt helped make him a better businessman. But he’s not an investor, accountant or developer. He’s a 40-year-old professional golfer who has spent the past decade trying to make it on the PGA Tour.

He’s never finished better than fifth but was tied for fourth, trailing co-leaders Robert Garrigus and Matt Bettencourt by only three strokes heading into Saturday’s third round of the Reno-Tahoe Open.

“It’s a business. I’m trying to make money this week,” said Heintz, who has finished no better than fifth in his six full seasons on tour. “I would equate golf to being a salesmen. I mean, I travel around the country to different cities.

“If I play well, I make money. If I don’t, they send me home.”

He shot a 68 Friday to make the cut at 7-under 137 at Montreux Golf & Country Club on the edge of the Sierra Nevada.

“This week I’ve at least made the sale, now I just have to make it as big a commission as possible,” he said.

Heintz, who turned pro in 1992, admits he recently considered giving up the game. His career earnings on tour total $1.9 million.

“You do your job well, your income potential is limitless. That’s what I love about this job,” he said. “To go somewhere else and work for a salary — in some ways I’d welcome it because you know what you’re getting every couple weeks and you can budget. But in this, I mean, what if I play great? Half a million sounds pretty good.”

The $540,000 is the winner’s share of the $3 million purse at Reno. It’s about half of the $1.2 million top prize at the British Open with its purse of $8.6 million.

But for many of the journeymen at Reno this weekend, the first-class flights and private jets that many of the PGA’s elite take for granted are as far away as St. Andrews.

“It’s not as glamorous as everybody thinks it is,” said Bill Lunde of Las Vegas, who spent much of the past decade on the Nationwide Tour before earning $825,691 with five top 25 finishes on the PGA tour last year.

“They just see TV and us walking on the fairways on these great golf courses,” said Lunde, who has an economics degree from UNLV. “They don’t see the lines at hotels and restaurants and airports.”

When Will MacKenzie won in Reno in 2006, he told of his lean years living out of his van in Montana, being a beach bum in Costa Rica and selling hammocks in North Carolina before returning to the game he loves.

“I surfed for three months and I met some dude who made a fortune off of selling hammocks and I was like, all right, I’m in,” MacKenzie said. “I went door to door selling them, but it didn’t work. I was in debt huge.”

John Rollins, the defending champ, said there’s no let up in the competition.

“Guys are really fighting for their jobs,” Rollins said. “It’s an opportunity for a rookie or a second or third-year guy who hasn’t won yet, where his status is kind of year to year.”

Heintz sat in the clubhouse answering questions about how his season has gone so far.

“Terrible. Thinking about quitting,” he said. “I used to be one of the best putters on this tour, and this year I’m literally anxious about 3-footers right now. So it’s been a bad year.”

“I wasn’t expecting to be here this week, so I’ve been trying to see it as a real opportunity and play freely, which is what I haven’t been doing.”

Heintz has only made two cuts on the Nationwide Tour this season so was excited when he got the call last week that he was eligible to try to qualify as an alternate for that tour’s Chiquita Classic outside Cincinnati.

He flew there last weekend from his home in Clearwater, Fla., and was on the course at TPC River’s Bend when he was informed he could stop playing because a number of withdrawals had already put him in the field.

Heintz grabbed a new driver and practiced Monday before he was interrupted by another call — this one from a PGA official with word so many people had dropped out in Reno that he’d made it into that field.

“So I flew here Tuesday morning,” he said. “It’s nice to be sitting in this room right now. I don’t care if somebody passes me. I’m making money today and it’s in Reno and it’s more money than I’ll make in Cincinnati.”

And if in the end, if this golf business doesn’t work out and he does quit the game, what might he end up doing?

“Hmmm, I don’t know,” Heintz said. “I have a Yale degree, so I’m not totally without some kind of credential.”

-- Scott Sonner