SAMAMMISH – For some of the golfers most recognized by the gallery at Sahalee Country Club, Thursday was a Tale of Two Continents.
A scheduling quirk had placed two major tournaments on the Champions Tour calendar – the U.S. Senior Open and the Senior British Open – a week apart.
This prompted complaints about insomnia, fatigue, tight backs, and the general cruelty of foisting a Scotland-to-Sahalee itinerary on anybody over the age of 30, much less 50.
“The morning started off good, but I wore out, the time change got to me and I’m half asleep,” said Tom Watson, who was 3-under after 14 holes and finished with a deflating even-par round of 70.
“I’m just tired, tired and hurtin’. ”
When the golf insights of the urbane, Stanford-educated Watson are indistinguishable from the lyrics of a Billy Ray Cyrus song, you get the sense there’s some mileage to this jet-lag thing.
But while Watson and Senior British Open champ Bernard Langer were bemoaning the grueling timetable, Tim Jackson was taking on Sahalee with fresh legs and a fresh attitude.
“I build my whole year around this event,” said Jackson, 51, a full-time real estate investor and part-time golfer. “For a lot of these guys, this is just another tournament. But it’s everything for me.”
If you’re a casual golf fan, Jackson might be the best player you’ve never heard of. He’s qualified for two Masters tournaments, made two Walker Cup appearances, won a pair of USGA Mid-Amateur championships.
Jackson is so well-regarded in his home state, the annual winner of the Tennessee Golf Association match play tournament is awarded the Tim Jackson Trophy.
Such a distinguished dossier has put Jackson’s career money-earnings total at, uh, zilch. Growing up in Memphis, his sport was baseball.
Golf remained an afterthought until he was 16, and even then he basically taught himself. You could say he learned how to drive before he learned how to drive.
Jackson picked up the game too late in his life to have any aspirations of competing on the PGA Tour, but playing on the senior circuit was another matter. Realizing he’d be eligible for qualifying school as soon as he turned 50, he gave a pro career some thought – to the extent that he applied for the registration paperwork.
On the night before the paperwork was due, Jackson finally read the cover page – then tossed the rest of the papers into a trash can.
“It just wasn’t going to work,“ said Jackson. “So much is going on in my life. From a business standpoint, things are going really well. And I didn’t want to miss time away from my son Austin.”
Austin is 16, a combination of caddie, coach, confidante and kid. He was on the bag as his father finished with a 2-under-par 68 early Thursday afternoon – the score was bound to hold up among the leaders once the sun burned through the marine layer and dried the greens at Sahalee – just as he was on the bag for his dad during last year’s U.S. Senior Open at Crooked Stick, outside Indianapolis.
Jackson ended up in a tie for 11th, which would’ve been worth a prize in the neighborhood of $50,000, not that anybody’s counting.
What counted was that Jackson went toe-to-toe with the likes of Watson and Greg Norman, producing the lowest round by an amateur (66), the lowest 72-hole total by an amateur (288), and the lowest overall score after two days.
“You don’t expect to come into this tournament with these guys and say, ‘I want to win,’ ” Jackson told reporters on the eve of the ’09 Senior Open. “I’ve got guys at home saying, ‘If you play your game, you can win.’ And I’m thinking, right, I can beat Greg Norman.”
After the Crooked Stick experience, Jackson had reason to think, yes, he can beat Greg Norman.
“I found out, on my good days, my game is very competitive with the best players in the world,” he said last summer.
Playing well is rarely a problem for Jackson. His problem is, well, rarely playing. He limits his competitive schedule to 10 or 12 tournaments a year, between March and September.
There’s a strong possibility that Jackson’s August could be busier than he’s anticipated, because a spot in the U.S. Amateur at Chambers Bay will be awarded to the low amateur this weekend at the Senior Open.
With two days of medal play preceding five days of match play – topped off by a 36-hole finale on Sunday – the U.S. Amateur is better suited for the college crowd than 51-year-olds who play golf only part time.
Still, if Jackson scores the invitation, he’s coming back to play in the 14th U.S. Amateur of his career. Twice a quarterfinalist, Jackson had the best score of the medal round last summer at Southern Hills.
But first things first.
“This a great week for me,” Jackson said. “I’m getting a chance to play with two stars like Mike Reid and Dan Pooley – players who’ve pretty much done everything in this game. Being able to spend a week with these guys is a real treat.”
The modesty doesn’t sound forced, but don’t put too much heed into that aw-shucks stuff. The best golfer you’ve never heard of knows he can beat Reid and knows he can beat Pooley.
And Greg Norman, wherever you are, Tim Jackson knows he can beat you, too.
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