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When Believing In Yourself Matters

A faraway look at Lucas Glover's final putt on the 18th hole Monday, which secured the title. (John Mummert/USGA)

Farmingdale, N.Y. – The voice in his head was speaking to him, but then, it always speaks to him. As Lucas Glover made his way through the final holes of the 109th U.S. Open at Bethpage State Park, the words and wisdom of his late coach, Dick Harmon, were resonating in his mind and being expressed and exuded through his golf game.

“I think about him every day,” said Glover, choking up and having to gather himself. He paused. He could only get out a few more words, but they were as emphatic as the game he had just displayed over five days and 72 holes.

“He always told me I was good enough.”

Glover went out and proved that Monday in the weather-delayed final round of the U.S. Open on the Black Course, outlasting the streaky Ricky Barnes and holding off former major champions and sentimental favorites Phil Mickelson and David Duval to win his first major championship.

With a gut-check final-round 73, highlighted by a 4-foot birdie putt on the 70th hole of the championship that separated him from his pursuers, Glover got in the clubhouse at this public golf shrine in 4-under-par 276. That was two shots better than the aforementioned trio and gave Glover, 29, his second professional victory.

His first win, the 2005 FUNAI Classic at Walt Disney World Resort, was a lightning strike; he holed out from a bunker for birdie to edge Tom Pernice by one. This time, he had to grind it out in a marathon championship played over a mushy but still mendacious layout – one that eventually exacted a toll on a weary field.

“I hit the shots today that I had to hit in the situation … that might be a little more gratifying,” said Glover, who gauged his ball-striking as perhaps the best it’s ever been after finding a swing key while successfully navigating sectional qualifying in Columbus, Ohio. He became just the sixth qualifier since 1960 to win the Open and the first since Michael Campbell in 2005 at Pinehurst No. 2

“I knew when I ended up qualifying, I knew what to work on,” said Glover. “That was drive it straight, and a lot of long irons. I had a good week of preparation last week after the qualifier, and just came here with a good attitude, and it was my best ball‑striking week I've ever had, the first three days especially. Everything was flush. And I knocked in a few putts too. So here we are.”

Entering the week ranked 71st in the world, Glover, 29, of Greenville, S.C., made it sound simple, but it’s been an unexpectedly difficult road for the former Clemson All-American and 2001 USA Walker Cup player.

His Disney triumph and subsequent participation on the winning U.S. Presidents Cup team seemed to auger greater things, but instead, he got stuck in neutral – certainly understandable after the unexpected death of Harmon, his mentor, in ’06. Harmon died of a heart attack at age 58. Glover spoke at his funeral. Harmon’s three brothers are also teachers, including Butch, who coached Greg Norman and Tiger Woods to No. 1 in the world. He currently works with Mickelson. They sent texts to Glover all week.

By the end of 2008, after finishing 105th on the PGA Tour money list and earning less than $1 million for the first time in four years, Glover decided to take off four months. His results weren’t poor, but they left him dissatisfied. Other than two one-day outings, he left his clubs alone and devoted more time to one of his favorite pastimes – reading. (He reads 3-4 books a week. He admitted reading that many this week through all the weather delays).

When he returned at the Bob Hope Classic in late January, he was a new man. His caddie, Don Cooper, noticed, and not simply because Glover posted a pair of top-3 finishes.

“If he made a mistake, he shook it off better. He didn’t stare at the ground counting blades of grass,” Cooper said. “He was a lot more patient with himself, and I think that has really helped his game.”

It helped him at Bethpage, because there are always interludes in the U.S. Open where a bad run can turn into a championship-killing streak. Glover, in his sixth pro season, went through one on Saturday when he fell six shots behind Barnes midway through the round, going four over par in a three-hole stretch on holes 6-8. But he pulled himself out of the downspout and shot even par to rally to one behind Barnes with 18 to play. By the seventh hole Monday, his sixth hole of the day, Glover was in the lead. He never relinquished it, though Mickelson and Duval each had a share of the top spot briefly only to fall back.

A player who could be hard on himself learned how to be patient. It’s patience that tends to be the most valuable commodity in the U.S. Open, and the fact that Glover had missed the cut in his three previous starts exemplifies how far he has come.

“I've had to learn that in the last few years,” said Glover. “Two years ago, if yesterday would have happened – at six, seven and eight, no chance I would be sitting here. No chance. But I've worked on it, and my attitude is better. And something bad happens, let it go. I doubled the first hole this week. Didn't slam a club. Didn't do anything. Walked over to the second tee and said, ‘Hey, it's the U.S. Open; it's going to be a long week.’ I wouldn't have done that a couple years ago.”

Glover’s competitive fire is hereditary. His grandfather, Dick Hendley, who played blocking back for Clemson before a brief career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, introduced him to golf. Some of that fire manifests in frustration, or at least it used to. The rest came out in his practice and preparation.

“He has an amazing work ethic. Whatever success he has gotten he’s earned,” said Glover’s wife, Jennifer, who was Lucas’ high school sweetheart, but only because she was a tenacious individual herself after “chasing him down,” as she explained it. They have known each other 12 years and have been married for nearly four.

“Don’t tell my mom that,” she said with a giggle when confessing to being the pursuer of her avowed soul mate. “I just thought he was fabulous. Incredibly handsome. But he’s smart too, and very nice.”

Not so nice when the golf was going bad, though. “He was frustrated all the time. I knew he wasn’t happy,” she said. “When he took the time off, I knew it would be great for him.

“Frankly,” she added, “I’ve always known that he was good enough to do whatever he wanted to do. To me, this is not surprising at all.”

Of course, all of his doubts and frustrations seem so long ago already. Glover, who now hones his throwback Hogan-like swing – smooth but with a pronounced lag on the downswing – with teaching pro Mike Taylor in Sea Island, Ga., has the U.S. Open trophy, and such shiny hardware can brighten the dimmest corners. It can also illuminate future prospects.

“If I can win this one, I guess I can play all right,” said Glover. “It’s going to be a big confidence boost.”

It should be to join Bob Jones, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Woods, just to name a few, on the champions roll call. “It's an honor to be on the trophy with names such as that. I hope I don't downgrade it or anything with my name on there.”

Not a chance. A guy named Dick Harmon knew he could do it all along. And Lucas Glover probably knew it, too.

Dave Shedloski is a freelance writer whose work has previously appeared on http://www.usopen.com/.

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