Surprising Lowery more than happy to be hangin' in Maui

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Steve Lowery returns to the Mercedes-Benz Invitational this week for the first time in 15 years.

The first time Steve Lowery qualified for the Mercedes-Benz Championship was 1994. Somehow that milestone got overshadowed by the other big news of the year -- the freeway joy ride in a white Bronco and subsequent arrest of O.J. Simpson.

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Not that Lowery wanted the attention. Didn't want it then, doesn't really want it now. He's a pleasant fellow who never really seems at ease talking about himself or his accomplishments. He'd rather discuss the University of Alabama football team, although after the Crimson Tide's less-than-glorious performance at the Sugar Bowl it's probably good to put a 30-day moratorium on that particular topic.

Lowery is in Maui this week, one of 33 players in the elite tournament that's opened only to tournament winners from the previous year. Tiger and Phil no longer come to the tournament, even when they're healthy, probably because they got tired of three-time winner Stuart Appleby dusting them every year. But most players consider a week in Hawaii a gift too good to be refused. Lowery is one of them.

It was just a year ago that Lowery appeared to be stuck in that Twilight Zone of professional golf: too old to compete with the young bucks on the PGA TOUR and not old enough to earn admission to the Champions Tour. Factor in that he was coming off an injury to his left wrist and Lowery had more than enough reasons to be less than optimistic when 2008 began.

Like most professional golfers, Lowery has suffered through his own trail of lament. There was the time his house burned down while he was competing in Tucson. There were the nine unsuccessful trips to q-school. There was losing his TOUR card and the two years of surviving the vagaries of Monday qualifying, "four-spotting" as it is sometimes called. The most recent was a freak wrist injury he suffered after striping a 300-yard drive at the FBR Open, an injury which secured him a major medical exemption to start the 2008 season.

There were plenty of dark clouds that Lowery could have crawled under. Instead, due to his own positive nature, and the encouragement from his Christian friends and colleagues, he was eager to jump back into a new season.

Because of his status, Lowery had competed only once in 2008 when he arrived at Pebble Beach. He was an afterthought in the mind of most people and played his role by remaining in the shadows until the final day. Somehow, he didn't get the memo about how Vijay Singh was supposed to win the tournament.

Lowery wound up closing with a 68, making up three shots on Singh, and beat the Big Fijian on the first playoff hole. It was the third PGA TOUR victory for Lowery, all of them the result of a playoff, but none as important as this one. Singh blows a three-shot lead about as often as Carrot Top is nominated for People Magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive."

Lowery was 47 and became the oldest player to win "The Clambake" in its 71-year history. The victory provided a two-year exemption, a bridge to the Champions Tour, a ticket to Augusta and a spot in the Mercedes-Benz Championship.

"It was probably my biggest win ever," Lowery said.

Now he's back in Hawaii to collect on his unlikely win. There are a few other greybeards in the field, like Lowery, who can remember the first Bush Administration: Davis Love III, Greg Kraft, Kenny Perry and Singh are the other 40-somethings who are competing.

Lowery has never done much at the Mercedes-Benz, finishing 22nd in 1995 and 33rd in 2001. But strange things sometimes happen in Kapalua, where Daniel Chopra won last year's event. And even if he doesn't play well, Lowery will find plenty of chances to do a little fishing and talk about Alabama football. After all, spring drills are only a few months away and hope is eternal. Lowery can vouch for it.

Stan Awtrey is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily reflect the views of the PGA TOUR.