TOUR Insider: Native Texans find it tough to win at home

text size

Dunn/Getty Images

Texas native (and Byron Nelson protege) Scott Verplank scored an emotional win when he won the HP Byron Nelson Championship in 2007.

IRVING, Texas -- We're a proud bunch down here in Texas, and some people say we brag.

We don't. We just make sure folks know the truth.

While we didn't invent golf, we sure do know it hasn't been the same since Ben Hogan invented -- and then perfected -- the art of practice. Or since Harvey Penick started teaching in parables. Or since Jimmy Demaret threw a lawn party for his over-50 buddies in Austin and jump-started what's now known as the Champions Tour.

We tell stories about 1945 when Byron Nelson ran off that 11-tournament win streak that led to an 18-win season and how he followed it up in '46 with 13 more wins. About Hogan's comeback. About Lee Trevino hustling -- and never losing -- with a Dr. Pepper bottle wrapped in adhesive tape. About Demaret balancing humor, singing, all-night parties and fabulous golf and a presence and flair like no other. About Ben and Tom and Lefty Stackhouse. About Betsy Rawls and Kathy Whitworth and a woman known everywhere as Babe.

We love to throw numbers around too. Like 13 -- the number of Hall of Famers we claim out of the 102 in the World Golf Hall of Fame. Or 16 -- as in the number of NCAA titles Dave Williams' Houston Cougars won. Or well... ready? Texans have won 13 Masters, a dozen U.S. Opens, six British Opens, 15 PGAs and 19 Vardon Trophies, including nine of the first 12. And, well, we claim 10 Ryder Cup captains, Champions Golf Club which had four PGA champs and three astronauts and one golf club that went to the moon on its membership roll and Austin Country Club with five -- yes five -- Hall of Famers to its credit.

Not everyone was born here, mind you, but they got here just the same and put down roots. Some of them pretty darn deep.

But what can't we seem to do here? Run the tables at our own events. Yes, we've had our share of Lone Star winners over the years in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth, but not so many in recent years.

Back in the day, Hogan owned Colonial Country Club. Won there five times. Byron Nelson won the inaugural TOUR event in Houston and the first one in Dallas (24 years before it was named for him). Ben Crenshaw won twice in Fort Worth, twice in San Antonio and once in Dallas. Alas, Tom Kite didn't win any of the four.

By our count, Texans (whether by birth or by long-term residence) have won 16 times at the Nelson, 18 times in Fort Worth, 19 times in San Antonio and 14 times in Houston. Whew.

Feldman/Getty Images

Justin Leonard has won in San Antonio three times, but is still seeking a Dallas-area victory.

But for the moment, since the TOUR's at Las Colinas for the HP Byron Nelson Championship this week, we'll take a closer look at just why there isn't as much of a home course advantage as you might think. Especially when you consider that 23 TOUR members make their home here in the Metroplex. We'll spare you the full Texas total, including Houston and Austin.

Yes, Scott Verplank won here in 2007 -- the first Nelson after Lord Byron passed away -- and he shed more than a few tears. When the final putt fell, he looked up and said thank you -- from his heart to Byron Nelson's. We called it a Deep in the Heart of Texas kind of thing.

Nelson made a call to Verplank when the latter was a senior at W.T. White High School in Dallas, watched him hit balls and the friendship blossomed. No one jumped higher or clapped longer when that putt fell than Byron's widow Peggy. She and Byron had watched him come close a half dozen times in his first 21 Nelsons and now the kid who'd run around the event watching Crenshaw and Trevino and Tom Watson win was finally a Nelson champ.

He lives in Oklahoma now, which likely helped a bit -- more later on that -- but he grew up in Texas and thanks to the win and a runner-up finish in 2001 is the all-time leading money winner in this event going into his 23rd Nelson.

Before Verplank? You have to go all the way back to 1992 when Billy Ray Brown -- is there a better Texas name this side of Colt Knost or Colt McCoy? -- sank a 20-foot birdie on the first playoff hole to beat Crenshaw, Lietzke and Raymond Floyd.

Two years before that? Payne Stewart went to school at SMU and Dallas claimed him. And after years of coming close, he won a rain-shortened Nelson by two over Dallas resident Lanny Wadkins.

Yet the truth of the matter is, since 1965, just three native Texans have won the Nelson -- Verplank, Brown and Crenshaw. So what's the problem?

The money is bigger and, honestly, so are the demands. Used to be you'd get tickets for Mom and Dad and a few friends. Now it's a frenzy. . Plus Austin and Houston are a few hours away so Metroplex residents aren't the only ones taking requests.

Players are used to being home on weeks off and taking it easy. Now they're at home and playing. They're not used to balancing home stuff with the demands of tournament. Someone's always throwing a dinner or the tournament has a party to attend.

It's much easier walking into a hotel room or your parents' house -- think Verplank in 2007 and Brown in 1992 -- than into a house full of family and a day's worth of what they've been up to and what you still need to do. And no matter how they try to balance it, it's not as easy as it seems.

Another reason? The course. Or should we say proliferation of courses. Even if you live in Dallas, Las Colinas -- a resort/TPC course -- probably isn't your home course. You're more likely to hang out closer to home and know that course like the back of your hand.

And there's the pressure. A home crowd loves hometown heroes. In fact the fans expect home-grown stars to win when they get into contention. Blocking that out isn't easy. Neither is blocking out your own expectation of being the next one to win at home.

You might think Harrison Frazar and J.J. Henry who worked with D.A. Weibring on the recent nips and tucks might have an advantage. You'd be wrong. Frazar tied for second in his second Nelson (1998), but has played so-so since, including missing the cut the last three years. Before last year's tie for 57th, Henry had a T10 in 2005, and a pair of T-13s in 2006 and 2007.

As for a few other locals? Well, Anthony Kim was in contention in 2007 going into the weekend, but shot himself out of it with a 77, but came back to tie for 19th last year. Brian Gay, who won the 2009 Verizon Heritage, finished tied for seventh last year.

And there's Justin Leonard. The Dallas native only had one top 10 at the Nelson, but he's coming off a tie for fifth at last week's Valero Texas Open.

So will we see a Lone Star winner come Sunday?

Perhaps. But honestly, if we do, it might not have much to do with Texas or playing at or near home. It'll be because it's his week, his turn to make the putts or to make something out of nothing, his week to beat the field, the course and the pressure.

It'll be because it's his week to win.

Melanie Hauser, who resides in Houston and a graduate of the University of Texas, is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. Her views do not necessarily reflect the views of the PGA TOUR.