Having spent the formative years of my youth in the bustling metropolis of Chicago, I saw more than my fair share of “can”t miss” athletes. I will always remember my high school basketball team playing against Quinn Buckner in the Illinois state playoffs. Buckner led Thornridge High School to two consecutive state titles in 1971 and 1972, played on the perfect Bobby Knight Indiana team of 1976, was a first-round NBA draft pick and won an NBA title on the Larry Bird Celtics. Buckner was a “can”t miss” guy.
So too was Lloyd Batts. He had a storied high school career in Chicago, played collegiate ball at Cincinnati, and was considered that school”s best player since Oscar Robertson graduated in 1960. Yet after college ball, Batts would spend just one year in the ABA, playing for the Virginia Squires, while averaging four points per game. I could continue ad nauseum for the remainder of this column, but the point is that it”s too hard to determine which young person in amateur athletics will grow up to be an adult star in professional sports.
Such a convergence of “can”t miss” and “who”s he” occurred last weekend at the PGA Tour”s Sony Hawaiian Open at Waialae Country Club. A longtime tournament that was first contested n 1965, the Hawaiian Open counts Lee Trevino, Jack Nicklaus, Hubert Green, Mark O”Meara, Lanny Wadkins, Corey Pavin, Jim Furyk, Paul Azinger and Ernie Els among its past champions. Perhaps the most memorable Hawaiian Open occurred in 1983 when Isao Aoki holed out a full wedge on the final hole for an eagle to beat Jack Renner by one stroke.
This year”s tourney finale began on Sunday with Charles Howell III tied for the lead with Johnson Wagner. A couple of shots off the pace were Carl Pettersson of Sweden and American journeyman Harrison Frazar. For anyone who is a follower of the game, Charles Howell III was the best known among those atop the leaderboard as well as the most talented member of the quartet. After all, it”s always been that way.
The 32-year-old Howell fits the profile of the classic American tour professional. He was raised in Augusta, Georgia, and has always been a member of Augusta Country Club, a Donald Ross-Seth Raynor gem of a course that sits adjacent to the back nine of Augusta National, the home of the Masters. Howell took up the game as a 7-year-old and showed enormous potential as a youngster. By the age of 10, he was taking golf lessons from renowned instructor David Leadbetter.
Howell continued to improve and as a 17-year-old he played in the PGA Tour”s Buick Challenge at Sea Island. He received a scholarship to golf powerhouse Oklahoma State and played on their 2000 NCAA championship team. He doubled as the NCAA individual champion that year and also won the Fred Haskins Award as the best player in college golf. Along the way, he almost won the Greensboro Open on the Nationwide Tour, finishing second.
Howell turned professional in the summer of 2000, came in third at the Quad Cities, and finished in the money in seven events. The following year he made 20 of 24 cuts, lost to Shigeki Maruyama in a playoff at the Greater Milwaukee Open, had a third and a fourth, and was the 2001 PGA Tour rookie of the year. In 2002 he won the Michelob at Kingsmill and finished second at the Tour Championship to Vijay Singh. Charles Howell III was 23 years old and was a top-10 money winner on the PGA Tour.
And so it continued for Howell. In 2003 he had another second in the Tour Championship, he played on the Presidents Cup team in South Africa and was paired with Tiger Woods. He had six top 10s and just over $2.5 million in earnings. He was within the top 15 in the world rankings. Yet after 2003, Howell had a drop-off with more than his share of mid-level finishes. He was 33rd, 29th and 52nd on the money list from 2004 through 2006. He won his second tour title in 2007, beating Phil Mickelson in a three-hole playoff at the Los Angeles Open. However, that was his final big moment. From that point onward, he finished 69th, 46th, 60th and 25th in earning (over the last four years).
As a youngster, Johnson Wagner was no Charles Howell III. Nine months younger than Howell, Wagner was born in Amarillo, Texas, but spent most of his life in the New York City area. He was from a golfing family and his grandfather, M.T. Johnson, was a former board member as well as treasurer of the United States Golf Association.
Johnson played collegiate golf at Virginia Tech, won the Metropolitan Amateur and the Metropolitan Open back to back to 2001 and 2002, and turned pro late in the 2002 season. He spent four years on the minor league Nationwide Tour from 2003 through 2006. In 2006 he won twice on the Nationwide circuit, winning the Louisiana Open and the Cox Classic. Wagner ended up second on the money list and earned a promotion to the PGA Tour for the 2007 season. He survived his rookie campaign and won the 2008 Shell Houston Open over Chad Campbell and Geoff Ogilvy. Last year he won again, beating Spencer Levin in a one-hole playoff at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Cancun.
During Sunday”s front nine in Waialae, Wagner took the lead, carding a 1-under-par 34 while Howell faltered and recorded a 1-over 36. Wagner added birdies on the 10th and 15th holes to maintain his two-shot lead over Howell. In the end, his 67 on Sunday was more than enough for a two-shot win over the foursome of Howell, Pettersson, Frazar and Sean O”Hair.
When you look back at it all, Charles Howell III started the century as an NCAA champion, a PGA rookie of the year and a two-time member of the Presidents Cup team, all accomplished before Johnson Wagner secured fully exempt status on the PGA Tour. Yet as of this moment, Wagner has three tour titles while Howell has two. Howell hasn”t won since 2007 while Wagner has three wins since 2008. You never know how things will play out in sports and you never know about the “can”t miss” kid. Sometimes the grinder ends up better off in the end. And that”s why they tee it up and keep score. The ball didn”t know who should have won last week in Hawaii. This time around, it was Johnson Wagner over the “can”t miss” Charles Howell III.
