Overton Overcomes Svoboda, Gallery

By Ken Klavon, USGA

Mamaroneck, N.Y. - Jeff Overton stayed back on the 16^th green Friday, taking two perfunctory stabs at the same putt he missed seconds earlier. It was immaterial that the second one found the hole because obviously it didn't count.

Overton needed to compose himself more than anything.

Winged Foot hero Andy Svoboda had just squared the quarterfinal match and anyone this side of the Hudson River had to know it. The predominantly pro-Svoboda gallery, robust with at least 400 followers, cheered raucously when he completed an awe-inspiring up and down to breathe new life into a nip-and-tuck match.

Jeff Overton felt like Enemy No. 1 in his win over club member Andy Svoboda. (John Mummert/USGA)

If this wasn't about golf but instead a re-enactment of the incomparable 1100 AD British epic Beowulf, there's no doubt Svoboda would be cast as the title's namesake to Overton's Grendel. Because Overton, the 21-year-old senior from Indiana University, had to feel overwhelmingly like a villain.

"Just one of those things you have to tune out, especially whenever he makes a putt and then you hit a shot and you hear people like, 'Yes, yes, yes.' It's like, 'Come on, I don't need to hear that,'" said Overton laughing after winning 2 up.

Overton took a different tack so he wouldn't be intimidated by it.

"As soon as the crowd erupts, you've got to feed off it. You've got to force yourself to think that they are actually rooting for you," he said.

Judging from the start, it appeared Svoboda would continue his implausible run. On No. 1 he knocked in a harsh must-make 6-footer to halve the hole. He followed that up with another tough undulating putt from 8 feet out on the next one to go 1 up.

Two holes, two one-putts.

Then the putter became his enemy on anything left to right. It must have felt like grasping for a banana peel while dangling from a cliff.

"Any time I had a left-to-right putt, I didn't make it," said the 24-year-old Winged Foot member who three-putted twice.

There really was nothing compelling statistically about their match. Overton took two fewer putts to Svoboda's 37 perhaps because he hit two more greens in regulation (10 to Svoboda's eight). And both found the fairway half the time.

Overton had been the steadier of the two, stumbling a bit when he bogeyed the eighth, ninth and 10^th holes. Fortunately, the lanky medalist at the 2003 U.S. Amateur Public Links only suffered a two-hole swing to fall behind by one. Had Svoboda converted a downhill slider for 12 feet on the 10^th hole, the outcome might have been different considering that Svoboda seemed to feed off the crowd's optimism.

Svoboda adhered to the 1-up advantage until the 13^th hole when an 8-footer curled left for a bogey. Overton made a 2-foot tap-in to get even.

After winning the 14^th with a par, the bucket-hat wearing Overton breathed a sigh of relief when Svoboda missed a golden opportunity on the next hole. Svoboda's left-to-right 15-footer to win the hole broke left at the last instance. He had to settle for a halve. Svoboda, disgusted, stayed behind to practice.

"The ball doesn't go in the hole all the time," said Svoboda. "I wish it did."

It set the stage for No. 16, where the slanted masses chanted for Svoboda in hushed tones. Svoboda followed up Overton's missed 4-footer with a sliding 6-footer that brought pandemonium.

Overton, understanding the magnitude of the support, stayed glued to the green like a statue while the human herd flowed toward the 17^th teeing ground. He picked up his ball and tossed it where the miscue had just occurred, sensing that he needed to buy time. Overton had been purposely playing slow the entire round.

"I didn't know if I should hurry up and get to the next tee," said Overton, "because I knew he was going to make it. I didn't know if I needed to hurry up and get to the next tee or if I needed to slow him down. So I just said, 'Well, I'll slow him down and the crowd down and take my time.'"

It worked, because Svoboda found the right rough off his drive. He stayed right on the 449-yard par 4, sending his approach shot into the greenside deep rough. Calm and collected, Overton knocked a putt in the vicinity of 60 feet to within a foot before picking it up. Svoboda had a masterful chip, but the ball skidded 6 feet past the hole, setting up a dastardly left-to-right putt.

The ball lipped out left. Overton gained the lead back.

"I hit a decent putt," said Svoboda. "Kind of, you know, kind of jumped left a little bit and caught the left side of the hole and came out."

On the final hole, both were in the fairway. Svoboda again sent his approach shot into the right greenside rough. In the meantime, Overton was 36 feet away from the left fringe before stroking the ball to 3 feet. Svoboda, looking at a lazy chip, was too conservative as the ball skipped well short.

Svoboda swung the club backward in frustration.

"The chip shot just didn't come out," said Svoboda.

He finally had to concede. The gallery's mood deflated like a flat tire. Overton picked up on it, relieved to have won but disappointed at the same time that the home folks couldn't sustain the pleasure.

"Never have I seen people just like root against you," said Overton taking it in stride. "It's too bad that Andy had to lose. I feel bad."

Who knows, maybe the club could use another Beowulf.