Stuart Appleby – Part 2 – Life after 50 

IN the second installment of an extensive interview with Inside Golf’s US correspondent Garrett Johnston, Stuart Appleby talks about some his most memorable golfing moments, from winning on the PGA Tour, to his near miss in the British Open, and playing alongside Tiger Woods at Augusta. Now competing on the PGA TOUR Champions, Appleby is one of Australia’s most respected golfing exports. 

Your first PGA Tour win was the 1997 Honda Classic, how do you reflect back on that now?

It was a completion of a lot of things for me. I played quite a few holes on Sunday. I got a bit fortunate because I holed out an eagle, out of the rough with a lob wedge.  I remember I played against Payne Sewart. He was the nicest guy to me. His wife Tracy is Australian who lived next door for the next 20 years after his death. We had an Australian connection and he definitely took me under his wing. He would have been an unbelievable mentor and a great guy to bounce ideas off and someone to really listen to. He was in the sweet spot of his life and it makes it even more tragic that he wasn’t here from then on. 

I had a Tour card, and I was playing consistently on the Tour, but you don’t know how you’re going to go when you’re young. So that was a huge event to win.

After you win you do your media conference and you’re the last one to leave the locker room. I remember it being dark and I looked around the property and said to myself “holy shit, I did it”.  You were THE guy that week. Driving back to Orlando that night just felt surreal. 

In Miami the week before I wasn’t hitting it great and I was putting really well, but not making anything. I felt like I lipped out 36 times and missed the cut. I remember standing on the range, standing a little taller and a little closer to the ball. And I remember hitting one 7-iron on the range and thinking ‘wow, that felt good.’ Then I hit another good one. I was off and running and I had momentum. 

It was just pretty cool to validate the whole energy that it takes to come to America and play the Nike Tour (Korn Ferry) then to come out to the regular Tour, then lose your card, then come back to the Tour. That win in 1997 really got me going from a confidence and winning perspective.

You’ve often said how much you loved watching The Open Championship as a teen, what do you recall from those years?

I was about 15/16 when I really started following it closely. I felt the same when I watched Augusta. I remember I would turn up to school late sometimes because I was watching the Masters. Those were pretty cool memories watching those major tournaments growing up. Watching The Open Championship coverage, it was nowhere near as advanced as it is now with the graphics. Sometimes they would show you the seagulls walking around for one or two minutes.

Peter Aliss, what a legend, he would make the seagull walking around worthwhile to us viewers at home. As an Australian, the Open Championship had always been a love affair for us with a lot of success and strong performances over the years. It was the dream major for a lot of us. The Masters was the one that we hadn’t won until Adam Scott, but the British was a big one for sure. 

Stuart Appleby, now competing on the PGA Tour Champions.

You almost won the Open Championship in 2002, what do you recall?

It was a weird week. What I do remember was getting out early and shooting 71 or something on Saturday, in pretty tough conditions. But what happened that afternoon was really diabolical, hell on earth was unleashed with the weather. I was having lunch in the clubhouse, and I was going to smash balls later that afternoon, not a care in the world. Then I remember checking the weather and seeing a number of big tents on property shaking and thinking ‘oh, boy, this doesn’t look good.’ I remember Tiger shooting 80 and Shigeki Maruyama hiding behind a sponsor billboard on a tee box just bundling up like he was looking for his mommy. I think Ernie shot maybe 1-over that afternoon which was just phenomenal. I had moved up the leaderboard by doing nothing. My coach said that maybe Sunday you’ll make your fair share of putts, and you never know. I think I was playing with (Padraig) Harrington in that final round and I just played really well.

I remember sitting in the locker room, a smelly,100-year-old locker room and I packed my bag up. Then someone came over to me and said, “I don’t know why you’re packing up, you could be in a playoff.” I said, ‘really, what do you mean?’ They said Ernie could make a bogey coming in and that could mean a big playoff.

Mentally I had wrapped myself up, I was done with the tournament. Obviously, it panned out into a four-man playoff and a bizarre format with split twosomes, which I think was really a dumb decision. It wouldn’t have made me any more likely to win that major. I think the right guy (Ernie Els) won that championship, considering what he went through. 

That’s such a strange scenario. Are you hard on yourself now when you relive it?

I was nervous in that playoff, but I was also telling myself that I had already had a great week. I was surprised that someone like (Steve) Elkington or Ernie didn’t say that we should have all gone together as a foursome. The Open’s answer was that they played twosomes on the weekend, and they were just following suit. I don’t think they’d ever do that again. 

That would have been life-changing and certainly a goal of mine to fulfill with a British Open win. I look back at the British Open close call and I’m proud. 

A friend, mentor and neighbour, Appleby paid tribute to the late Payne Stewart.

What was it like playing with Tiger Woods over the years, and specifically in the Sunday final group during your best chance to win the Masters in 2007?

Playing with those sorts of guys, it’s definitely an experience to play at that kind of level. 

At the 2007 Masters, I was playing really, really well the week before in Houston and I had a lot of good mojo going. I played really well on Saturday, made a mistake on 17 and gave up a shot, and had a one-shot lead going into Sunday. Playing with Tiger it’s a different feeling, a different mood, a different crowd energy. I was pretty nervous on the first tee. I pushed my drive right and made an opening double. It was the coldest week we’d ever had. Down at Amen Corner the later part of the day it was so cold, feel it in your fingers cold. I had never been to a Masters that had been considered cold and that was certainly a challenge. I couldn’t get my round going the direction that I needed. I kept telling myself to ‘hang in there.’ I had played practice rounds with Tiger at Augusta and they are just crazy. Most of the patrons want to go see him, it’s so busy with all of the cameras going off. 

After my Sunday round with him in 2007 I went back and looked at what I would have had to shoot to beat him and the winner Zach Johnson. It would have to have been one hell of a round. 

In the end, when we’re all dead in a pine-box, people aren’t going to remember regular people like us. But Tiger Woods, he’s going to live in people’s mind forever.