Overton surprises in fourth place for Ryder Cup
Jeff Overton is an unexpected name to see in fourth place position on the Ryder Cup standings. Nevertheless in fourth place he is before the final two major events of the season finalize the eight players automatically invited on to the 2010 U.S. Ryder Cup team.
Overton’s high position on the list is due to the consistent year he has had. Despite the fact that he has never won an event, Overton can thank his three second place finishes and two third place finishes for getting him the fourth place position.
"It's not like I'm Tiger Woods," he said. "Maybe if we could ever win instead of finish second, maybe we'd have a little better chance of (being known)."
Last weekend at the Greenbrier Classic Overton came close to his first victory after leading the competition Sunday by three shots. He was unable to contend with Stuart Appleby’s 59 in the fourth round however, and conceded his potential win to Appleby after missing several easy putts. The upside of his finish was a berth at this week’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
“This year I've been able to get inside the top three a lot, but I haven't been able to get that win," Overton said Wednesday during an interview Wednesday. "Hopefully, I'll be able to keep plugging along. Like (former British Open champion) Ian Baker-Finch said, 'You keep knocking on the door enough times, eventually something is going to happen.'"
The 27-year-old Indiana University graduate has a scoring average of 69.81 which is third best on the PGA Tour. He moved up from 186th on the official rankings where he started the year to 47th place. Overton has earned $2.4 million this year and is 12th on the PGA points list.
Overton can’t believe his luck this year, and finds the possibility of playing on the Ryder Cup team as daunting as it is exciting.
“Yeah, I'm pumped, I'm excited about the Ryder Cup. There's still an outside chance that I could probably slip up and not get in it, but I've just got to go control my own destiny and play well these next couple weeks, and then the next. That would be half the goal, and then the next half of the goal would be to figure out a way to go win the USA some points," he said.
Looking back on Overton’s year, no one would have suspected he would be in the position he is today. He missed four cuts off the start, and had no top15 starts until his second place finish at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans on April 25th.
The second place finish lit a fire somewhere in Overton and he began lighting up the leaderboards, playing better and with more confidence than ever since joining the tour in 2005. And after his 11th place finish at the British Open the Illinois native’s name has been added to the discussion for 2010 PGA Tour Play of the Year.
After he competes in this week’s Bridgestone Invitational, Overton will play at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits next week. Both events are the last on the schedule before the Ryder Cup list closes, and will give Overton a good opportunity to cement his position.
Following the PGA Championship, Overton will take a week off to rest up before the four-week FedEx Cup takes place, the PGA equivalent of the playoffs.
Overton is making his debut in a WGC competition and will have far more pressure to deal with than he did at the Greenbrier Classic. His first visit to the Firestone course came in 2000 during his senior year of high school when Overton was invited by a Firestone member to come watch a PGA tournament where his hero Tiger Woods was playing.
“I came out and I’ll never forget,” he recalled fondly. “Just being out there, being so into watching and having so much fun.”
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