By Jon Levy - Staff Writer

June 2, 2010


It’s so close he can taste it. So close he can see himself raising that trophy above his head and gulling the spoils that come along with donning a PGA TOUR win. Even so close he can see himself teeing off at the winners-only SBS Championship in Hawaii to kick off the season next year.

But, unfortunately, for former Gateway Tour player, Jeff Overton -- for now -- it has to be close, but no cigar.

With T2 and T3 finishes in the past two weeks at the HP Byron Nelson Championship and Crowne Plaza Invitational, in fact, Overton is doing pretty much everything he can to get that elusive first win. Earning a hefty $485,333.33 in Dallas two weeks ago, Overton turned right around and posted an impressive 17 under score in neighboring Fort Worth last week to fall four shots short of champ, Zach Johnson, and his record-setting 21 under performance to earn another $359,600.

With this latest bolstering effort, Overton moves to over $1.7 million in earnings on the year and to 16th in the FedEx Cup standings, and he’s now accrued over $5.4 million on the PGA TOUR via 79/123 cuts made, three runner-ups, a third and 14 total top-10s. Not bad. But, the question now begs: Would he trade it all for a W?

It has to be both frustrating and encouraging for the former Indiana University standout to keep getting into contention but not end the week in the winner’s circle. If anything is worth waiting for and experience gained will count down the road, though -- as we quite often see on The Gateway Tour -- Overton is setting himself up to win soon, and win often. So, stay tuned and keep an eye out for this former Walker Cupper, as it won’t be long before he’s holding a PGA TOUR trophy high.

As perhaps could be the case again for Gateway Tour Alum, Martin Laird, who placed T10 at Colonial to get his season back on track after a fairly lackluster number of events leading up to the welcome resurgence in Fort Worth. Tying for 4th in the season-opening SBS Championship -- an event he was eligible to play from his win last year at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open -- Laird made just seven of his next 12 cuts after the $300,000 start, with a T27 coming as his best finish.

How quickly a season can change on the PGA TOUR, though, which is evident by his push to $607,565 on the money list and 76th in FedEx Cup points following his $155,000 week at Colonial.

Taking a bit of a philosophical look, never more has the old adage of ‘patience is a virtue’ played true more than with today’s PGA TOUR player. There is so much money, so much fame and most importantly, a season’s security at stake on the first tee box of every TOUR event, that if a player who has encountered a stretch of mediocrity -- such as Laird -- can keep in mind it only takes a few good rounds strung together to shape a great year, every week then truly starts fresh.

Not dissimilar to what our Alumni faced while playing on The Gateway Tour -- albeit on much of a less scale -- the Tour takes pride that its mission of providing an environment where players can build the skills necessary to compete on the PGA TOUR has, at the least, played some role in their successes on the PGA TOUR.

‘Skills’ not always referring to physical attributes, the emotional skill-set these players developed while playing in the heat of competition on The Gateway Tour is perhaps most telling in their fine abilities to handle the heat of competition in pressure-packed situations on the PGA TOUR. That’s why when we see former players like Overton and Laird realizing successful careers just a few short years after playing The Gateway Tour, we work hard to get more players out there and can’t wait to push them through. Keep it up, guys.


Click here for full field results of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial…