Inside the Field: Wells Fargo Championship

A par on the final hole of the 2006 U.S. Open would have altered the conversation. Phil Mickelson would have won his first U.S. Open and third consecutive major. Tiger Woods was struggling after his father’s death. Instead, Phil had his “idiot” moment.

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HOUSTON – Travis Vick has been coming to the PGA TOUR tournament in Houston for much of his life. Getting a signed ball from Stewart Cink is among the memories he has from watching the pros play. “He just came off the ninth green and went to the 10th tee box and threw me a golf ball,” Vick said. “That was my first autograph.” This week, Vick is inside the ropes. The Houston native, who grew up five minutes away from Memorial Park, is competing in the Cadence Bank Houston Open on a sponsor exemption. It is his third start on TOUR and debut in his hometown event. He got off to a good start. A 2-under 68 in Thursday’s first round – which also fell on his father’s birthday – left Vick just three back of leaders Alex Noren and Aaron Wise after the morning wave. “I grew up five minutes from here, so I’ve always come to this tournament and watched all the pros play,” said Vick, who estimates he had 50 friends and family watching Thursday. “As a child it was a dream of mine to maybe be able one day to play in the Houston Open because that was the big tournament from where I’m from. So just to be here is an honor and I’m hoping to make the most of it.” His dreams now extend beyond playing his hometown TOUR stop. Vick is in the final months of a successful amateur career and in position to capitalize on the rewards offered by PGA TOUR University presented by Velocity Global. He is No. 7 in the Velocity Global Ranking and can earn valuable points this week. The top five in the standings after the NCAA Championship will earn immediate status on the Korn Ferry Tour. Vick was the low amateur at this year’s U.S. Open (T43) and secured the clinching point for the University of Texas in its NCAA Championship victory. Vick said he’s been struggling with his ballstriking over the last few months, however, and Thursday’s round was a welcome sign of progress after shooting 80-75 at last week’s World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. Vick lost plenty of golf balls in the mangroves and penalty areas that line El Camaleon’s fairways. That venue is one of the shorter and tighter ones on TOUR. “It’s kind of hard to play golf when you run out of golf balls,” Vick said. The renovated Memorial Park, which has a much different appearance than the one Vick played years ago, is what can be called a “big ballpark” where players can separate themselves with their ballstriking. “It’s a monster out there,” Vick said. “There’s long par 4s, there’s super undulating greens. They can make this place as hard as they’d like.” Vick gained more than a stroke with his approach play Thursday while averaging 319.0 yards off the tee. He fits the mold of the modern power player, having excelled in football, baseball and golf at Houston’s Second Baptist School. His prep baseball coaches were former Astros stars Lance Berkman and Andy Pettitte, the latter of whom has become a mentor who helps Vick with the game’s mental side. Vick considered playing baseball in college, as well, before deciding to focus on golf. “Andy has been very helpful as a guy who’s been there and done that,” Vick told GolfChannel.com at this year’s U.S. Open. “He helps with mentality – he knows a lot about golf, but it’s more from a big-league level, like, ‘This is what I’ve done. This is what I’ve tried. This is what I’ve experienced.’ Based on what he’s done in the game of baseball, him just having the thought of helping me is such an honor.” Vick is a promising prospect in his chosen sport, ranking 10th in the World Amateur Ranking, as well. His swing coach, Adam Porzak, is on the bag this week. The pair went to work during the practice rounds to fix some bad tendencies that have crept into Vick’s swing in competition. After starting Thursday’s round with a bogey at No. 1, Vick birdied half of the remaining holes on the front nine to make the turn in 3-under 32. He bogeyed the first two holes of the back nine, but birdied Nos. 12 and 15 to get back to 3 under. “On 10 and 11 I hit really bad shots and I didn’t really know what it was,” Vick said. “Then I made a little quick adjustment and birdied 12. From there on I hit it pretty well. So I was able to kind of make adjustments throughout the round. But I do feel like we’re moving in the right direction in regards to the swing and seeing a positive result like today definitely helps the confidence.” He made another bogey at the par-5 16th, where he hit his second shot into the water guarding the green, before parring the final two holes. “Bogeying No. 16 kind of hurt, killed the momentum,” Vick said. “But other than that, there’s a lot of great iron shots. It’s just a good round of golf.”

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