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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Pain Par for the Course

By Toby Smith
Journal Staff Writer
       The golfers who attract three-deep galleries at the U.S. Senior Open are almost always guys who played the PGA Tour and then moved effortlessly on to the Champions Tour.
    Exempt guys like Watson, Irwin, Norman, Stadler, Kite. Name pros.
    Not no-name amateurs like Roser.
    Who?
    Scott Roser. He sells homes in Ruidoso, has a finicky back and a left knee that's been cut on more times than a delicatessen ham.
    Roser, who plays out of Alto Lakes Country Club, will be one of 156 competitors teeing off at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs when the 39th Senior Open begins there next Thursday.
    The tournament's defending champion is Brad Bryant, certainly a name pro in New Mexico where he grew up in Alamogordo and played for the Lobos.
    Roser qualified for the USGA event back on June 30 at Santa Ana Golf Course. In fact, he barely qualified — not by score but by age. He turns 50 on July 29. Thus, he will likely be the youngest man in the field.
    His gallery in Colorado Springs will be his wife and two kids and perhaps a few friends from Ruidoso.
    Roser played a little high school golf in Fallbrook, Calif., in north San Diego County, but none in college. He returned to the game in his mid-20s, and was doing well when his back gave out. Seeking a "mountain town," he settled in Ruidoso 20 years ago. The back continued to aggravate him and he played sporadically into his 30s and 40s. His big moments came when he won the 1998 and '99 Sun Country Amateur Golf Association's Mid-Amateur Championship.
    Then came knee trouble; he kept tearing cartilage.
    "I've played a lot of golf, though not as much as I wanted in this decade," Roser said in a telephone interview with the Journal. "Seems like I've been injured more than I haven't been injured. It's been an up and down thing, that's for sure."
    Clearly an up moment came during qualifying for the Senior Open. Roser reached that point by meeting the handicap requirements: He plays a 1-plus.
    At Santa Ana, over just 18 holes, he competed against 60 golfers, most of them pros from New Mexico and surrounding states. The top two would advance to Colorado Springs.
    "I was definitely a long shot," Roser said. "I didn't have any expectations. Maybe that's why I did so well."
    Firing a 2-under 69, Roser tied for second and won in the first playoff hole. Roser and the qualifier's winner, club pro Jim Traina from Kirtland, who shot a 68, earned the right to compete with the big names.
    Roser helped his cause by making a hole-in-one on No. 12. Not exactly easy; it's 240 yards to the pin.
    Qualifying, he said, was an "unbelievable feeling. I was still catching myself, thinking what I'd done a couple of weeks later. It's hard for me to imagine being in a locker room with guys I've been following for 30 years."
    He owes the round at Santa Ana, he said, to some swing changes he made last winter. "Posture, tempo, I pretty much overhauled my entire swing. It usually takes a year to see results with those things."
    Also helping was the time he's spent on the mental aspects of the game. "I do yoga, breathing techniques, stretching, meditation, all things to improve my concentration and stay in the moment."
    A better diet also kicked in, he said. "I gave up sugar about 10 years ago."
    Finally, there were medical assists. Visits to a chiropractor apparently has rid him of chronic back pain. Similarly, four arthroscopic knee surgeries finally straightened out issues there.
    Roser, who putts left-handed but swings righty, said no single part of his game stands out. If he'll have an edge in Colorado, it may be geographic. "I'm used to playing at altitude and that course is at 6,600 feet. We're at 6,900 in Ruidoso, and Alto is a couple of hundred feet higher.''
    He'd feel even higher next week if he makes the cut.
   
    Roser will be youngest player in next week's U.S. Senior event
   
    See PAIN on PAGE B4
   
    ROSER: Overcame lots en route to Sr. Open
   
    from PAGE B1
   
    "I've played a lot of golf, though not as much as I wanted in this decade. Seems like I've been injured more than I haven't been injured."
    Scott Roser, on overcoming health issues
   
    Journal Golf Page
    PGA leaders, TV times, local briefs, holes-in-one B4
   
   
    Journal Golf Page
    PGA leaders, TV times, local briefs, holes-in-one B4

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