Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009

AGOSTINI: Happy to join the club, Bettencourt to make PGA debut this week

Matt Bettencourt labored for six long years in golf's farm leagues, all of it as a marathon test run for Thursday.

As you might expect, he can't wait.

"I've worked for this, and now I'm there," he said this week. "I can't tell you how excited I am."

Bettencourt, 33, will make his PGA Tour debut Thursday in Honolulu at the Sony Open. Never before has he teed up a ball on golf's biggest stage. Then again, he's been almost everywhere else.

The former Beyer High graduate is the quintessential journeyman, the career grinder who pieced together just enough status to bounce between the Canadian and Nationwide tours to stay out there. That said, he's made his breaks and earned his opportunity.

Today, he's one of many talented independent contractors, only now he plies his trade for the kind of prize money he's chased for years.

"Davis Love told me you'll make 90 percent of your money in about three weeks or four tournaments. That is what you play for, that streak," Bettencourt said. "I believe him."

Love knows, of course, and so does Bettencourt.

Last September, the Modesto product was ranked 77th on the Nationwide Tour money list and needed a major push to jump into the top 25, which guaranteed a Tour card. Bettencourt then hopped aboard the rally of his career, the kind of uptick sought by hundreds of skilled if obscure players longing for a breakthrough.

It happened for Bettencourt thus:

• A fifth-place finish at the Albertson's Boise Open ...
• A win the following week at the Oregon Classic ...
• A second at the Miccosukee Championship after D.A. Points holed his approach shot for eagle at the 72nd hole and topped Bettencourt in the playoff, and ...
• A win at the season-ending Nationwide Tour championship, good for a career-high $180,000 first prize and the 2008 money title. He outclassed a flock of former PGA Tour winners by shooting 17-under par at the TPC Craig Ranch near Dallas, arguably the best four rounds of his life.

Bettencourt pounded range balls ad nauseum, running in place in golf's thankless pack, and then he found his top form in two months. The easy reason points to a change in putters -- along with an oversized putter grip -- that brought together his already strong tee-to-green game.

More important, Bettencourt matured and seemed to grow stronger as he absorbed the game's hard knocks. When the putts finally dropped, he took full advantage.

Always a durable player (he competed in 29 events last year), Bettencourt has scheduled from 32 to 35 appearances in 2009. He'll kick it off with all five tournaments on the Tour's West Coast Swing, beginning at the Sony at Waialae CC, and continuing through the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Feb. 12-15 and the Northern Trust Open at Riviera on Feb. 19-22.

Bettencourt is armed with three pluses: He'll dodge the rehabbing Tiger Woods, golf's walking conglomerate, at least until the spring; he's familiar with the California venues; and he's confident.

"My goal is to make the Tour Championship. Getting to the top 30 this year is a good target," Bettencourt said. "I took some time off and now I'm ready to go."

As Nationwide money-winners go, Bettencourt is not exactly a sexy prospect. He's not a fresh-faced All-American or a United States Golf Association amateur star. He's a veteran who's collected more than a little been-there-and-done-that.

Still, the bar of expectations has been raised and he's arrived a bit later than most. The skeptics already have memorized their lines: Bettencourt rode two hot months onto the Tour. Wonder if he has any staying power?

To which Bettencourt responds, "I'd like to get hot for two months this year, too."

HOLES-IN-ONE -- James Hollister, Turlock, 184-yard 10th at Dryden Park, 21-degree rescue club. ... Terry Blakemore, Oakdale, 100-yard sixth at Oakdale CC, 9-iron. ... Jerry Gilbreath, Oakdale, sixth at Oakdale, pitching wedge.

Bee sports columnist Ron Agostini can be reached at ragostini@modbee.com or 578-2302.