Gamez: Putting it in perspective

Friday, June 27, 1997 | 11:17 a.m.

After missing the cut in each of the last three PGA Tour tournaments in which he played, Robert Gamez didn't have to look too hard to find out what was wrong.

In fact, all he had to do was take a glance at the latest PGA Tour stats. There was Gamez, among the top 20 in driving and greens in regulation but ranked a disturbing 153rd in putting.

"I'm 15th on the tour in ball-striking and 153rd in putting, so I knew what I had to work on," said Gamez, who also noticed he was 120th on the money list going into this week's FedEx St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tenn.

"I've actually played really well but the putter has been killing me -- it's as simple as that. At the Kemper Open, I had 37 putts the first day and you can't score that way."

The problem was that the native Las Vegan and Clark High graduate had spent a lot of time working on his putting but wasn't seeing any results. So Gamez took two weeks off from the tour and paid a visit to putting guru Scotty Cameron in Carlsbad, Calif.

"I finally said I need to do something, that's why I went down to see Scotty," Gamez said. "I realized that the putter I was using, every time I thought it was square to the target, I was lined up about eight inches to the right. It's really hard to make a putt when you're lined up wrong."

Gamez, who always has prided himself on being a good reader of greens, said he began to doubt himself, started tinkering with his setup and finally lost all confidence standing over putts.

"We built a putter that fits me now," Gamez said. "The putters I've been using have been wrong. Right now, I've got one that's set up for me and will line up better. I'm rolling the ball a lot better now and I've got a little more confidence going."

Gamez is hoping his custom putter will help him regain the form that allowed him to win two tournaments in 1990 -- his rookie season on the PGA Tour. The 28-year-old has not won a tournament since, but he did tie for fifth at the Honda Classic in March. The $44,250 he earned in that event has accounted for nearly half of the $90,455 he has collected in 15 starts this season.

Although he has missed nine cuts in 15 starts -- and three in a row going into this week's tournament -- Gamez said he never was concerned about his game because he knew exactly what the problem was.

"I just knew it was my putting," Gamez said. "To find out that it was just the putter, the way it was lining me up, made me feel a lot better. Now I've got one I can line up on my line and that makes all the difference in the world."

Gamez offered his opening-round, even-par 71 Thursday at the TPC at Southwind as an example.

"I made some great putts today," Gamez said. "I'm driving the ball good for the most part, I'm hitting great irons shots and hitting a lot of greens. I played good today and I had it a couple under for a while and just messed it up coming in -- but it wasn't because of my putting; I drove it poorly coming in, which is something I don't usually do.

"I bogeyed the last two holes. I drove it in the water on 18 and drove it in the rough on 17. It was not a good way to finish but I played better and putted a lot better."

And that left Gamez with a renewed sense of confidence as he prepares to play the next five PGA Tour stops without a break.

"Now that I'm back good again with my putter and feeling good, I'm really looking forward to the rest of the year."

That was something he couldn't have said two weeks ago.