Mini-win

Victoria Sun

Monday, Sept. 24, 2001 | 9:26 a.m.

Las Vegan Warren Schutte gladly accepted his massive trophy for winning the Boulder City Open by one stroke over Las Vegan Heath Neal Sunday afternoon.

He smiled broadly, surrounded by family and friends, as he admired the colorful statue of a golfer mounted to a wood base.

"Overall, I'm pretty happy that I won," Schutte said. "I haven't won in a long time and I think I've been feeling a little uneasy, a little awkward. Just to do it again, it's nice.

"It's not the biggest tournament in the world, but it helps. Confidence and winning goes together."

So it has come to this for Schutte, the 1991 NCAA individual champion and 1992 Public Links Champion, who seemed destined for stardom on the PGA Tour after he graduated from UNLV in 1993.

Except he has never made it to the PGA Tour. Last year was the only year he had exempt status on the Buy.com Tour, golf's version of triple-A baseball.

The other seven years Schutte has shuffled between mini-tour events and tournaments in his native South Africa and on the Canadian Tour.

While he was toiling away in Boulder City for a $2,500 first-place check, on the other side of the country in Ligonier, Pa., Robert Allenby was busy picking up his trophy and check for $594,000 at the Pennsylvania Classic, the PGA Tour's first tournament since the terrorist attacks Sept. 11.

Had Schutte, a three-time All-American, fulfilled his potential, had he worked as hard on his game as he does now, perhaps he, too, would have been in Ligonier.

"There were very high expectations," Schutte said without a trace of regret or bitterness. "Everybody thought I would have had a lot of success by now.

"I think one of my greatest attributes is I've got a lot of heart. That's what has kept me out here today.

"One of my weakest attributes was when I was in school and had all that success, I just thought it would come easy. I didn't realize the amount of work and the amount of time that is needed to get out there (the PGA Tour) because I was succeeding at my highest level. But to get to the next level you've got to double up the work. I didn't understand that."

There were other deterrents.

Before he left UNLV, his father, Thomas, became ill, making it difficult for Schutte to focus on golf. Around the same time, he experienced other personal problems that further distracted him.

Among them was dealing with the lofty expectations of others and himself.

Once he got out of school, Schutte said he worked with several instructors to try to fix his swing, which only made matters worse.

He stayed at home playing in mini-tour events in 1994 and 1995, hoping to get exemptions into PGA Tour events that never materialized.

"I didn't really have a good understanding for the golf swing," Schutte said. "I went to try and learn and never went back to the basics, just jumped in the middle.

"After seeing a few different teachers, I really went way backwards. I lost a lot of confidence in my swing."

Slowly, it's coming back.

For almost two years, Schutte has been working with former Desert Inn teaching professional Kevin Paulsen, whom he credits with helping him better understand his swing. Schutte also continues to seek the advice of UNLV coach Dwaine Knight, whom he calls the best in the game when it comes to putting.

The results of late have been encouraging, highlighted by Sunday's victory.

Schutte celebrated his 30th birthday days before his win in Boulder City. With a baby on the way with his wife of four years, Joan, he is mindful of the fact that he may have to give up his dream of earning his PGA Tour card one day.

"Everybody who is playing golf, I think, has a dream of being on the PGA Tour," Schutte said. "Now that I have a family coming, I need to attain that dream pretty soon. Otherwise I need to think about doing something else.

"When I say I need to make it happen soon, I'm not talking about this year or the next few months. I know that I can play out there, but I've got to get out there.

"You've got to earn it. I'm working hard, making changes and I'm definitely seeing some progress so that's exciting. Tournaments like this can only help."

There have been other highlights in Schutte's career.

He has won tournaments including the Utah Open, Nevada Open and Players Championship in South Africa.

He has played the Masters (1992) and the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach twice, once in 1992 and last year when he made the cut.

"It was really exciting," Schutte said. "As it turns out, it was the last big tournament my dad was with me.

"We were really, really close."

Today at the TPC at Summerlin, Schutte was one of about 40 golfers trying to earn two sponsor exemptions into the $4.5 million Invensys Classic here Oct. 10-14.

If he makes it, it will be only the second time he has played in Las Vegas' PGA Tour event.

If he doesn't, he will practice for the first stage of the PGA Tour's Q-School and keep aiming for his goal, the one that has thus far eluded him.