Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2002 | 8:59 a.m.
Two years ago, defending Invensys Classic champion Bob Estes discovered the secret to having a lengthy and successful career.
He just wishes he unlocked the secret sooner.
"It's better late than never, for sure," the slender Texan said. "But I'd love to be 26 instead of 36 and have the knowledge then that I have now.
"I'm just trying to buy myself more time. Everybody when they get close to 50 looks forward to playing the Senior Tour. I'm hoping to be in the best shape of my life in my 40s. Hopefully when I turn 50, I'll still be very, very competitive on the regular tour and still have chances to win major championships."
Longevity had never really been a problem for the former University of Texas golfer who joined the PGA Tour in 1989.
Winning was another matter.
After earning his first victory at the 1994 Texas Open, Estes experienced a seven-year drought that ended when he won the 2001 Fed Ex St. Jude Classic. A few months later, he rallied for a dramatic one-stroke victory over former British Open champion Tom Lehman and Rory Sabbatini at the Invensys Classic.
His win here signified a rebirth of sorts.
Finally, Bob Estes had arrived, joining the elite company of those who had won multiple events in a single season.
"This was a really special win," Estes reminisced. "It's hard enough to win once in a season, but to win twice, that just doesn't happen very often, unless your initials are T.W. (Tiger Woods) or P.M. (Phil Mickelson). It was nice to get the second win, for sure."
His second and third victories didn't come easy.
Looking to improve his game, Estes met with Dr. Robert Meyer, a chiropractor in his hometown of Austin.
Blood work and saliva tests showed Estes wasn't healthy enough to compete at a high level.
"You can really get beat up on tour, especially if you play too much and practice too much," Estes said. "I was working out a lot, basically running myself down into the ground, so I wasn't as fresh as I needed to be when I came out to play each week."
The problem was, he wasn't working out properly. So he enlisted former world class pole vaulter Scott Hennig to be his trainer in October 2000.
He also started working with coach Craig Koy out of Hollins Ranch in Colorado and sports psychologist Dick Coop.
Hennig helped Estes trim his body fat by five percent through an intense workout designed for sprinters and shot putters.
"That has helped more than you can imagine," Estes said. "I've gotten a lot stronger.
"I'm a lot stronger from start to finish every week. Last year in particular, when my training was really consistent, I don't think I was ever fatigued physically on a Sunday."
Estes needed all the mental and physical strength he could muster heading into the final round at the TPC at Summerlin.
He started the day trailing leader Scott McCarron by five strokes, but quickly erased the gap with some sharpshooting and a little luck.
While Estes birdied three of the first four holes, McCarron relinquished the lead with a triple-bogey on the par-4 450-yard fourth hole that Estes birdied from three feet.
The luck came on No. 6, a 430-yard par-4.
Estes hit his 3-wood off the tee and his ball landed on top of a bush left of the rough. He decided to take a chance and punched the ball out of the bush with his driver. Next, he knocked the ball onto the green with his 9-iron about 45 feet past the flag. Incredibly, his putt rolled in to save par.
"I was already 3-under through five holes so I was making a run, but I felt like if I didn't try that shot, I wasn't going to have a chance to win the golf tournament," said Estes, who 30-under-par to earn $810,000. "Sure enough, I made the par, and a bunch more birdies after that and went on to win.
"That was one of the best rounds I played the entire week."
In previous victories, Estes led from start to finish, making his come from behind triumph at the Invensys Classic all the more memorable.
Estes considers the tournament difficult because of the pro-am format and the numerous distractions away from the golf course. Even so, he called it one of his favorite stops on tour with the TPC at Summerlin being one of his favorite courses.
This year, Estes picked up his fourth win at the Kemper Insurance Open in June.
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