Invensys Classic: Henderson’s Barlow happy with the state of his game

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Oct. 10, 2002 | 10:06 a.m.

It's a long way from playing Southern Nevada Golf Association events to successfully competing on the PGA Tour, yet Craig Barlow has made the transition.

With three top-10 finishes this year and $486,288 in earnings, Barlow is a virtual lock to retain his tour card for next year in spite of playing a limited schedule. Separate surgeries on his hip and shoulder curtailed his schedule earlier in the season, but as he demonstrated Wednesday during the first round of the Invensys Classic at Las Vegas, the Basic High graduate's game is intact.

"I'm showing I can play with the best, but there's still room for improvement," Barlow said at the TPC at Summerlin after an opening 67 that has him just off the leader board. "But I need to emphasize that I can still get a lot better."

Barlow, 30, admits to having his doubts about his professional future after undergoing the two surgeries late last year.

"I didn't have any choice," he said. "But a lot of stuff goes through your mind at times like those. I wondered if I was ever going to play good golf again."

He's doing it with a balanced game, one that has him ranked No. 52 on the tour in driving distance and No. 87 in greens in regulation. He's No. 123 on the money list but should add to his total this weekend after a bogey-free first round.

He's No. 189 in the world rankings, with the Las Vegas tour stop his 19th event of the year.

"My hip and the shoulder I had surgery on feel good," he said, "but I am fighting back stiffness and the other shoulder. But everyone out here has similar troubles."

Barlow had little trouble in posting his 67, although he failed to add to his birdie total on a homestretch in which he routinely had birdie chances.

He made a superb recovery from his most difficult lie, as an errant tee shot at No. 7 (his No. 16) left him in the rough and directly behind a narrow tree. But Barlow choked up on a 7-iron and hooked the ball nicely into the green, saving par with two putts.

He was disappointed to not birdie his final hole, as his second shot at the par-5 failed to hold and came to rest against a rake near a back trap. After a rules official watched him remove the rake, Barlow lobbed the ball past the hole and once again had to settle for par.

"With the weather and these conditions, you have to make birdies to keep up," he said. "I hate saying it, but I feel I coulda, woulda, shoulda made some more birdies.

"But I did what I could."

After a kiss from wife LeeAnn and lunch in the clubhouse, Barlow re-emerged and was later seen working on the putting green.

For those who have watched him throughout the years, Barlow acknowledges he has undergone a swing change that has given him a very deliberate style.

"It's evolved," he said of his swing. "It changed after I realized my bad shots were rushed or that I was too quick. So when I'm on the range, sometimes I slow my swing down even more and really exaggerate it."

The 1994 Nevada Amateur champion and SNGA player of the year, Barlow still holds the opening-round record score in the Las Vegas tournament, as he carded a 61 in 1999 en route to a 19th-place finish.

He likes his position with 72 holes yet to play in the Invensys Classic.

"It's a five-day tournament and you're not going to win it in one day," he said. "But I definitely didn't shoot myself out of it.

"I'll take four more 67s and we'll see what happens."