Utah Energy Solutions Championship: Though he is winless, 'Boo' plays scary good Golf

By Jay Drew
The Salt Lake Tribune

SANDY - Utah will once again be well-represented at this week's stop on the Nationwide Tour, the Utah Championship, with State Am champ Tony Finau and Utah Open champ Pete Stone in the field. They will be joined by Wingpointe assistant Kury Reynolds, former BYU golfers Ron Harvey Jr. and Steve Schneiter and part-time PGA Tour player Boyd Summerhays of Farmington, among others.
But if golf fans are looking for an out-of-state favorite to follow when the tournament begins Thursday at Willow Creek Country Club, one of those down-home, salt-of-the-earth types who is as colorful as the golf bags lined up at the practice range Tuesday afternoon, here's their man: Boo Weekley.
"He's a good ol' redneck," said his friend on tour and fellow Floridian, Ben Bates. "He's just what you see, a country boy who can golf his egg."
What's more, Weekley plays the game wearing "rain pants," even on cloudless days, and he has occasionally played in gym shoes. He wears the nylon pants - with an endorsement for a hunting supply company on one leg - because he is allergic to cotton, and wearing traditional slacks causes a rash-like skin disease.
"Ever since I switched over to these pants, the rash has gone," he said. "For some reason, [cotton] shirts don't hurt me, but pants with cotton in them give me all kinds of problems."
Thomas Brent Weekley - he got the nickname 'Boo' because as a child he loved the Yogi Bear cartoon character Boo-Boo - isn't just another no-name professional golfer buried on the tour's money list, either. The resident of Jay, Fla., is No. 8 with $222,394 and is virtually assured of earning his PGA Tour card for next year. The top 20 money leaders on the Nationwide Tour - there are eight events left - make it to the big tour.
"My goal when the season started was to get inside the top 20," Weekley said. "I did that, so the next goal was the top 10. Now, I want to get inside the top five."
Breaking through with a win would also help.
Weekley, 33, had just conditional status when 2006 began, but leads the tour with seven top-10 finishes. Trouble is, he hasn't been able to finish. He has had the 54-hole lead or shared it three times in the last 10 events, but failed to win each time. Two weeks ago, he led by four strokes with four holes remaining, but eventually lost in a playoff.
"It just ain't my time," he said. "The golf gods, I reckon, don't want me to win yet."
The stats say Weekley, who was on the PGA Tour in 2002, but made just five of 24 cuts, should already have a couple of wins. He leads the Nationwide Tour in ball striking, greens in regulation, scoring average and total driving.
"Right now, other than Tiger Woods, Boo is the best ball striker in the world," Bates said. "His stats pretty much prove that. I can't believe he hasn't won."
Bates said Weekley is a tour favorite because he is always "having fun and laughing and telling stories about playing [golf] and hunting and fishing."
Perhaps on Sunday afternoon, he will have a tale about how he won his first tournament - in Utah.
drew@sltrib.com

Utah Energy Solutions Championship
At Willow Creek Country Club, Sandy

THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE:

TODAY -Corporate Pro-Am at Willow Creek, 7:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. shotgun starts

THURSDAY - First Round, Willow Creek CC

FRIDAY - Second Round, Willow Creek CC (field cut to low 60 players, plus ties)

SATURDAY - Third Round, Willow Creek CC; Zions Bank Youth Pro-Am at River Oaks G.C., 9 a.m.

SUNDAY - Final round, Willow Creek CC

TICKETS: Call (801) 495-GOLF or visit www.utahchampionship.com.

Article Courtesy of The Salt Lake Tribune