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 Riley began the final day trailing Sabbatini by 20 strokes. He was in the last group to tee off on the 10th hole. After shooting a respectable 70-72, which put him in the middle of the field, Riley shot a disastrous 77 on the water-soaked third day, capping the weekend with a 75. On the positive side, Riley didn’t finish last (that ignominy went to D.J. Trahan, who finished two strokes behind him), and walked away with $9,180, not bad pocket change for a week at the office. But compared to where Riley was just two years ago, it is shocking to realize how far he’s plummeted. In 2002 and 2003, Riley made more than $4 million, posted 12 top-10 finishes, 27 top-25 finishes and won his first PGA Tour event, the 2002 Reno-Tahoe Open. In 2004, he lost to John Daly in a three-man playoff at the Buick Invitational and a three-putt bogey on the 72nd hole knocked him out of a possible playoff in the PGA Championship. His fourth- place finish, however, had launched him from 18th to 10th on the American Ryder Cup team standings, good enough to play on captain Hal Sutton’s team. Nine days after his wife, Michelle, gave birth to the couple’s first child, Taylor Lynn, Riley stood at the first tee of Oakland Hills Country Club, paired with Tiger Woods, ready to battle Europeans Darren Clarke and Ian Poulter. Riley’s three birdies over the last five holes cemented that victory. But when Sutton asked Riley how he felt about playing later in the afternoon, Riley admitted to being tired. Sutton scratched him from the afternoon match. After the round, Riley told the media, “…to tell you the truth, I’m really tired and he asked me if I wanted to go out this afternoon, and I wanted to be fresh and ready to go tomorrow morning for the matches because I think it’s going to be a big deal tomorrow.” Riley said that if Sutton had sent him out, he would have gladly played. He’d soon learn how the truth can hurt. After the disastrous afternoon rounds of day two, in which Riley didn’t play, Sutton was asked if Riley had talked him out of choosing him. “Chris was really heavily on my mind, and I told him, ‘Look, man, I hate to use this line, but a 42-year-old fat man in ’99 went five straight matches so I’m sure that a 30-year-old flat-belly that’s hyper can go four, can’t ya,” Sutton said in the post-round news conference. “He kind of stuttered and I said, ‘Well, I guess, if you really want me to.’ So I backed off of that, and I just thought, well, if he really doesn’t want to go, if he’s tired and he just doesn’t feel like it, well then I’m not sure he can help us as much as somebody who is really energetic about going out there. So, I went a different direction.” That began a fusillade of criticism with Johnny Miller condemning Riley on air for not sucking it up and other media experts likening him to Martha Stewart. Riley had turned into the poster child for the U.S. Ryder Cup’s devastating rout. And he heard the criticism. A month after the Ryder Cup he asked Golf World columnist Bob Verdi if everyone in America thought he was a wimp. He played only three regular season events the rest of the year, but did win the unofficial Tommy Bahama Challenge. That’s old news, but you can’t help wonder if the experience haunts Riley to this day. Last year was an unmitigated disaster. He missed 14 of 25 cuts and finished 184th on the money list. This year hasn’t started much better. His highest finish in four events was 31st at the Sony Open. Riley’s exempt status on tour ends this year, so if he’s to avoid the rigors of Q-School, or not rely on sponsor’s exemptions next year, he has to make the top 125 on the money list. Riley declined to comment to two Southland Golf reporters at the Nissan, and his agent did not respond to phone or e-mail requests for an interview. That indicates an unwillingness to talk to the media, which probably isn’t that surprising. After being a whipping boy, perhaps Riley just wants to be left alone to find his game. He did tell Southland Golf writer John Reger before the season that he was aware that if he doesn’t produce this year, a once-promising golf career is in jeopardy. “You are always conscious of your status, but when it comes down to it you just have to play well,” Riley said. “You either do it or you don’t. It’s a year-to-year job out here. It’s like a salesman. If you don’t produce and get the job done, you don’t have a job anymore. It’s an exciting way to make a living. I had a terrible year last year and thankfully I have a two-year exemption. I worked hard in the off-season and hope I can do better this year.” That work might be paying off in a critically important part of his game: putting. In 2003, Riley was third on the tour in putting average and second in putts per round. Last year, he ranked 192nd in putting average, but through the Nissan this year he ranked 87th. Never the longest of hitters, Riley’s game has long been accuracy (in 2006, he’s ranked 46th in driving accuracy) and putting. If he can keep those numbers steady, or improve them the rest of the season, he could remain a factor, if not a prime force, on the PGA Tour. |
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