He's 6 Years Too Late, but Barnes Arrives

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- He was a blond piece of eye candy who posed for photo spreads without a shirt, flashing a flouride-and-floss smile that landed him endorsement deals. He also had enough game at age 21 to beat Hunter Mahan and capture the U.S. Amateur title. So confident was the golf world that Ricky Barnes would be its Next Hot Fuss, an equipment company gave him a seven-figure contract and EA Sports programmed him as a character in the "Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf'' video game.

Remember the 2003 Masters, when, as an amateur, he played with Woods the first two rounds and was tied for third after 36 holes? Surely, Barnes was about to emerge as a player who would compete for major championships. It was only a matter of time.

Yeah.

Six years.

Where he went, no one's really sure. They say he was playing on the Nationwide Tour, but for all we know, Barnes disappeared into the tropical rain forest and bonded with chimpanzees. So how fascinating to spot him this weekend at the U.S. Open, in the tropical rain forest that is Bethpage Black, finally arriving in the big time with the sort of brilliance expected all along. Remarkably hitting 31 of his first 36 greens -- while the rest of the field, including Woods, is struggling to hit half the greens in regulation -- Barnes shattered the 36-hole scoring record at this 109-year-old event with an 8-under-par 132. Not that anyone feels sorry for Tiger, who made $110 million the last 12 months despite nursing a surgically repaired knee for eight of them, but he has been tortured by inclement weather while Barnes has lucked out amid better conditions. With the tournament thrown into chaos by the rainstorms and Woods stumbling again at a major because of accuracy and putting problems -- "If I could hit the ball a little better, it'd be GREAT,'' he snorted Saturday -- the door has been swung wide open for a curious interloper like Barnes.

He leads the Open, by one shot over the equally obscure Lucas Glover, heading into an interrrupted third round that will resume early Sunday -- if these dizzy logistics aren't too taxing to comprehend. Barnes finished his second round with three birdies in nine holes Saturday morning for a stunning 65. Wearing his wraparound shades and stylish painter's cap, Barnes was oblivious to the disarray.

"It's pretty cool," he said. "Obviously, you didn't think that score was out there. Obviously, with some tees moved up and the soft greens, that helped me out. And obviously, my ball-striking was the most impressive part. I hit 31 of 36 greens, pretty stress-free. But if you told me I'd be 8-under and only have a one-shot lead, I'd have said you're crazy.''

I'd have said anyone was crazy for thinking Barnes would be anywhere near Long Island in June. After winning College Player of the Year honors at Arizona in 2003, we braced for a huge rivalry with Woods. But like Charles Howell III and so many others thrust prematurely into that role, Barnes was more hype than hit. Blessed with exemptions, he made the cut only twice in his first 13 PGA Tour events, setting off a temper that has led to vicious swings at his golf bag. The big rap on a player once called the Next Arnold Palmer was that he didn't practice hard enough, that he thought his natural ability would carry him to greatness, that he preferred to build his body in the gym. Even now, he admits, "My college coach always told me, 'Spend as much time on the golf course as you do in the gym.' And I think you've just got to find a happy medium. I'm not going to be a guy who sits out there for three or four hours and bangs balls, but if I go out there for an hour or two and work on the right stuff, I think that's the main key. I know what I'm working on. I'm focused for that amount of time and I get out.''


He languished in the sport's minor leagues, hitting rock bottom in 2006, when he finished 26th on a money list that qualifies the top 25 for PGA Tour cards. "Whoever it was chipped in at 17 and 18 (in the final event) to pretty much bump me out,'' Barnes said. `It was a tough one to swallow. I played well. I thought I handled my business well. I think I shot 7-under in the last round, and I thought I was going to be able to get in. You'd almost rather be two out than one out.''

The next year, he finished 108th on the Nationwide Tour. His career looked dead. But then came a shift in swing coaches, to Dean Reinmuth, and Barnes' career ascended in 2008. Heading into the final weekend, he needed to win $5,000 to squeeze into the top 25 and earn his tour card. He finished 37th, but it won him the necessary money to finish exactly 25th. First, he had to wait out another rival who, you know, might chip in at 17 and 18 again. "I signed my card and got out of the shower and was ready to go to the airport," Barnes said. ``But some of my friends and family said, 'You might want to stick around, it looks like it might get interesting.' The Golf Channel was televising the event, but it was on a half-hour delay in the clubhouse. So I couldn't watch it live. I had to rely on friends and family with their cell phones. You don't want to be that guy who roots against people. So I didn't really know what to do."

And when he finished $3,582 ahead of one David Branshaw? "I couldn't believe it," Barnes said. "I think it took about three or four hours before it finally sunk in. I've been waiting so long for this and it finally happened."

He says the journey made him a better man and helped him appreciate that the good life wasn't merely handed to him. "It got me ready to play on this level, and it humbled me over the last four or five years,'' Barnes said. "I've grown up. I always thought after college I'd be out here right away. I wanted everything so quick, and it was tough to not have success right away at the professional level. Nobody has higher expectations of me than me. I've just had to learn to be patient and realize that it's a long road, but if you stay on it, there is justice."

Not that he wasn't bitter at times. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't really (ticked) off the first two or three years, seeing other guys that you played with getting out there and playing well," he said. "The guys you competed against in every tournament when you were younger -- they're out there, and you're just struggling to get conditional status on the Nationwide Tour. And it was nothing that a few extra hours on the range and putting green and just aging, I guess, couldn't rectify."

Yes, he works harder now, although he's quick to draw an interesting comparison to collegians who excel in other sports. "The College Player of the Year in basketball is going to get drafted in the top 10. He's going to get a three-year stint and settle down in the NBA. Probably come off the bench, and he's going to earn his stripes
that way. But he's going to get guided," Barnes said. "Here, you get kind of thrown into the pack of wolves and go to (qualifying) school and you have to earn it.

"But I like it. The only guy I can blame is the guy in the mirror, and that's why I love this sport.''

There is a better chance of Alex Rodriguez being ignored by the New York tabloids than this tournament ending today. Prepare for Monday golf, America, if not Tuesday golf. And while Phil Mickelson remains on the fringe of the leaderboard and still has a shot of winning one for Amy, his cancer-stricken wife, this Open has been just daffy enough to warrant a different kind of champion. Glover? Peter Hanson? Mike Weir, who would be the first lefty to win the Open? The long-forgotten David Duval? Azuma Yano? So, why not Barnes? His brother, 31-year-old Andy, is serving as his caddie here. Their father, Bruce, punted two seasons for the New England Patriots in the early 1970s. They're as amazed as the rest of us at how well he's playing, his poise and efficiency.

I mean, with all the stuffed shirts and fussy egos at major golf events, who can't root for a guy in a painter's cap?

"Something different. I think everybody wears the traditional hat and stuff,'' Barnes said. "Kind of just a cool hat."

Kind of just a cool story, too