Published: June 28, 2009 12:50 am      

Taking charge

Gillis has slim lead entering final round of Players Cup

BRIDGEPORT — The shadow of the tragedy golfer Chris Smith has gone through continues to hang heavily over the $600,000 Nationwide Players Cup at the Pete Dye Golf Club even as the tournament heads into its final round with nothing decided past who didn’t make the cut.

Veteran Tom Gillis leapfrogged a tightly-packed field late Saturday by shaking off a double bogey 5 at the 13th hole to birdie four of his remaining five holes and finish at 13-under-par 203, one shot ahead of Kyle Reifers and Jeff Gove.

But this is anything but a three-horse race, for there are no fewer than two players another shot back at 11-under — roommates Won Joon “Boom Boom” Lee and Seung-su Han — with four more players tied at 10-under, just three shots off the lead.

That leaves nine players within three shots of the lead on a golf course that will reward the good shots but that offers severe penalties for mistakes or a lack of patience.

“If you hit quality shots, you will be rewarded by this course. It is what it is,” Reifers said.

But the fact of the matter is that with so many golfers in pursuit of what is being considered a major title on

the Nationwide Tour, the game becomes far less physical and far more mental, which brings us back to Gillis, who is the rabbit racing in front of the pack of hounds.

And when you get to Gillis, the story turns back to Smith, who a week ago lost his wife in a fiery car accident that sent both his children to the hospital with serious injuries and burns. The first two rounds of the tournament were dedicated to his family, all caddies wearing “Chris Smith” names across their back rather than the name of the golfer they represented and the players wearing black ribbons and a No. 15 sticker for Smith.

Gillis had put himself in contention by playing 4-under-par golf through the first 12 holes, but had a severe hiccup at the par-3 13th hole when he recorded a double bogey.

Suddenly, his round was hanging precariously on an emotional and mental edge, for he could have let his game get out of hand. Instead, he gathered himself emotionally, refused to be derailed and closed out with four birdies on the final five holes to take the lead.

“I made a pact with myself early in the week not to get too up or down over stuff,” he revealed. “With all that has happened in the past week, with the tragedy Chris Smith went through, I just wondered if it is really worth getting that upset over something as minute as this.”

The tragedy hit every golfer in his own way, but Gillis personalized what occurred.

“It puts things in perspective,” he said. “I had a week off and I got to thinking. I have two little kids. How could I tell them what Chris has to tell to his children? Wow! I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

In many ways, this represents the wonderful game that golf is. Here you have a player who has played professionally since 1990, who has been on the PGA Tour, who has played in Europe. He has faced good lies and bad lies, good times and bad times, yet it took this tragedy to put it all in its place.

“You never quit learning in this game,” Gillis said. “You listen to Tiger Woods’ interviews. He says the day he quits learning he might as well pack it in.”

That is what is going to make this final round so interesting, for among the contenders there are those who have experience like Gove and David Peoples and those who are trying to find out how to win like Won Joon Lee, the long-hitting Korean who grew up in Australia.

“I’d be the happiest man here,” he said. “I haven’t won as a professional yet and that does creep into your mind.”

The last time Lee won any tournament was in 2006 when he took the Western Amateur and it was written that he might be the next Tiger Woods, a prediction that has not yet come to be. But considering that he is one of the longest hitters in the game and capable of putting together a bogey-free 64 as he did Saturday, his chances of pulling this victory out is as good as anyone’s.

Another young golfer who hits the ball into another area code is Jhonattan Vegas, who authored a 7-under 65 to put himself at 206, just three shots back.

He, too, has yet to win, but it doesn’t stop him from believing that he will.

“Every time you come out you are trying to win. I just give it everything I have. If I play well, I play well. If I play bad, I play bad,” the young Venezuelan said.

E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.