Stuart Appleby hopes the confidence of last weekend's 59 and the home cooking of his wife's family in North Canton can help him in the Bridgestone Invitational this week.
By posting a stunning final-round 59, Stuart Appleby revitalized his golf career just in time for this week's 'homecoming' at the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club.• Bridgestone spectator information | Thursday tee times
AKRON, Ohio -- Stuart Appleby didn't forget about his anniversary. He still remembers when he first met his wife, Ashley, 10 years ago. How they dined at LeFever's River Grille in Cuyahoga Falls, shared stories and tears and the first glimmers of love.
No, he didn't forget any of it. It's just that he almost didn't make it back to the Bridgestone Invitational to celebrate it.
It took shooting a 59 in the final round and winning The Greenbrier Classic on Sunday before he earned an invitation back to Akron, where he first met Ashley when a mutual friend set up the two during the then-NEC Invitational in 2000. Even more significant, Appleby's historic round of 59 -- only four other PGA players have recorded a score that low -- helped him to earn his first PGA Tour win in four years.
He hopes it's the kind of momentum-shifting victory that can turn around a slumping game and a streak of 358 consecutive rounds without shooting better than 65.
And he hopes the home cooking of his in-laws in North Canton, while having his wife and three young children nearby, can provide the kind of comfortable return he has experienced in 12 straight Bridgestone Invitational appearances.
"I feel like a local here more than any other tournament," said the Australian-born Appleby. "I can't think of another tournament that feels so familiar."
Part of that is because Firestone Country Club is where Appleby first met Ashley, then a 21-year-old senior at Mount Union. Appleby was only two years removed from the tragic death of his first wife, Renay, who was crushed between two cars at a London train station after the 1998 British Open. Appleby and Ashley had dinner after they met briefly at the golf course, visited Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens and began a romance that would result in their 2002 marriage.
Stuart Appleby and his wife, Ashley, pose with their children (daughters Ella, 5, Mia, 4, and infant son Max) on the campus of Ashley's alma mater, the University of Mount Union.Part of the familiarity is also because he is one of only four players who has competed in every Bridgestone Invitational, a tournament he tied for second at in 2008.
So breaking his winless streak last week was important for more than remembering how he first met his wife. It also could be what re-ignites his career. Appleby has won eight previous Tour titles, but none since 2006. This year he missed the Masters and the British Open, and would have missed Akron until something clicked Sunday and he began playing with remarkable smoothness.
He opened at the Greenbrier with rounds of 66, 68 and 65. His putting had been strong for weeks, and his long game was more consistent than ever. The game, suddenly, began to slow down for him.
"It's really hard to describe it," Appleby said. "I just felt very relaxed. I walked a lot slower Sunday than I probably normally do. I slowed myself down a lot, and I think that kept me a little bit more in the rhythm of how I was thinking and actually how I was playing the game."
More than anything, Appleby remembered the kind of player he had been when he was ranked among the top 30 players in the world. Appleby is now No. 94 according to the latest world rankings.
"When you start pushing, you start getting more tense," Appleby said. "You don't tend to be aware of those levels, as well, when you're tense. You're just going in a circle and chasing your tail and you think you're doing the right things.
"I just had to focus," he continued. "I thought, 'I'm getting pushed out of the majors.' I'm not in all the world events, and I was becoming a regular in my mind. I wanted to get back to that level of golf."
Appleby estimated that 75 percent of the joy he felt Sunday came from winning the tournament -- not from shooting a 59. His 59 is the second on the Tour in less than a month, following Paul Goydos at the John Deere Classic under "lift, clean and place" conditions.
But Appleby hopes to ride the momentum in Akron, where he has plenty of happy family memories.
"I could be funny and say every round after that is going to feel like I'm playing bad," Appleby said. "But I'll be realistic. The 59 is behind me and it doesn't happen very often. I'll just be getting back to shooting more normal scores that you might see. Hopefully good ones."
Oosthuizen bridge: British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen said he has yet to drink out of the Claret Jug he earned for his tournament victory, but he found a couple other ways to celebrate his victory. When he returned home to family's dairy farm in South Africa, his parents had affixed a banner to the front gates saying, "Home of the Claret Jug."
"It was quite special when I drove in there," Oosthuizen said Tuesday.
Then last week, Oosthuizen had a bridge in his hometown course, Albertinia Golf Club, dedicated to him. A bridge over the ninth hole now has a plaque with his name and "Open Champion" engraved on it.
Chip shots: Defending champion Tiger Woods is looking for his first PGA Tour victory since the 2009 BMW Championship. He has now gone seven starts since a victory, the second-longest drought of his career. In 10 Bridgestone starts, Woods has never finished outside the top five. ... A total of 14 international players from six countries have combined to win 16 of the first 33 PGA Tour events this year. Appleby was the latest. ... Additionally, the international players are young. Eleven players under the age of 30 have won 12 tournaments this season.