Walking 7,068 yards in Kraft’s shoes

SMU junior golfer Kelly Kraft is standing in a gully after his tee shot went left of the rough at Royal Oaks Country Club in Dallas. Straddling the tree line on a reachable par 5, Kraft pulls an iron from his bag. The shot finds the closet tree and ricochets left into a water hazard 15 yards from where Kraft is standing. After a drop, Kraft stripes the ball to the left of the tree line and it lands in the middle of the green and makes six on the 512 yard par 5 eighteen. But Kraft’s day has just begun. And it is about to get a lot better.

The Baylor Intercollegiate Tournament is in its second day of play. Twelve schools are participating in the 54 hole shotgun tournament. Each team seeds five players with groups going out in threesomes.

The 36 holes scheduled for the first day was suspended seven holes into the second round.

Today, players are teeing off at 8:30 on the hole where play was concluded. Though the wind has died considerably from the day before, mid-fall provides early morning darkness and dampness in the air. When the players tee off, temperature is around 55 degrees. The course is wet; the low grounds are puddles and both the fairways and greens are soaked. Embedded ball rule applies through most of the day with players allowed to remove and clean balls in the fairway that are sunk in the mud and replace them no nearer the hole without penalty. With the wet conditions, the course is playing much longer than 7,068 yards.

While the Dallas Athletic Club is SMU’s home course and Baylor is the host team; Kraft is familiar with Royal Oaks. He went to high school at Denton Ryan 35 miles north. And he has played here with SMU alumni and 2007 US Amateur Champion Colt Knost, who just completed his PGA rookie campaign. So for Kraft, who is ranked first in the nation in scoring average, to be +4 with 22 to play is a surprise.

Having started the day on 12, by the time Kraft reaches the 1 tee box he has removed his knit hat and pullover. Stripped down to a red SMU golf shirt and slacks, he has the lean tall look of a golfer. Like most college juniors, his light hair curls out of his ball cap looking for a hair cut that is three weeks late.

While Kraft is eyeing up a six foot birdie putt on the 1st green, I meet up with SMU Director of Golf, Men’s Head Coach Jay Loar. Players are not permitted caddies so coaches are allowed to club and distance players as they see fit. With five different players on the course, the two SMU coaches drive around the course in golf carts working with players and keeping abreast of penciled in scores. I explain to Loar, Kraft’s tree troubles on eighteen. Loar says Kraft has not hit a shot since he started thinking about his scoring average ranking. “See he just pulled his head up on a six foot putt, ” Loar says as Kraft’s birdie putt slides by the hole for a tap in.

Not making any shot is likely a gross over exaggeration considering Krafthas held the ranking through the last two tournaments including a fourth place finish at the Lone Star Invitational with a 67-69-74. But Loar has coached two US Amateurs since taking over the SMU program 12 years ago so he knows how to instill the mental aspect of tournament play in young players, an area Loar says Kraft has vastly improved upon since last year. So after Kraft tees off on 2, Loar puts his arm on Kraft’s shoulder and walks with him.

Kraft says part of transitioning from high school golf to collegiate golf is the players are all a lot more serious about golf.

“In high school some guys were playing just to get out of class,” Kraft said. “(In tournament play) you can easily slip into that ‘I got to beat him’ mentality, but you have to just play your game. That is what I have gotten a lot better at over the last year.”

Kraft gives Loar the credit for the improvement.

“He coaches the mental game. He will follow you on the course and he will tell you exactly what he thinks. If you have a bad shot or hang your head he will say, ‘stop having a pity party.’ I caught on quick. I did not want to get chewed out so I shut up and listened. He knows what he is talking about.”

On 2, Kraft makes a 16-foot putt for birdie that welcome the noise of crowd applause, which consists mostly of some alumni, and Kraft’s father and sister. As Kraft walks by me I am jotting notes and joke. “I missed it. What did you do?” Kraft grins to me, “I finally made a putt.”

Kraft has a Texas smile and expressive eyes that make him endearing. His face has the youthfulness that makes you think he might be a day away from an acne breakout. The impression you get is that he is grounded and considerate, as likely to root for his pairing as he is for himself. He seems to be the kind of guy that might pee on the golf course but pick up someone’s Snickers wrapper.

His tee shot on the par 3 lands pin high to where on a dry day, or with a little love, it would have rolled toward the pin. Instead, the ball dies and Kraft taps in after a 20-foot putt.

After making par on 4, Kraft reaches the fifth hole at three over.

Kraft’s tee shot is long, but stays left on the dog leg right 5 and lies in a forest, buried in mud. Both SMU coaches happen to have convened at this hole. As Kraft walks to his shot, the coach is already standing behind the ball and motioning to Kraft to chip out. His chip nets about 30 yards. Satisfied, they have Kraft back on track; both coaches buzz their carts in opposite directions. This par five is 551 yards but after a long tee shot, Kraft can reach the green, despite chip out.

The shot flies to the back of the green and takes a hop that seems out of place on a wet day. While I can read the other golfers shots by how they replace their club in the bag, how quickly their head snaps, or in some instances what rating their words would receive from the Motion Picture Association of America, Kraft gives nothing more than a couple of body leaning pleads or a pronounced follow through. So while Kraft’s pace keeps me caddie distance behind him, I have no way of knowing what he already does. His ball is wet.

Heading up the fairway, I see the green is much more elevated than I thought. And the far side of the green is an unforgiving cliff with a creek running behind it. Dropping on the green side of the creek, a chip shot will have to immediately elevate to get over the hill. Instead, Kraft duffs.

The shot causes Kraft’s father walks off to the next tee. Maybe a year ago Kraft would have hung his head, or cursed or threw his club in his bag. Instead, after a chip and two-putt, Kraft walks to the next hole.

Kraft would later say of taking eight on the par five 5, “It went over the green, bounced and went into water. I didn’t let it bother me. I knew I had 17 to play.”

Conspicuously, Kraft left out the duff; perhaps he had already forgotten it.

Royal Oaks is a narrow course and most of the threesome has been teeing off with irons and 3 woods. Here, Kraft hits iron and is by far the longest shot. His second and third shot leaves five feet for birdie which drops leaving him +5.

Even with the triple only two holes behind, Kraft already has a rhythm and tempo to his walk. I walk near him to see if he wants to engage in conversation. The tempo of his walk indicates he does not. He has a focus and intensity to him that doesn’t necessarily make him seem unaware of his surroundings, but that he does not want to waste any time to get to his next shot.

Putting is where scoring is made, and it is Kraft’s putting Loar thinks sets him apart. But the sexy part of golf is the swing, and Kraft’s is effortless and looks remarkably like his practice swings. His follow through is high and elongated making him seem taller than he is.

On 7, Kraft is long in the fairway again. Birdie, +4.

The pin on the par 3 eight is back right and uphill. Kraft leaves himself on high side of pin for 3 ft birdie putt to go to +3.

Hole 9 takes a 90 degree right turn after a landing pad of a fairway at 250 yards. Water runs along the front, and from the tee box the green is guarded by trees. Standing near the landing area, I can barely see Kraft tee off and do not see his ball come down. Kraft comes across the bridge and walks along the tree line. As Kraft keeps walking, I think he must have gone in the trees. I see him settle near the sand trap to the right of the green. Kraft decided to cut the course on a diagonal and go over the trees. His ball lies on the fringe 15 feet from the pin. The weird contour between the fringe and the green forces Kraft to chip. His 2 foot putt makes birdie. Having birdied the final four holes and five of the last six, Kraft makes the turn at +2.

Later, Kraft explains the tees were moved up for the third round leaving 285 to the pin. “I hit driver and it never left the flag. It was a little into the wind so came up a little short.”

The tees had been moved up during one of the rounds last year, but Kraft did not attempt to cut the hole. When I ask him what made him think he could do it this time he laughs, “I just made three birdies in a row! I was feeling it. I wanted to keep it going. Two would have looked nice there.”

Grabbing a couple of granola bars we press on to ten. I try to get a quick look at the leader board, but with the shotgun start it is hard to tell where everyone is. I spot coach Loar and he tells Kraft and I SMU is three off the lead.

One ten Kraft drops a lawn dart, but his putt lips out and taps in for par.

He makes and up and down on 11 for another par.

After finding out that SMU is now only down one stroke, Kraft makes pars on both 12 and 13.

Kraft is just short of the green on the par five 14 and chips a dribbler from 30 feet that leaves 2 foot for Birdie.

Now at +1, Kraft is rolling along having birdied five of the last nine holes. With few exceptions Kraft has not hit many shots that seem difficult. It is uncanny how easy he makes it all seem. To the casual golfer it is difficult to put four strokes together, but Kraft has just strung 30 shots together. If his tee, approach or chip shot was slightly deficient, Kraft makes up for it in the next shot always anchored by his putter.

After the tournament Kraft says very business-man like, “I got into a rhythm with irons. The driver was still sketchy.” But the next sentence he says with a hint of incognizance. “My putter. It felt like everything was going hit the back of the hole. Once I made a couple they just kept going in.”

We have not gotten an update on the team scores, and on 15 Kraft lands in a fairway bunker. His second shot hits the middle of the green and he makes par.

Coming up short on the par three 16, Kraft two putts from 50 feet to save par.

Kraft makes birdie on 17 and comes up to 18, the hole he had bogied earlier in the day after hitting a tree. Kraft makes a workman like birdie to bring him to -1 for the tournament and a 3rd round sixty six.

One of the SMU coaches meets us at the 1 tee box. Kraft has four more holes to complete. We are not sure of the individual scores but know that SMU is within three strokes. Kraft immediately gets in trouble as his 300-plus yard drive winds up tucked behind trees. Kraft motions for the coach to come by and after talking Kraft hits a low 7-iron 135 yards and saves par.

His tee shot on 2 is the shortest of the threesome and lies on an embankment. Coach Loar is keeping watch and tells Kraft the pin is located all the way in the back. Loar has essentially told Kraft not to go for pin. Kraft leaves it short of the green, and makes a tough up and down for par. Loar jokes to me “I am sure he blames me for coming up short, but that is what got him in trouble on five. Of course that might have been what motivated him to get all those birdies.”

When Kraft makes birdie on 3 to go to -2, he brings SMU to within two shots of the lead. He comes in with a par on 4.

In the end it is not enough. SMU will finish two strokes back of defending Baylor Intercollegiate and NCAA champion Texas A&M.

Kraft’s -2 is good for a tie for 5th.

Of the 29 holes Kraftplayed on day two he had 10 birdies and 3 bogies. Over his last 16 holes Kelly birdied eight of them.

Kelly’s father, Tim Kraft, tells me he could see in Kelly’s eyes on 18 before Kelly ricocheted off the tree that he was going for the flag. He says it was Kelly’s ego that “lasered” in on the flag. He points this out not as a criticism but to point out Kelly is young and is learning the mental aspect of the game.

Tim says he is not a golfer. He understands golf in that he was a professional trombone player at times and equates the mental aspect of golf to a playing music. A mix of pressure, focus, rhythm and tempo.

But when I ask Kelly about his second round 18 his explanation has the merit of a person that understands his ability and understands the game. “There was not any wind there. If there is no wind, or you are down wind, you take it left of the tree, there is a little slot.”

To Kelly, the shot on 18 was as carefully calculated as the shot on 9. The fact that one worked and one did not is irrelevant. When you are thinking about rhythm and tempo they are only two of 211 shots.