Woody Austin Quietly Returns To Muni-Course Home To 'Do What's Right'

TAMPA, Fla. -- Tucked tightly in an old, working-class, concrete-block neighborhood north of downtown Tampa is the city-owned and operated Babe Zaharias Golf Club. It is par 70, 6,100 yards from the tips. A small pro shop and a snack bar comprise the clubhouse.

Across a street and one block off the 16th fairway of the municipal course is the house where PGA Tour player Woody Austin grew up.

"He used to hunt balls and sell them, which was against the rules," said John Reger, now president of the North Florida Section of the PGA of America, but some 30 years ago an aspiring assistant club pro at the course.

"He was probably 13 or 14 ... and a spirited young man who would smart off. So we'd pick him up and stuff him head first in the big garbage cans. Today, I guess that would be called child abuse."

Austin is 45 now, owns three PGA Tour wins and played on a U.S. Ryder Cup team. More than a dozen years ago, he and wife, Shannon, moved to Darby, Kan., where they are raising two sons. A year ago Austin's mother sold the old family home and also relocated to Kansas, to be near the family.

Nevertheless, "The Babe" as the old course is known locally will always be home for Austin.

That explains why he was back last week, the big-shot tour guy playing the no-frills muni with the course's head professional, T.J. Heidel.

"Not everything has to be about money, does it? You shouldn't be coaxed or enticed into doing what's right and that's giving back to what gave you your start."
- Woody Austin Heidel recently shot a course-record 60, bettering the 62 Austin had once posted.

"I wonder what Woody would think of that?" immediately became the catch phrase of regulars after Heidel's feat.

An old high-school buddy of Austin's decided to find out. Scott Rodgers, who runs a local masonry business, suggested mailing the old sign that touted Austin's course record to the golfer -- with Heidel's name written on a piece of paper taped over the it.

"It went from there," Rodgers said.

Pretty soon, an idea took legs. Austin, who plans to start his season next week in Hawaii at the Sony Open, wanted to get out of the Kansas cold and work on his game. He was planning to bring the family back to Tampa to visit old friends anyway, so he'd just arrive a little earlier.

And the "Battle At The Babe" was born with all money raised going to the junior golf program at Babe Zaharias Golf Club.

There was no advertising, only word of mouth around the club and the local golf community spreading the news. There was no appearance fee. No fancy program. That explained several hundred people walking the fairways of the city course, a reminder of the grass-roots appeal that golf often forgets.

Kids, parents and grandparents showed up, walking and chatting with the two golfers, so close it seemed like a big family outing. It was a scene that suggested a barnstorming match from an era long past.

"All I did was show up," Austin said. "Not everything has to be about money, does it? You shouldn't be coaxed or enticed into doing what's right and that's giving back to what gave you your start.

"If I ever look like I forgot where I've come from, I hope I still have enough friends around here to knock me back down to where I belong."

Heidel, the young club pro who, about 20 years later, attended the same Tampa high school as Austin, landed a pretty good punch. With birdies on five straight holes beginning at No. 2 thanks to putts of 15 feet or longer, Heidel shot 66 to beat Austin by two shots.

In the tour player's defense, it was his first outing since putting away the clubs for the offseason.

"It was just awesome," Heidel said. "He came out and supported junior golf at Babe Zaharias. I asked him if he'd mind helping raise some money for junior golf and he said he'd be here."

Austin remembered when there wasn't a junior program.

"When I was 13 and just starting, there was nothing," he said. "There were no programs. If you were a junior and you liked playing golf, you'd show up, they'd let you pick up trash in the parking lot, and then you could go play for free. I took advantage of that."

Austin hasn't forgotten how he started, which certainly makes him no different than a lot of other PGA Tour players. There are plenty of others in the game who understand their luck and give themselves to good causes while expecting nothing in return. But at a time when golf is wondering how best to treat an ugly black eye left by Tiger Woods' fall from public grace, nothing spoke louder than the informal outing on a simple public course.
"Obviously, we are going to take a hit because he's all anybody talks about even when he's not playing," Austin said. "And now he's the only one anybody talks about and it's not in a good way. So, yeah, we're gong to take a hit.

"But I've said all along. The game isn't going to change. Nobody is ever going to forget about the game. We didn't forget before Nicklaus came along. We didn't forget when Nicklaus was going out, because we had Tom Watson and Raymond Floyd. No offense, but when he's done, there's going to be another one. There's going to be someone else. The game is going to keep on going.

"Our game would not have kept going before he got here if it was not a good product. In my first couple of years, I don't recall in the '80s and early '90s, the game being way down here in the muck before he showed up in '96. He just spiked it. And we'll give him all the credit for the spike, but the game is not going away. It's too big a game. It's too great a game for it to go away."

Sometimes you just need to be reminded -- in the simplest way.