Rod Spittle (official thread)

[Buckskin86]

Rod Spittle

Personal information
Born 18 July 1955 (age 55)
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
Height 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight 230 lb (100 kg; 16 st)
Nationality Canada
Career
College Ohio State University
Turned professional 2004
Current tour(s) Champions Tour
Professional wins 1
Number of wins by tour
Champions Tour 1

Rod Spittle (born 18 July 1955) is a Canadian professional golfer.

Spittle was born in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. He played college golf at Ohio State University where his teammates included John Cook and Joey Sindelar. He won the Canadian Amateur in 1977 and 1978. After graduating in 1978, with a degree in Business Administration, he did not turn professional in golf, instead choosing to sell insurance, which he did for 25 years. He moved to Ohio, and played amateur golf at a high standard during this period.

Spittle turned professional in 2004, shortly before turning 50. He began playing on the Champions Tour in 2005. His best finish in his first four years was a T-2 at the 2007 Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn. He did not play the Champions Tour at all in 2009.[1] In 2010, he Monday-qualified into the AT&T Championship, and won the event in a one-hole sudden-death playoff over Jeff Sluman.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Spittle

What they said: Rod Spittle
Jul. 3, 2011

MORE INTERVIEWS: Montreal Championship transcript archive

DAVE SENKO: Thanks for joining us. I guess the not much you can say about your day, 62, which is a new tournament record and it betters your best score on the Champions Tour by two strokes, but maybe just share some thoughts, eight birdies and the eagle on No. 10. Just talk a little about your day.

ROD SPITTLE: Well, good afternoon, everybody, first of all. It's very nice to be here and have a little chat under these circumstances.

First of all, it's been a great week, and as you know, I was here some 30 years ago, so to come back and play, it has been a great week, and you know to, finish off like this, is beyond words. But as you said, Dave, we started on the back, really, I've played pretty well the first two days. I was 5-under, but hit a lot of good shots, played very well and of course we started on the back nine, and as I mentioned to one of the guys outside, I got off to a very fast start with a three on 10.

Hit it on the green in two, and made it from about 20 feet or so and birdied No. 11, so we are kind of off and running. And again, the course, as you know, or hopefully, the other players have said, the course I think got a little firmer every day. The greens got a little smoother and it really was just a Sunday morning round out playing golf.

And then you know, we just kept -- I hit it close all day. Bear with me, 14 is the second par 5, I hit it on the green there in two, as well, 2-putted for birdie. And then 17, the little par 3, hit it, I think fairly close, inside six feet, and made birdie and then did the same thing on 18, hit it about three feet, so all of a sudden, we shoot 30 and again it was just one of those rounds that everything that I did went right, lived in the fairway.

And then obviously on the front nine, birdied 2, 3 and 4 and again, I just had birdie putts virtually the whole day. Quite honestly I knew the scores, like everybody had been low the last couple of days and watched the leaderboard and knew we were a little too far behind to catch the leaders, but that's okay. Again, just had putts for birdies coming in, and obviously to shoot 10-under, I'm very pleased. And again, pleasantly surprised that it's a course record. That's just, again, a very nice way to finish this week.

DAVE SENKO: Birdies, do you remember your length of putts on 2,3,4?

ROD SPITTLE: I tell you what, 2, I hit wedge in, almost made two. Pin was in the back right corner about three feet on 2.

On No. 3, again, I had a good chance, probably eight feet on No. 3. That pin was in the front right corner. I might have hit 9-iron in there I think. And then a good 2 on the next hole, No. 4, the par 3 was playing about 193 or so. I hit 6-iron in about 15 feet left of the hole and made that, which was good.

And then 7, the last paragraph five, was playing downwind and hit 5-iron on the green about 25 feet and 2-putted.

And then had a couple of chances on the last hole, so again, just a very solid day. I wish I could play more rounds like this. And you know, again, it was just very solid.

Cont...

http://www.pgatour.com/2011/tournaments/s013/07/03/spittle-transcript/

Who needs the old boys' club?

Latecomer to pro tour, Spittle has enjoyed Champion's Tour success and is ready for the Montreal Champsionship
By RANDY PHILLIPS, The Gazette June 30, 2011

"I am trying to be the best player I can every week," Rod Spittle says. "I have goals just like everybody else."
Photograph by: Kevin C. Cox, Getty Images

Rod Spittle won for the first time on the Champions Tour at last year's AT&T Championship.

The only "other victories" listed in his bio are Canadian Amateur titles in 1977 and '78. And those two victories aren't so impressive when compared with the r?sum?s of the majority of other players on the 50-andover circuit, including members of golf's Hall of Fame, past major champions, and dozens more with decades of earlier success on the PGA Tour.

But those are the players Spittle will compete against at this week's Montreal Championship presented by Desjardins. The 54-hole, $1.8-million event starts with first-round play Friday (12: 30 p.m., GOLF).

Spittle, a 55-year-old native of St. Catharines, Ont., realizes he will never will be a member of the Tour's old boys' network, which has sometimes made life difficult for outsiders bold enough to tread on their sacred ground.

"I'm sure some of that exists, but I've seen very little of it," Spittle said Thursday. "From Day One, I've tried to be extremely respectful of the players who you hang out with and play with. They are the best of the best, in my opinion. They've played for 30-plus years.

"Every week, we play with eight or 10 guys who are in the Hall of Fame and, as I've told people along the way, I have the best seat in the tournament. At the same time, I am trying to be the best player I can every week. I have my goals just like everybody else does. I would like to think, hope to think, they know I've shown up every week ... that I don't have a chip on my shoulder.

"I would like to think that I've worked hard and studied hard. And the fact that we broke through (with a win) proved a lot to me. I'd have to say that everybody's been great with my background and the way we've approached this."

Spittle's story isn't one of rags to riches. It's arguably more about casting aside riches - at the very least a measure of security - to take a shot at realizing a dream.

Cont...

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/needs+boys+club/5027823/story.html#ixzz1RBCXGS2z