Tim Petrovic riding wave of strong play

Tim Petrovic isn’t exactly the PGA TOUR Champions’ answer to Brooks Koepka.

But, the 52-year-old Massachusetts native can claim three runner-up finishes and a T3 in four different majors over the past two seasons, including two in his past two starts. At the very least that’s Koepka-ish.

Petrovic had been muddling through a disappointing 2019 after finding his groove in 2018. That year he posted six top 10s, including a whopping five runner-up finishes. He had a solo second at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, a T2 at the U.S. Senior Open Championship and another solo second at the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship. He finished the year ninth in the Schwab Cup standings and made nearly $1.5 million.

But this year, prior to the past two events, Petrovic had only one top 10 – a T10 in his season opener at the Oasis Championship in February. He admitted he’d been tinkering with his game, maybe too much, including thicker grips that he said left his father shaking his head.

“The big, thick grips just didn’t quite work out,” Petrovic said Tuesday, just two days after a T3 at the Senior Open presented by Rolex at Royal Lytham and St. Annes. “I’d just been doing everything kind of average all year. I hadn’t been making putts, hadn’t been hitting fairways, couldn’t really ever get anything going.”

During practice at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, prior to the Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS Championship, Petrovic switched back to an old driver that he had used before, a TaylorMade M2. And things magically fell into place.

“I was doing my prep for Firestone (SENIOR PLAYERS) and I went back to a driver I trust,” Petrovic said. “That was kind of the start of it. Basically tee it up and trust it. So I hit more fairways, and then I started putting better and making a lot of birdies. I think I led the field in birdies (he did, with 18). But you also can make a lot of bogeys there.”

Petrovic said his good play from Firestone carried over to Royal Lytham, for the most part. After a 4-over 74 to start, he shot in the 60s each of the next three rounds. It was no small feat on the weekend, with wind and rain making the final 36 holes tough sledding.

He was the only player in the field to break 70 in each of the final three rounds. He finished at 3 under, in a tie with Retief Goosen and just three shots behind winner Bernhard Langer.

It meant something special to Petrovic, too, who said despite several appearances in The Open while on the PGA TOUR, he never had played at Royal Lytham.

“Seve Ballesteros was one of my heroes growing up, and he won twice at Royal Lytham,” Petrovic said about the legendary Spaniard. “So I was really geared up to play well there.”

It was Ballesteros’ style of play that attracted a young Petrovic.

“There was nothing mechanical about Seve,” said Petrovic, who never had a chance to meet one of his golfing heroes. “He just gripped it and ripped it and relied on his short game. He played by feel. That’s kind of how I model my game. I’m not the guy who will hit a lot of fairways. I think I hit only like 46 percent at Firestone (44.6 percent; only 35.7 percent on the weekend). I’m definitely not Seve, but I play by feel, too.

“I’m not gonna be a guy who’s in the top 10 every week. I wish I could figure that out but you’re just not gonna be on your game every week. But when I’m on I feel like I can play well.”

After two consecutive stellar finishes at majors, Petrovic has climbed to 22nd in the Schwab Cup standings and brimming with confidence. He will play at the DICK’S Sporting Goods Open in Endicott, New York, Aug. 16-18. It’s the next event on the schedule, but it’s one he skipped last year.

This year, his oldest daughter, Bayleigh, will be on the bag for the first time in his PGA TOUR Champions career. Petrovic offered her the gig so she can make some money before going back to school at the University of Texas. He said she’ll get the standard caddie percentage.

“Maybe I can be like Brooks, do what he just did and win one that’s not a major,” Petrovic said.

That would work out pretty well for Bayleigh, too.