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By Greg Hardwig
Naples Daily News
Nov. 11, 2003
Arnold Palmer was in disbelief. It was a February day at
Bay Hill Club in Orlando and the King was in his office when he saw balls
flying over the hedges at the driving range and hitting the maintenance
shed.
Palmer called down to the maintenance shed, not because
he was upset the guy was hitting balls out of the range, but to ask how far
it was away. A total of 310 yards, he was told. He said he'd never seen
anybody hit it that long.
 | | Kuehne, the 1998 U.S. amateur Champion, has four top-10 finishes and more than $800,000 in earnings this year. |
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Who was it? No, not Tiger.
It was Hank Kuehne.
Kuehne has had the talent and never quite put it all
together -- until this year. The 1998 U.S. amateur champion not only
displaced John Daly as the longest hitter on the PGA Tour but earned his
tour card in the process. This week, he'll team up with Jeff Sluman in the
15th annual Shark Shootout at Tiburn Golf Club.
"It's been a great year," Kuehne said last month at the
Funai Classic at Walt Disney World Resort. "It's put everything in
perspective."
Kuehne, 28, played the final two events not having to
worry about staying in or getting in the top 125 on the money list to get a
tour card. Not bad for somebody who was bouncing around the Nationwide
Tour, the Canadian Tour and mini-tours since winning the amateur.
"My goal was to get my tour card one way or another
before the year was over," he said. "I had a hard time. I wasn't getting in
Nationwide events. I was trying to Monday qualify (for PGA Tour events)."
Kuehne's year changed when he was offered a sponsor
exemption into the BellSouth Classic in Atlanta the week before The
Masters. He had failed to qualify on Monday and was headed to a Nationwide
Tour stop when he got the call after a sponsor exemption was offered back
to the tournament.
Kuehne finished third. He didn't get much out of it,
besides the $208,000, that is. Kuehne had to sit for two weeks because of
The Masters and Hilton Head's event.
"I finished third in a PGA Tour event and a week later
I'm trying to qualify for a Nationwide event," he said. "I tried to get in
there and missed by a shot again."
Still, Kuehne was fortunate enough to get in the Shell
Houston Open the following week.
And he tied for second, winning $336,000, enough to vault
him high enough on the money list.
He's added a tie for ninth at the FedEx St. Jude Classic
in Memphis and a tie for fifth at the B.C. Open.
"Thankfully I was able to get in golf tournaments when I
was playing well and I was able to take advantage of the opportunities," he
said. "It's just been a whirlwind since then."
Since then, however, Kuehne has struggled, missing cuts
in three of his last 10 events and not finishing higher than 63rd, save for
a tie for 24th at the Buick Open.
Maybe it's because he didn't have to worry. Instead, at
the Funai, Kuehne was worrying about his friends who were on the top 125
bubble and the possibility of not keeping their cards.
"At the beginning of the year, a shot here or a shot
there, it's kind of like, 'Oh, well,' " said Kuehne, whose brother, Trip,
lost to Tiger Woods in the U.S. amateur final in 1994 and whose sister,
Kelli, plays on the LPGA Tour. "It's hard to imagine that they all mean the
same thing. Maybe a couple hundred dollars or a hundred dollars might make
a difference where you finish. Watching people you care about go through
stuff like that makes me appreciate where I am and I feel their pain."
Last year, Kuehne was honing his skills on the Canadian
Tour, where he led the money list.
Kuehne was happy to be playing anywhere, though. He is a
recovering alcoholic with two learning disabilities.
"My biggest achievement, the biggest accomplishment that
I've made in my life is overcoming the demons that I have," Kuehne told the
Houston Chronicle earlier this year. "There's nothing I could do in this
game that could replace that."
What Kuehne did on the golf course was hit drives longer
than anybody else. This year, the drives were still there -- he led the
tour in driving distance at 321.4 yards -- but that was more with it.
Still, consistency has been a problem, given the missed
cuts toward the end of the year. In one round at the Funai, when he shot a
3-under-par 69, all of Kuehne's traits were displayed.
After making the turn in 39, Kuehne eagled No. 1 (he
started on the back) from 15 feet, birdied the next hole from six feet,
birdied the next hole from four feet.
Then he hit into mud on the next hole and made a bogey.
He birdied the next hole, parred the next, birdied two more and parred the
last.
"Thirty with a bogey is kind of interesting," he said.
Interesting also describes his pairing with Sluman. The
strapping Kuehne is 6-2, while Sluman is 5-7 and one of the more accurate
hitters on tour. About the only thing they have in common is the same
birthday, Sept. 11.
"We've got the tall and the short and the straight and
the wide," Kuehne joked. "We've talked about it quite a bit and we're
really looking forward to it."
It appears Hank Kuehne has a lot to look forward to.
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