What's up with David Hearn? The 29-year-old pro from Brantford, Ont., sat down in a coffee shop in nearby Ancaster last week to answer the question.
Hearn was home for a while before leaving for this week's Nationwide Tour event in Midland, Tex. He's been on the lower-tier tour since finishing 196th on the 2005 PGA Tour. Hearn is 54th on the Nationwide money list this season and needs to get into the top 25 to regain his PGA Tour card. He shot 75-72 and missed the cut in Midland yesterday, and has just three tournaments left.
"I've had my good weeks," Hearn said, "but I've been inconsistent and have had a lot more missed cuts [13 of 23] than before. My game hasn't come together yet."
Hearn put the accent on yet. Like most professional golfers, he usually finds a way to be optimistic. He can look to the RBC Canadian Open last July for one tournament from which he at least learned something from a veteran. Hearn made the cut at the PGA Tour event before shooting 69-74 on the weekend to tie for 58th place.
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Corey Pavin played with Hearn on the weekend. The 1995 U.S. Open champion liked what he heard and saw.
"David has all the physical tools to do well on the PGA Tour," Pavin said the other day from his home in Dallas. "You can't tell how mentally tough a player is from a couple of rounds, but I don't see why he can't get out there and succeed."
Hearn will have to improve his short game and putting to get there. While he's 29th in driving accuracy and seventh in greens in regulation, Hearn is 143rd in putting overall. He's 136th in putting on greens he's hit in regulation. No wonder he's been analyzing what's going on. Maybe he's been too analytical, he said.
Hearn's been working from time to time with Fran Pirozzolo, a neuropsychologist who was the mental skills coach for the New York Yankees from 1996 through 2002. Pirozzolo did a book with Sam Snead and a video with Byron Nelson.
"Fran said that when Nelson played he felt it was like a stroll in the park," Hearn said. "When I played with Corey I noticed he took that attitude. Even now I think about that. He wasn't in contention, but he was able to go from the back of the pack to the middle [tied for 28th place]. I went the other way. When I play well, I do that."
Then there's the matter of how Hearn has always seen himself.
"For some reason, I always saw myself as a great player, but not like Sergio Garcia at a young age," he said. "Maybe I'm just fulfilling my own self-prophecy."
As Hearn spoke, it was obvious he was trying to figure things out while striking that important balance the best athletes find between too much and too little introspection.
"Fran and I are working on my not letting things that happen on the course fester in my mind," said Hearn, who qualified for the U.S. Open in June but missed the cut.
Speaking of the mind, Hearn mentioned that he had graduated last spring from the University of Wyoming. He needed to complete three classes online, and wrote the papers and tests while on tour. He graduated with a degree in psychology.
Hearn has some time to get out on the PGA Tour and succeed. Hearn would at least like to finish in the top 40 on the Nationwide Tour, which will get him into the second stage of the PGA qualifying school. Meanwhile, he can keep in mind something Pavin said.
"Lots of players take a long time to get out on [the PGA] Tour, and then they have great careers," Pavin said. "Look at Tom Lehman."
Lehman had three mediocre seasons on the PGA Tour from 1983 through 1985 and didn't return to the PGA Tour until 1992, when he finished 24th on the money list. Lehman went on to win the 1996 British Open. In addition, Lehman has won four PGA Tour events.
Pavin might also have mentioned Mike Weir, who went to PGA qualifying school seven times before reaching the PGA Tour, where he's won eight times, including the 2003 Masters.
"I'm going to have to do something special to get back to the PGA Tour next year," Hearn concluded. "But in a way that's not even my goal. My goal is to compete in tournaments, and I haven't done that this year."
There are two full-field Nationwide events and the Tour Championship left this season - the year isn't done.
Hearn doesn't think he is, either. No way, even though he's been going the wrong way.
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