BRIDGEPORT -- A decade and a weekend ago, Chris Anderson was a glorious groom on an 18th hole as a Nike Tour rookie.
On Sunday, seeking a record winner's purse on the same -- albeit renamed -- tour, he was a frustrated bridesmaid.
On the 72nd hole of the inaugural Nationwide Tour Players Cup at the Pete Dye Golf Club, Anderson spun in a 360-degree, cup-circling par to force a playoff.
On the same hole minutes later, his only missed bogey attempt of the $1 million tournament left him with a $72,000 lighter paycheck than Players Cup champion Rick Price.
"My wedding day was the best day I've ever had on a golf course," Anderson said as he signed autographs after he and Price had traded one-shot leads or ties throughout a damp day. "If I had won, this would have been one of the best ... but I didn't."
Maybe it stung more because the Californian's solo-second finish was his best since his only Nationwide win in the 2004 SAS Carolina Classic. Or, maybe it was because after four days of 15-under-par golf on the 7,308-yard Dye layout, he'd lost to a guy who finished bogey-bogey.
With a $108,000 second prize, Anderson won about $4,000 more than he'd won in the last 21/2 years combined on tour.
"Seconds (at the Players Cup) is like winning out here, at this tournament," Price said.
Anderson, a father of three, couldn't quite buy that. What he did take away from four solid days on the reclaimed Harrison County coal mine layout was hope that an attitude change will keep him climbing on a Nationwide money list on which he vaulted from No. 134 to 25 Sunday.
Other than an anniversary July 4 holiday weekend with wife Jennifer during a Nationwide break, Anderson was buoyed about what the couple discussed much more so than his results of a mediocre 2008 season in which his best finish was a tie for 33rd in Knoxville, Tenn., three weeks ago.
"We talked last weekend about me being more focused, being more prepared," Anderson said. "It was just an overall conversation we had, but a pep talk kind of thing was part of it.
"Sometimes I get out here and I go to too many baseball games, or to the movies too much with my buddies. For example, a buddy of mine has a friend who plays for the St. Louis Cardinals.
"I was going to go up to Pittsburgh to see the Pirates and Cardinals the other night, but I decided to stay here and stay focused."
BRIDGEPORT -- A decade and a weekend ago, Chris Anderson was a glorious groom on an 18th hole as a Nike Tour rookie.
On Sunday, seeking a record winner's purse on the same -- albeit renamed -- tour, he was a frustrated bridesmaid.
On the 72nd hole of the inaugural Nationwide Tour Players Cup at the Pete Dye Golf Club, Anderson spun in a 360-degree, cup-circling par to force a playoff.
On the same hole minutes later, his only missed bogey attempt of the $1 million tournament left him with a $72,000 lighter paycheck than Players Cup champion Rick Price.
"My wedding day was the best day I've ever had on a golf course," Anderson said as he signed autographs after he and Price had traded one-shot leads or ties throughout a damp day. "If I had won, this would have been one of the best ... but I didn't."
Maybe it stung more because the Californian's solo-second finish was his best since his only Nationwide win in the 2004 SAS Carolina Classic. Or, maybe it was because after four days of 15-under-par golf on the 7,308-yard Dye layout, he'd lost to a guy who finished bogey-bogey.
With a $108,000 second prize, Anderson won about $4,000 more than he'd won in the last 21/2 years combined on tour.
"Seconds (at the Players Cup) is like winning out here, at this tournament," Price said.
Anderson, a father of three, couldn't quite buy that. What he did take away from four solid days on the reclaimed Harrison County coal mine layout was hope that an attitude change will keep him climbing on a Nationwide money list on which he vaulted from No. 134 to 25 Sunday.
Other than an anniversary July 4 holiday weekend with wife Jennifer during a Nationwide break, Anderson was buoyed about what the couple discussed much more so than his results of a mediocre 2008 season in which his best finish was a tie for 33rd in Knoxville, Tenn., three weeks ago.
"We talked last weekend about me being more focused, being more prepared," Anderson said. "It was just an overall conversation we had, but a pep talk kind of thing was part of it.
"Sometimes I get out here and I go to too many baseball games, or to the movies too much with my buddies. For example, a buddy of mine has a friend who plays for the St. Louis Cardinals.
"I was going to go up to Pittsburgh to see the Pirates and Cardinals the other night, but I decided to stay here and stay focused."
Marriage and focus are a combination Anderson dealt with as a 1998 rookie on what was then called the Nike Tour. After Round 3 of the Hershey (Pa.) Open, Anderson and Jennifer Stanley were married just off the 18th green at the Country Club of Hershey.
Anderson had shot 69-72-69 in the first three rounds and was tied for ninth, 10 shots back. The day after his wedding, he finished tied for 35th and 17 strokes back.
"I shot an 80," he said sheepishly. "A bad start, I guess."
So, why didn't he just wait until after the final round? It was the date -- July 4 -- that was more important than the location. His grandparents were married on July 4. His parents were married on July 4.
Anderson took a month off from this year's tour (May) following his grandfather's death, but since returning in early June had finished 52nd, 58th, 33rd and 61st in four events before coming here.
"I was a little behind the gun and I hadn't putted well," said Anderson, who also had done nothing special in playing three of the four Pete Dye Classics that preceded the course's elevation to the Players Cup host. "It was our 10-year anniversary last week. It's time I started playing better.
"I needed to refocus and commit to every shot ... Sometimes I need a kick in the butt. I screw off with my friends a little too much rather than working hard."
In his earlier Pete Dye showings, Anderson had finished 41st in 2004 and missed the cut the past two years. In 2007, his 11-over 155 was better than only six two-round scores.
However, he likes the course, because it values long iron and wedge play -- "and seeing them both on the same course is rare," he said. "My wedge play is usually good, and this week I hit my long irons really well."
Anderson knows he has some work to do the remainder of this Nationwide year if he wants to finish in the circuit's top 25 money winners and return to the PGA Tour for a third time (2003 and '05).
He's at $121,607 after the Players Cup; it's generally figured that $200,000 will get a player into the top 25 and clinch a PGA Tour card for 2009.
"This is probably the best I've played since that last year on the PGA Tour in '05," he said. "I've been on the big tour twice and I feel like I've got the skills to get back there.
"Maybe this is the start of something good."
