R.W. Eaks has no problem driving the ball a long distance off the tee — it’s getting to his next shot that’s the problem.
“I need two knee replacements and it’s been hard for me to play,” he said. “I’m trying to put it off as long as I can.”
The Champions Tour allows players to use carts for most of its events. But the Champions Tour mandates players must walk the 72 holes during each of the five majors, which for Eaks, could be a tougher opponent than defending tour champion Loren Roberts.
Eaks, who is fifth on the tour with a 287.4-yard driving average, first noticed he had trouble walking shortly after last year’s Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship — the last of the five majors — at the Baltimore Country Club’s East Course.
“It’s a very difficulty course for me to walk,” Eaks, 56, said. “I talked to the orthopedic doctor first and then went to another guy, and it turns out I don’t have any cartilage left. It’s all bone.”
The veteran of 126 Champions Tour events had his best season last year. He won two tournaments and posted 11, top-10 finishes. He ended the season sixth on the money list with more than $1.5 million — roughly five times more than what he earned his entire 77-tournament career on the PGA Tour.
This season, Eaks has won two events, most recently the 3M Championship at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minn., in late July. But those also are his only top-10 finishes this season, as he is 23rd in the Charles Schwab Cup standings.
Eaks also looks doubtful to make as much money as he did last season, as he’s made $911,074.
But Eaks isn’t focused as much on the size of his paycheck as he is living a balanced life.
“I loved to putt and chip and it’s hard for me to walk around, so I don’t get as much time,” Eaks said. “I have learned to do other things away from golf. I play with my grandchildren and ride my motorcycle (a 2006 Harley-Davidson Road King).”
If Eaks, who finished 19 shots off the lead with a 6-over par at the Senior Players Championship last year, is to contend this weekend, he must use his powerful driver accurately. He ranks among the tour’s best in distance, but is just 70th in driving accuracy. When Eaks reaches the green, however, he usually converts, as he averages 4.11 birdies per round, sixth-best on tour.
“I never get depressed out there,” he said. “I get to play with the best players in the world and I am having a blast and just having the best of it.”
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