Steve Wheatcroft

Steve Wheatcroft -- "We'd do it seven days a week if we could.
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"Best summers of my life, I can tell you that," said Steve Wheatcroft, now a member of the PGA Tour.

Wheatcroft, 29, is hoping to spend a portion of this summer back at Oakmont, where he worked from 2000 to 2002 during summer breaks from college.

But instead of working on the driving range, he hopes to be one of the players using it.Instead of being a caddie, he hopes to be on the other side of the bag.Instead of helping out around the clubhouse, he hopes to be one of the players who gets to walk through it.

Wheatcroft did all that and more -- whatever needed to be done -- when he worked at Oakmont.He worked there, ate there and stayed there, living on the top floor of the clubhouse, in one of the 14 rooms used for golf employees and assistant professionals.

"It was unbelievable," said Wheatcroft, a native of Washington, Pa. "You're living in one of the greatest places in the world, and it was a ton of fun."

It was also beneficial.Wheatcroft took advantage of his situation to play Oakmont four or five times a week, as many holes as he could before dark after his shift was over.He usually played with his friend, Tyler Duke, who also worked and lived at the club.

"We'd do it seven days a week if we could," Wheatcroft said."We'd get nine or 18 holes in at Oakmont -- can't get any better than that."

Well, it could.

Wheatcroft, in his rookie season on the PGA Tour, is hoping to play Oakmont when it matters most, this time in the Open championship.

He wants to practice on the range where he once stacked balls.He wants to walk down the fairways where he used to walk through long shadows.And he wants to putt on the 18th green, before a packed grandstand, just underneath the third-story clubhouse window from which he peered every morning.

If so, he would join Worsham, Ford, Friend and amateur Frank Souchak (1953) as the only Oakmont players to play in a U.S. Open at Oakmont, according to club historian John Fitzgerald.

But, before he does, before he can realize a dream, he must advance through a sectional qualifier.And that might not be any easier than his first season on tour.

"It's been a hard year," Wheatcroft said."I got off to a tough start."

After earning full-exempt status at qualifying school, Wheatcroft has struggled in seven starts on the PGA Tour, making just two cuts and winning $20,585.What's more, he hasn't played since the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico in late February because of the number of limited-field events.

Worse, because of his poor start, Wheatcroft has been reshuffled lower on the pecking order for tour-school and Nationwide Tour players eligible to compete, dropping from 13th to 42nd in that category.

He will reappear next weekend, in the Shell Houston Open, but Wheatcroft will have to play better to work his way into more events.

"I've been on the shelf for four weeks," Wheatcroft said.
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Wheatcroft was referring to the FBR Open in Phoenix, one of only two cuts he has made this season.He won $12,780 for finishing 62nd there, his largest check of the season.

"It's hard to get reshuffled up when you're not playing," Wheatcroft said.

Steve Wheatcroft will be one of 40 q-school grads joining the PGA TOUR for the 2007 FedExCup season.