Erick Justesen compares himself to Cole Trickle, the race car driver played by Tom Cruise in the 1990 movie "Days of Thunder."
Trickle could make a stock car go fast but couldn't verbalize how. Justesen gets around a golf course in fewer strokes than almost everyone these days but not because of analytic prowess.
"I'm not a very complex character when I'm on the course," he said Monday en route to a Natomas driving range near where he lives with his father, Rick.
It's not because Justesen isn't bright – he graduated from Cal State Stanislaus in the spring as a two-time Academic All-American with a degree in communications. It's because he understands what works for him. And obsessing over swing mechanics isn't it.
Justesen finished third over the weekend in Lantana, Texas, in the second stage of the PGA Tour qualifying tournament. He advances to the final stage Dec. 3-8 in La Quinta with a guarantee of at least partial status on next year's Nationwide Tour.
Of the nine players with Sacramento-area ties who started in the first stage this year, the 23-year-old is the only one still standing. He credits hard work and low expectations.
"I don't have the pressure on me that some others have," he said. "The more expectations you have in this game, the more likely you are to be let down. I'm just playing the game, and loving it as much as I did when I was 9."
A career as a pro golfer was always Justesen's goal even though his early results didn't match his ambition. He had moderate success as a junior golfer and couldn't attract the attention of Division I college programs. He played for two years at Cal State Monterey before transferring to Stanislaus, where he became one of the top Division II players in the nation.
Still, he wasn't a big guy (5-foot-8, 160 pounds) and was a feel player who had a self-described strong "horse grip" that allowed him to hit the ball long but wasn't conducive to consistency.
"My fundamentals were outlandish, I guess you would say," Justesen said. "I could shoot 65 one day and 80 the next."
He has been working for the past year with Brad Cady, the head pro at Morgan Creek. Nothing major, just a few tweaks.
"He's been a dream," Justesen said of Cady. "He's making me smarter but keeping it simple."
Justesen has called Sacramento home since his father moved here four years ago. He plays out of Morgan Creek, where he has a handicap index of +5.3 that's no longer valid since he turned pro.
But his heart might be in Murphys, 85 miles to the southeast. He spent six grade-school years there, much of that time learning the game at little Forest Meadows Golf Course. Should Justesen make it to the PGA Tour next month and strike it rich thereafter, will Murphys claim him as one of their own?
"I'm claiming Murphys," he said.
Call The Bee's Steve Pajak, (916) 326-5526.
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