By Jon Levy - Staff Writer

May 8, 2010
-- Rio Verde, Ariz.


Shortly after finishing T20 at the Desert Winter Series Championship and earning $27,390 during the Desert Winter Series, via the help of a win at the year’s opener and a runner-up Desert Winter Series No. 7, Jesse Mueller got married and took a honeymoon trip to Cancun. The then 10-time winner on The Gateway Tour took about a month away from competitive golf, using this week’s event at Tonto Verde as his first event back as a married man.

Well, with rounds of 73/65/64-202 (11 under), punctuated by a sudden-death playoff win -- worth $10,000 -- over Benoit Beisser (64/70/68-202), it’s good to see things haven’t changed. Furthermore, his Tiger-like stats and ever-growing reputation as a closer on The Gateway Tour solidify his place as a one of the best ever to grace its fairways.

“I think it just took me about 18 holes to get back into it,” noted Mueller of his first round 73. “I think I was just a little rusty starting off because I’ve been away from golf for a little while, but I was able to find my rhythm as the day went on and definitely in the last two rounds.

“It was just that I calmed down,” he said of his play during the remainder of the event. “I was probably just a little tense, maybe a little nervous that first day because I hadn’t played in a while; but I just started relaxing after that and that smoothed out my golf swing, because my swing is all about rhythm.”

A red-hot putter didn’t hurt the Arizona State Alum’s cause, either.

“I definitely putted it well in the last two rounds, and my putter really heated up in the last nine holes (of the final round),” stated Mueller of closing 5-under 31 to post 11 under, with Beisser still out on the golf course.

Beisser closed strongly himself, birdieing his final two holes of regulation to tie Mueller and see both players enter sudden-death red-hot. It wasn’t until Mueller made a birdie on the duo’s fifth extra hole when the tie was finally broken.

“We each had three pars and a birdie on the first four holes, then I hit it to about two feet on the fifth (the par-4 10th) and made it to win,” said Mueller.

So how does yet another win on The Gateway Tour feel for the now 11-time winner?

“You know, the more times you can just get yourself into contention, the better,” he said. “I’ve learned that I can’t try to force anything when I’m in that position and that it’s best to just go out there and try to let it come to me.

“Some days it goes and some days it just doesn’t, but I know is the more I can keep getting myself into the situation, the better it will be for me down the road.”

With over $240,000 in career earnings on The Gateway Tour since just 2007, that road is certainly shaping up to be one full of success -- and money.


Click here for full field results from Tonto Verde and stay tuned as the Tour resumes again next week, May 12-14, at McCormick Ranch - Pine for the Desert Spring Series No. 4…