Fitness follows tour everywhere it goes

By SCOTT HAMILTON
shamilton@beaufortgazette.com
843-986-5533

Stephen Leaney posted a 1-over-par 72 in the third round of the Verizon Heritage, but emerged from the fitness trailer located near the Harbour Town Golf Links as if he had fired a 65. A quick 10-minute stretch does that.

"The way the game's going, it's probably one of the most important things we have on tour," Leaney said. "If you're not fit and in shape, it's pretty hard to avoid injury. It's fantastic to have our own truck to work out on."

The truck is indeed fantastic.

It's essentially a 16-foot by 50-foot tractor trailer, one of four used by the PGA Tour. Two are used on the PGA Tour, the other two on the Champions Tour. And they contain everything a professional athlete needs to stay in shape: fixed dumbells that go up to 35 pounds, adjustable dumbbell sets that go up to 95 pounds, yoga mats, treadmills, elliptical machines and an array of bands and cords for various resistance exercises. There are two 36-inch television screens on either side, as well as an area for players to grab workout gear if they didn't bring their own. It's a Gold's Gym on wheels.

And it's vital to fighting off the rigors of tour travel.

Stewart Cink tried to crack a joke or two after posting a third-round 72, but only between breaths while he was being stretched out in the back of the PGA Tour's fitness trailer. Joey Diovisalvi, a veteran fitness coach stationed a few feet away, instead spoke for him.

"This is a daily part of players' routines," Diovisalvi said. "Stewart's probably been up since 5:30 or 6 in the morning, gone through his practice, did his thing in the morning, went to the range, played his round and he's here again. We're coming to the point where players realize to continually perform at this level, there's another component required."

Diovisalvi says it has been a gradual process.

Though some such as Gary Player preached the virtues of working out as early as the 1950s, golfers only seriously embraced the idea since the emergence of Tiger Woods. Diovisalvi, who has been doing this for 11 years, says he now works with an average of about six golfers a day while hitting roughly 30 PGA Tour stops a year.

"Fans don't see the amount of work it's taken for the face of golf to change," Diovisalvi said. "A decade ago they didn't have anything like this. This is part of the evolution of golf. It's not all about the equipment being maxed out."

The trucks, which are operated by Depuy-Mitek, each received a $250,000 refurbishing over the winter thanks to sponsor Orthovisc. They usually roll up on site either late Monday or Tuesday during tournament week and the hours vary, though they're always fairly long. Players come in and out throughout the day depending upon their tee time or practice schedule, some just to get a stretch -- such as the one Leaney had Saturday -- or for a full-blown workout that Diovisalvi said can last upwards of 90 minutes.

But the rewards are in the results.

"I look at it like this: Between baseball and golf I've been going at it for 31 years," said trainer Kent Biggerstaff, who worked for the Pittsburgh Pirates for 30 years before turning to golf, "and I don't feel like I've gone to work a day in my life."