Amy Smotherman-Burgess

Randy Wylie, left, works with Robert Baldwin during a golf lesson at Fairways and Greens. Wylie will be inducted into the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame on July 17.

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To this day, Randy Wylie keeps it on the down low.

His golf ball, that is.

When he graduated from Holston High School in 1983 and left to play golf for Texas A&M, his game was forced to change. Southwestern winds beat, battered and ballooned his shots until a low, piercing trajectory was forged to combat any gust.

He learned to love the breeze.

When the weather vane did its pirouette, Wylie broke par.

"It (the wind) works to my advantage," he said.

Wylie claimed him All Southwestern Conference honors in 1987, made the cut in two U.S. Opens and, at the age of 43, will shoot into the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame on July 17 like a Tiger Woods 2-iron stinger.

For Wylie, the best part of it is that he'll join his father and local teaching professional, John Wylie (2002), as a member.

"We have been close forever," said Randy Wylie, who is in his seventh year as a teacher at Fairways & Greens. "We're like best friends.

"I just knew how excited and happy he was going to be (when he heard the news). That made me even more happy."

John Wylie's deal with his three sons got them onto the course at a young age. Randy and his brothers, Tag and Rusty, could tag along with him to work at the course, but if they weren't playing or practicing, then they had to be cleaning clubs, carts or picking up range balls.

"We pretty quickly figured out that that playing golf thing was a lot better than that cleaning clubs deal," said Randy.

Wylie won the Greater Knoxville Amateur in 1984 and went on to play professionally for nine years. He qualified for the 1990 U.S. Open at Medinah (Ill.) Country Club and his 2-under-par 70 in the first round kept him through the weekend.

By the mid-1990s, Wylie was teaching, working under famed instructor Rick Smith. As Wylie's students learned from his experience, he more profoundly understood golf. At the suggestion of a pupil, Wylie gave the touring life another shot.

He played in the States and in Asia. He played in South Africa. Even in Canada.

"If they had money, I'd go play for it," said Wylie.

When Wylie qualified for the 1997 U.S. Open at Congressional, it was his chance at a bigger purse and to prove 1990 was no fluke. In the first round, Wylie beat Woods by three shots with a 1-over 71.

Woods, who won the Masters two months before by 12 strokes, went on to tie for 19th. Wylie was 75th. But he did beat Vijay Singh, who wrestled away Woods' No. 1 ranking in 2004. Wylie and Singh matched scorecards through three rounds and were paired together in the final round.

Wylie fired a 76. Singh signed for 77.

"That's kind of fun," said Wylie. "Tiger had won the Masters that year by 12 or whatever he won by. ... To beat him in one round on the same golf course and on the same day was pretty cool."

Wylie's second tour stint ended in 1999. That's when golf transformed, and Wylie's 260-yard drives down the middle were no longer en vogue.

"The driving distances went up dramatically," he said. "The golf balls and the golf clubs changed, and really it didn't help me as much as it helped some other guys.

"I tried (to keep up). I lifted weights and got with trainers and did everything and worked on my swing. I was just never able to adapt with the way the game changed."

But he's been able to show others how. Wylie was recognized as one of the state's best teachers by Golf Digest (2003-08). He helped the University of Tennessee men's golf team to the 2007 SEC championship as a volunteer assistant.

"It's so cool to see your students achieve things, whether it's getting in a Tour event or play well on a Nationwide event or go do really well in college," he said. "You just feel so proud of the work they've put in."

And any work with Wylie includes learning to hit it low.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.