Southwest Florida golf: Dudley Hart warming up for Champions Tour at Yuengling Open

Dudley Hart is ready to be a rookie again.

But first, he's playing in the Yuengling Open at Fort Myers Country Club this weekend. 

Hart, a Naples resident, was one of the most consistent players on the PGA Tour with 55 top-10 finishes from 1991-2009. But he had spinal fusion surgery and missed the next two years, then couldn't regain his status.

So other than the odd pro-member and a few Web.com and PGA Tour events, Hart has been getting ready, well, to get ready for turning 50, which will happen Aug. 4. He'd heard about the Yuengling from fellow tour player and former champion George McNeill.

"I need to start playing some stuff and called George and asked him what the deal is and how to get in," said Hart, who played a practice round with McNeill and another former champion and tour player, Nolan Henke, on Friday. "He helped me get into it. It'll be fun. It's laid-back, but whenever you've got to post a score somewhere, it gets you thinking. It'll be just kind of a first step."

More:Southwest Florida golf column: Arnold Palmer designer attends Naples Lakes reopening

More:Southwest Florida golf column: Yuengling Open up next after Chubb Classic

Hart hopes to play somewhere between eight to 12 events on the Web.com Tour -- a run below the PGA Tour -- this summer, as well as a couple of regular tour events.

"I need to compete in pretty much anything to get to the concentration level I need," he said. "Playing with your buddies -- no matter how hard you try -- it's not the same thing. I need to start getting my feet wet and getting my brain wrapped up around what it's like to compete on a daily basis."

Hart was born in Rochester, New York, but went to high school at Archbishop Curley in Miami and played at the University of Florida alongside Chris DiMarco, another tour player who will turn 50 shortly after Hart does.

Hart played on the PGA Tour from 1991 to 2009 and won the Bell Canadian Open in 1996 and the 2000 Honda Classic. He had four runner-up finishes, and his best finish in a major was sixth in the 1993 PGA Championship.

The Hart name may be better known in Naples for another reason, though. His son, Ryan, one of triplets, was a sophomore on the Gulf Coast High School boys golf team last fall that became the first Collier County team to win a state title.

Hart helped the Sharks at the state tournament last year by putting together a yardage book, and this year they played a practice round together. 

"It's cool," Hart said of the state title. "That was super exciting."

Due to an illness in the family, Hart didn't get a chance to his son and the Sharks win it in person, but he probably wouldn't have done so anyway.

"I try not to watch -- at least my son much," he said. "I get nervous partially, but it's kind of like how my dad was with me -- my dad was a club pro. I want him to go out and learn on his own. He doesn't need the pressure of me watching him."

Hart began coming down to Naples a few years ago when the family still lived in Buffalo. Friends also visited the area.

"I just fell in love with it," he said. "I spent a lot of time on the other coast. I had no interest in moving over there."

When Hart was able to join Calusa Pines Golf Club, where McNeill and several other tour pros are members, that sold it for him.

"There's no place better to play and practice around than there," he said.

Saturday and Sunday, though, he'll be tackling the iconic Donald Ross layout that was renovated by architect Steve Smyers, another former Gator, a few years ago.

In just over four months, Hart will be back home in upstate New York -- this time to make his PGA Tour Champions debut at the Dick's Sporting Goods Open in Endicott beginning Aug. 17, on the same course that hosted a PGA Tour event when Hart was playing.

"I should be pretty well tuned-up at least competitively by then," he said. "It'll be close to home. That's kind of neat."

Yuengling Open

When: Saturday-Sunday

Where: Fort Myers Country Club

Admission: Free

Yuengling Open tee times

at Fort Myers Country Club

Saturday's professional tee times

No. 1 Tee

11:40 a.m. -- Scott Smyers; 11:50 a.m. -- Dudley Hart; Noon -- Derek Lamely; 12:10 p.m. -- Justin McCarraher; 12:20 p.m. -- Tommy Tolles; 12:30 p.m. -- Nolan Henke; 12:40 p.m. -- George McNeill; 12:50 p.m. -- Donald Constable; 1 p.m. -- Chase Marinell; 1:10 p.m. -- Brad Adamonis; 1:20 p.m. -- Roy Biancalana; 1:30 p.m. -- Chris Trout

No. 10 Tee

11:40 a.m. -- Craig Thomas; 11:51 a.m. -- Brandon Lee; 12:02 p.m. -- Jon McDonald; 12:13 p.m. -- Jeff Sorenson; 12:24 p.m. -- Doug Ferris; 12:35 p.m. -- Robert Rohanna; 12:46 p.m. -- Jeremy Wells; 12:57 p.m. -- Gary March; 1:08 p.m. -- Clayton Rask; 1:19 p.m. -- Eric Steger; 1:30 p.m. -- Adam Miller