Season’s Greetings! 2010 provided us with some memorable moments, not all of which were memorable for the right reasons. I’ve gone through my list and narrowed those down to 5, the ones that stood out most anyway. I feel compelled to add that I left off Dustin Johnson’s bunker gaffe in the final round of the PGA Championship because frankly – he made chicken salad out of chickenshit with the way he handled it.
5 – Rookie’s Nuts Roasting on an Open Fire…
You’re a flashy, confident 21 yr-old rookie on the PGA Tour who’s already drawn impressive comparisons of former world-class champions that came long before you. This might be your first year on the big stage, but it’s not your first rodeo in competitive golf, as you have the amateur career to prove it. Your style is bold, with sporty, colorful attire that compliments the way you play the game – fearless and assertive. And with just a tad over 6 weeks into your professional playing career, you find yourself on the verge of potentially winning your first professional event.
Rickie Fowler could have easily gotten home in two on the short par5 15th that Sunday at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. A flush 4iron would’ve been more than enough. If he could somehow make a putt – he takes the lead with a few birdie holes still remaining. If he two-putts, he’s tied for the lead with a tap-in birdie. But that’s not how it played out that afternoon. Instead, Fowler went against his typical playing style and nudged an iron to within 90 yards of the green, taking the safe route. From there he nipped his wedge approach too softly, leaving himself a considerably longer putt for birdie than he would’ve liked. Fowler would miss, making par… and would fail to make a single birdie on the last three holes coming in to finish alone in 2nd place, just one shot back of Hunter Mahan, the eventual winner.
Afterward Fowler talked about his decision to lay up on the 15th. “I was a little farther out than I would have liked to have been to go for it. You know, I told them, obviously if I was a couple back in that position and feeling that I needed to make a few birdies coming in, I would have gone for it. But being that I was at the time, I think, just one back, putting a wedge in my hand from 80 yards, a lot of times I do make birdie there. I played 16 well all week. I had a look at birdie there. With 17 being a short hole, there’s a birdie chance. So I felt that instead of bringing trouble into play, in a way which a lot of times I don’t play, I took the safe route, easy lay-up, and like I said, I had an easy wedge shot with soft greens. I just hit it a little soft.”
Rickie Fowler had a great rookie season, yet a win at the Phoenix Open would’ve made it even greater. But as it would turn out – that tournament was the closest that Fowler would come to winning in his rookie season. Some people quickly came to his defense afterward and stated the obvious – if a player doesn’t feel comfortable with a shot, the player shouldn’t play the shot. Fair enough. But I’ll also say that that’s why people have enjoyed watching Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods play golf over the years… they take advantage of good situations and they capitalize on them. The don’t bank on someone folding and handing the trophy to them on a platter.
4 – While Visions of Van de Velde Danced in his Head…
Robert Garrigus could have used a wedge and a putter on the final hole of the St. Jude Classic back in June and he still would’ve easily won the first tournament of his career. As he stood on the 18th tee, only 453 yards and a clear mind remained in his final lap to victory. But it ended up being the longest 453 yards of his life.
The 18th hole at TPC Southwind is by no means an easy finishing hole. It’s a dog-leg left with plenty of trouble from beginning to end. But it’s not an unfair hole. It’s not like you automatically give par away even if you miss the fairway. But the one place you can’t hit the ball and still make par is into the water hazard down the left, which is precisely where Garrigus hooked his tee shot. He took his drop, now he’s hitting 3. Now it’s worth noting that Garrigus says that at this point he thought his lead was only 2 shots, not 3…. and ultimately that tidbit of crucial misinformation ultimately impacted his strategy from that point forward. Regardless, most players never would’ve considered trying to pull off a 30-yard hook around the trees to go for the green from more than 200 yards away. Especially from a curious lie. Especially knowing that he could, worse case scenario in his own mind, lay up with a short iron, wedge the ball onto the green, and at least have a 2putt to make a playoff. Or better yet think that he’s in a playoff, but look up to see that he actually had a 3-shot lead and is still the winner. But at that very moment – Garrigus wasn’t thinking in terms of bogey or double bogey. He wasn’t thinking, period.
He pulled out a mid-iron and attempted to hit this 30-yard bender. Except it somehow found the trees on the other side of the lake anyway. His ball stayed out of the hazard, but he had no other choice but to hit his 4th shot back over the hazard and into the fairway. He found the green with his 5th shot, but would 2putt for a triple bogey. Three stroke advantage gone, he would lose in the first playoff hole by making bogey – the score he wish he had made on the very same hole just 15 minutes earlier.
To his credit, Garrigus wouldn’t give up and finally got his first PGA Tour win in the final event of the season at the Children’s Miracle Network Classic… but it should have been his 2nd.
3 – While Mortals Weep, The Euros Keep The Ryder Cup on Their Side…
I’ve made no bones about defending Hunter Mahan after what happened at the Ryder Cup this fall. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy, and there was no point raking him over the coals. But that doesn’t remove the fact that it happened, and the degree of difficulty involved didn’t make it any easier to leave off of my list – he could have gotten the ball on the green with his hat. I still feel badly for him, but there’s no way around it – it was unfortunate/awful. You pick the term you feel most comfortable with.
2 – A Ball, A Ball, Heading to the Right with a Tail as Big as a Kite….
Prior to this season, Tiger Woods wasn’t accustomed to having to hit 3wood approach shots into par4 greens. But that would all change on the 7th tee in the first round of the Players Championship earlier this year. The rust on his game was never more apparent, as Tiger’s swing was so steep that he nearly impacted the teed-up ball on top of the crown of the club head. Word is still out about whether or not he got the idiot mark buffed out of the finish, but the result was a lazy pop fly that failed to break 200 yards, barely making the fairway on the short par4.
Woods might have saved par on the hole despite playing it like a total weekend hacker, but it was by far one of the ugliest swings on tour this season.
1 – And if you ever saw him, you would even say he choked…
Choking comes in many forms, and it’s not always the result of a bad swing. Sometimes it’s the result of a bad decision. Such was the case on the final playoff hole in the PGA Championship, as Bubba Watson’s tee shot found the thick rough to the right of the fairway. Martin Kaymer had found the same thick rough right of the fairway as well, but quickly realized that his only play would be to lay up his second shot short of the hazard that fronted the par4 18th green. He wedged the ball out, leaving himself nearly 180 yards to the green for his third shot. All eyes were on Bubba, whose tee ball left him 206 yards from the green. But his ball was half buried in the deep rough, with the ball slightly below his feet. Watson could have easily wedged his ball up to within 100 yards of the green, not only taking the hazard out of play but also giving himself a significant advantage. But Bubba decided to risk it all by going at the green, and watched helplessly as the muffled lie prevented the ball from even remotely clearing the water hazard. Bubba would go on to make a double-bogey 6 on the hole, while Martin Kaymer safely found the green from 180 yards away and 2-putted for the PGA Championship title.
As Watson addressed the media immediately following his playoff loss, he quickly set the tone about his decision to go for the green on his second shot that cost him the tournament. “Before you ask, if I had it to do over again, I would hit it every day. I play to win a golf tournament. I don’t play to lay up and hopefully make a par and tie or win. And I went for the win, and I’d do it over again, just like I did earlier in the day, I went for the win on 17 and 18 and just hit bad shots.” Earlier I commented on Rickie Fowler’s decision to lay up on the par5 15th at the Phoenix Open, and it’s going to sound contradictory in this instance. But here’s where I draw the definitive line between the decision to play aggressive or to play the safe shot: Smart aggressive is good. A clean lie in the middle of the fairway in a non-major event is not even remotely similar to a horrible lie in the rough from 206 yards to the green in a major championship, especially if you already have an advantage, and especially if bogey might be good enough to win. Fowler didn’t play to win. And judging by the lie and the distance to the green on Watson’s second shot, neither did he.
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