I am back in town and managed to catch the last round of the Farmers Championship. I did not have a chance to blog about last weeks Bob Hope but it can all be summed up in a few sentences. Congratulations to Billy Haas for his first victory. He played great but the big story were the guys chasing him. In my opinion, the defining moment was when the longest hitter on tour, Bubba Watson has a chance to go for the par 5 14th and chooses to lay-up. This was a long par 5 that nobody but the longest hitters could even take a shot. The lesson to be learned is this: When you have an advantage over the field, take it! You know Mr. Woods would have given it a go for sure. I think Bubba was just over thinking his plan and it cost him the victory. The second situation was Tim Clark not going for it on 18. I know he is not a long hitter, but he is one of the best fairway wood players and should have been more aggressive. He laid up, wedged it to 8 feet and missed it. This is what I have told everyone about paying attention to these great players and the change in behavior under pressure. Billy Haas didn’t flinch, stayed aggressive and won the golf tournament. 9 out of 10 times, Bubba goes for that green from 240 and gives himself a chance to take advantage of his length. You will see more of Bubba this year.
THE FARMERS CHAMPIONSHIP:
This was the year of the young guys and definitely gave us a glimpse of some of the future of the PGA Tour. The very deliberate, Ben Crane, hit a ton of greens and made a mile of putts to win by one shot over a slew of young bucks at Torrey Pines. So what did we learn this week? That slow players like Ben are better than fast players like Ricky Fowler? No way! Short hitters can win on a long golf course if they hit enough greens and make a couple of fifty footers, yes. What we did learn: This Michael Sim kid is no fluke. He can really play. Even with his swing a little off, he held in there with a unbelieveable short game and still had a chance to win. When asked why he didn’t go for the green on 18, he said”I wasn’t comfortable with my swing today and felt better with making birdie with a wedge.” So you see that assessing your momentum can even influence the best players. It was great to see my pick for rookie of the year and who I feel is the next world beater, Ricky Fowler, play well and get into contention. A double at the 17th knocked him out but he did bounce back with birdie on the last (sign of a champion).
So always play to your strengths, constantly assess your momentum(good or bad) under pressure and oh yeah, “Don’t Forget To Breathe”
Look for Guru TV Fitness Episode #3 coming up soon. Thanks for checking me out and I will see you on the lesson tee.
Guru
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