The Mystery of Putts
Posted: August 16th, 2009 | Filed under: Other Sports | 39 Comments »
A few years back, I first wrote how Tiger Woods had done something that no other golfer — not Nicklaus or Hogan or Jones or Watson — had ever done. He had made golf look easy. And by easy, I don’t mean effortless — though, of course, Tiger can make golf look effortless. I mean something else: He has taken out golf’s elements of chance. He has removed the degree of difficulty. He has turned this big, sprawling, perplexing and ever-evolving game into something simple, something definitive. Something that makes sense.
Golf was never supposed to make sense. It was always supposed to be this wild ride in the wind. It was always supposed to be about holding up under pressure and taking your medicine and enjoying the lucky bounces and playing the ball where it lies. “There was only one time in my life when I went into a tournament knowing I was going to win and then won it,” Tom Watson once told me. When I asked him what tournament, he refused to say. It’s his happy secret. It’s the one time he beat this mysterious game.
But, Tiger seemed to feel that way all that time. He boiled the game down to stark and powerful basics. If you make all your 12-foot par putts, you will make no bogeys. If you have practiced a shot for every occasion, then you will never have an occasion without a shot. If you turn double bogeys into bogeys and bogeys into pars, if you chip in more than most and often hit the ball close from the middle of the fairway, if you win all the tournaments you lead on Sunday and you play well enough to lead on Sunday all the time, well, there’s just not much mystery left in the game. Tiger had been trained from a young age and later trained himself to play golf this way, without sentimentality, without reserve and without miscalculations. Nobody else in the world could play golf like that. Sometimes Tiger would just not play well. But mostly he did, and when he did, there were really only two possibilities. Tiger would either beat you, or you would beat yourself. Either way … same thing.
And so, on the 17th green Sunday at the PGA Championship, it seemed entirely certain that one of those two things would happen to a 37-year-old golfer from Korea named Y.E. Yang. Tiger would beat him, or Yang would beat himself. The two choices. The only surprising thing was that it had taken this long to get to the choices. Yang had spent a wonderful afternoon in Minnesota smiling and waving to the crowd and making good shots and riding the top of the leaderboard. At the 17th, he led Tiger Woods by a stroke. The announcers on television had spent much of the afternoon marveling at Yang’s calm — commenting at great length about his composure (“He seems cool as a cucumber!”), his vital signs (“He’s breathing well!”), his mental state (“Positive body language!”) and his sense of well being (“Look at him smiling!”). It was fun. It could not last.
Yang’s good play — especially while other more famous golfers like Padraig Harrington, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh self destructed — was surprising, but probably less surprising than the tentative way Tiger Woods played. That was a thunderbolt. He laid up on a Par 5. He left putts short. He seemed utterly unlike the predator that we had come to know — all afternoon long he backed off shots and tossed blades of grass into the wind. All afternoon long, everyone just waited for Tiger to take over, to hit some kind of definitive shot, to turn Y.E. Yang into another in a long line of noble but defeated opponents. But Tiger wavered. He waffled. Which way is the wind blowing? He hit great shots, of course, because he’s Tiger Woods. But, he lacked conviction.
And it was Yang, at the 14th hole, who hit the definitive shot. He chipped in for eagle with Woods’ ball just 12 feet away from birdie. That remarkable chip gave Yang a two-shot lead. The announcers exclaimed that Woods was “shocked,” and maybe he was but you could not see it on his face. He stepped up to his own ball and knocked in his own birdie putt to immediately cut the margin to 1 shot. Woods then walked toward the 15th hole with a determined stride, as if he was just about ready to put away all the foolishness. “They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain/And they knew that Casey wouldn’t let that ball go by again.”
One thing about Tiger … he’s always had this remarkable sense of time. I don’t mean TIMING, though of course Woods has always had great timing too — he tends to know when a great shot will be a dagger, when a sunk putt will drain his opponent of hope. This is part of what makes him such a great match-play golfer.
But here I mean a sense of time. Woods seems to know that eventually his moment and his chance will present itself. I often think about this game I saw Larry Bird play once in the late ‘80s or early 90s — a meaningless NBA regular season game in Charlotte. Bird wasn’t himself by then; his back was hurting and he was more legend than star. But he was still awfully good, and what struck me that day was that while everyone else on the floor was playing the game live, Bird was playing it on rewind. He played as if he had already seen the game before and knew how it turned out. There was utterly no tension in his game, no anxiety, no break in his rhythm. When he missed a shot, he acted as if that was just PART OF THE PLAN — like the Celtics needed that missed shot to win. Same with every turnover, every foul, every brilliant pass, every timeout. It wasn’t as if Bird was controlling the game — he wasn’t quite good enough to control at that stage of his career. No, it was like he was an actor in a movie and he had already read the script.
That’s what we have seen from Tiger Woods … it’s like he has already read the future sports history books that recount his many triumphs. Whatever happens, he seems at peace with it because he knows that he will win in the end. Oh, so this guy Yang chips in at 14 to take the lead? Well, that will just make my victory that much more dramatic. The drama kept going through the 15th hole, the 16th hole, there were missed putts and groans from the crowd and an endless string of commercials promoting a 60 Minutes interview with Michael Vick. Yang still led by one shot. Then, the 17th hole, Yang hit his shot on the green but well short of the flag. Woods, sensing the moment, went after the flag. He hit it too hard, and the ball skipped into the thick rough. A mistake, yes. But still, the moment was palpable. Everyone could feel it. Nick Faldo could not help but mention Watson’s famous chip-in on the 17th hole at Pebble Beach. Well, time had come. Woods knew it. Yang knew it. The crowd knew it.
Woods popped up his chip, leaving it a dozen feet short of the hole.
The announcers gawked. What was that? What happened? That was what Tiger Woods had been saving? That was what he would deliver in the big moment? But … remember what I said about Woods sense of time. He knows that in golf — in all of sports — there’s usually a second chance. Yang stepped over his 30-foot putt, and suddenly that smile that had been so talked about was gone, suddenly the easy breathing that others had noticed looked a bit labored. What makes major championship golf fun is that, most of the time, there will come the time when the golfer is stripped bare. Yang had been wonderful. But now he was a 37-year-old Korean golfer who had never contended in a major championship before. He hit an absolutely dreadful putt and left the ball about 8-feet short.
And then, everyone understood. THIS was actually the moment. Woods would make hit par putt. Yang would miss his. They would be tied going into the 18th hole. And then, well, then the predictable would happen, just like always. It was so clear as Tiger lined up his putt, so blindingly obvious. In that instant it was almost painful to think about all the emotions that everyone had invested in Yang. You know, he had not started playing golf until he was 19 years old. He went into the South Korean army, then moved to New Zealand to become a professional golfer. He had moved to America to try his luck. He had been one of the older golfers to go through the Q school. He was ranked 110th in the world. On this Sunday, he had been one heck of a Rocky Balboa. But in the only Rocky movie that makes sense, Rocky loses the fight.
Tiger stepped over his ball and you knew the 12-foot putt was in before he even began his backswing. You knew, I knew, the crowd knew, the announcers knew, Yang knew. Of course it was going in. This is what I mean about Tiger Woods making the game easy. Humans miss long putts more than they make them. The best golfers in the world — the best golfers ever in this world — fail more than they succeed. Nicklaus won 18 major championships, but he finished second 19 times. But Tiger does not fail. He does not miss these putts. Maybe some weeks doesn’t have it. But when he is right, when he is in position, he win every time. Every … single … time. There was absolutely no doubt that he would make this putt, make the necessary shots at 18 or in the playoff, would win the tournament, and he would march on undaunted and unscathed …
Only then, that remarkable thing happened — remarkable because it’s unremarkable. Tiger Woods missed the putt. Flat missed it.
And suddenly, golf wasn’t easy. Tiger Woods missed. Like people miss. It didn’t matter then that Yang missed his putt too (as Tiger surely knew he would). Yang still had a one-shot lead going into the 18th hole. And his smile was back. His moment of self realization had passed. Tiger Woods had missed the putt, and he had missed his moment, and Yang hit a spectacular shot into the 18th hole, birdied it, won the PGA Championship in glorious fashion. There was talk about how this would change the face of golf forever because Yang became the first Asian man to win a major championship. The people who love golf in Korea and China and Japan and Indonesia and so on … suddenly they have a golfing hero, someone who has shown them what’s possible.
I was left thinking about something else, though. I was left thinking how Y.E. Yang had left Tiger Woods muttering about missed putts. “Today was not very good at all,” he grumbled. “I had a few misreads out there, and I hit some bad putts as well.” Yes, this day left Tiger Woods sounding a bit like everyone else. And there is mystery in the game. Golf — and this is a good thing — makes no sense again.
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Circle Me Jack….Nicklaus that is.
I was waiting (and hoping*) that you’d comment on today’s historic event. For what it’s worth, I wanted Tiger to win. I always want Tiger to win. Because he’s a role model to all of us: set a goal, then bust your tail to accomplish it.
*A wise man once told me, “Hope is not a method”…so up I sit on the night before the first day of school for my kids hoping Joe would blog on this day.
I was out all day – missed the last round – so this is the first chance I’ve had to hear what happened. Man Joe, this was better than watching it live. Nice work…
Hogan had Jack Fleck. Woods has Y.E. Yang.
Dave,
If you missed today’s round, you can catch my recap at sportschump.net.
Joe, is Yang’s approach on 18 now the most famous hybrid shot in golf history? I swore that thing was going right for the branches.
Today was the first time that Tiger did not win when leading/tied on the weekend. He’s been a pro since 1996 and played in majors as a pro since 1997 and this is the first time he faltered.
Simply put, Tiger played uninspiring golf today and Yang just beat him. Tiger did what bad baseball teams do…they get a lead and are unable to hold off their opponent or to bury their opponent. Today I watched my Cardinals come from behind to beat the Padres because the Pads bullpen isn’t very good and their offense isn’t good enough to strike at the jugular, and that was Tiger today.
Think about it…at Medinah in 1999, Sergio had all the momentum and shot a 71 in the final round, hitting crazy shots out from behind trees. Tiger didn’t wilt, he put up a steady 72 and got his win. Then at St. Andrews in 2000 he simply sprinted away from the field…he can go either way, and he didn’t today. 75 in the final round won’t do it.
On a related note…how about Padraig Harrington? A truly excellent player who has the game and seems to have the mental makeup to be one of the world’s greats. He’s got 3 majors under his belt…and yet it just wasn’t his day. That 8 was painful…a quintuple bogey. I had to think about that for a second.
To save me some effort, I’ll reply by rehashing part of an email I sent to a friend who’d tipped me into some successful English soccer bets but had subsequently had a bad day at the track himself . . .
On a better note, I had some success today. The PGA is my favourite golf tournament of the year. None of that Old South mint juleps under the magnolias bullshit of the Masters with all the old has-beens hanging around; none of the US Open crap with all the invited players and weird courses; none of that plummy Pommy “The Open” this-is-real-golf played on demolition-yard wasteland sprinkled with bomb craters with even more arcane rules about who gets in and who doesn’t.
The PGA has, year in and year out, the best field in golf. Of the world’s top 100, the starting line-up each year rarely drops below 98. The handful of invited players are club pros – who can all flat-out play, as Tiger would say. Nobody with a chance of winning the thing is sitting at home watching, his place taken by a “qualifier”. Win this, you’re the best pro on the planet. Favourite round of golf I’ve ever watched was Woods v May, 1998 PGA.
Had a look at the prices last night. Woods (two-shot lead) was $1.25; Yang (tied for second and due to play alongside Woods) was $13; Harrington (tied for second) was $5 something. Now if two players can’t be split after three rounds, then $5 for one and $13 the other seems a bit cockeyed. So Harrington is out. And I’d seen a bit of Yang in the earlier rounds and he just struck me as one of those unflappable Koreans. Probably typical way-off-the-mark racial stereotyping, he might be Lucille Ball behind that flat face for all I knew, but I just liked the look of him. Then I recalled the commentators saying he hadn’t taken up the game until he was 19, had spent some time in the army, then gone to New Zealand. He may have been one of 26 siblings brought up in a dirt-floor shack by a penniless widow, or I could be thinking of someone else. Anyway, I thought that someone who’d been through the Korean military would be able to handle pressure and the guy could obviously hit the ball in the correct manner. Then there was that Kiwi connection.
There was also that Tiger’s-never-lost-a-major-when-leading-after-three-rounds mantra. Well, my reaction to that is “it’s got to end someday”. And Yang looked a likely contender and the price was right.
So I invested some of that soccer money at the $13 and had one of the most enjoyable golf-watching mornings I can remember. If nothing else, I’m well set up for next Saturday.
The moment of the round for me came well before the 14th. Not sure which hole but Yang’s drive missed the fairway and the ball ended up at the base of a tree. Can’t recall what the commentators were saying but I’m sure it was along the lines of he’ll have to knock it back into the fairway and hope he can get his approach close. Instead, Yang put the ball in the middle of the green. It was a truly Tigeresque shot.
That’s the moment I was thinking my man’s on his way to a win. The result was never in doubt after that, just the margin. I knew as well as I’ve known anything when watching sport that a moment of magic was bound to happen – and Yang was the guy who’d produce it.
I know Yang’s putt on 17 was dreadful; it almost defined “choke”. But it and the poor drive were the only misplayed shots in the entire round and merely heightened the tension. The approach at 18 was one of the best finishing-hole shots by a major-tournament contender in the history of golf.
[...] Joe Posnanski » Blog Archive » The Mystery of Putts By Joe Posnanski He seemed utterly unlike the predator that we had come to know — all afternoon long he backed off shots and tossed blades of grass into the wind. All afternoon long, everyone just waited for Tiger to take over, to hit some kind of definitive shot, …. “Today was not very good at all,” he grumbled. “I had a few misreads out there, and I hit some bad putts as well.” Yes, this day left Tiger Woods sounding a bit like everyone else. And there is mystery in the game. … Joe Posnanski – http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/ [...]
That hybrid shot was the most unbelievable thing I’ve seen live in some time. If he lined up 9 more balls at that exact spot and hit them one after another, would he get any closer than the one he hit?
“But Tiger does not fail. He does not miss these putts. Maybe some weeks doesn’t have it. But when he is right, when he is in position, he win every time. Every … single … time. There was absolutely no doubt that he would make this putt…”
I, for one, thought Tiger would miss that par putt on 17. He was missing putts from that length all day, either misreads or just plain missing. I turned to my bro-in-law and said he’d miss. One of the few times I’ve seen Tiger truly frustrated by the flat stick for an entire round.
As it turned out, Yang’s approach on 18 was the dagger. Even after the drama on the green at 17, Tiger was still only a shot back. I figured that he’d find a way to tie it up on 18, but once Yang hit that approach, everyone (including Tiger) knew it was over.
“I, for one, thought Tiger would miss that par putt on 17. He was missing putts from that length all day, either misreads or just plain missing. I turned to my bro-in-law and said he’d miss.”
To Joe’s point, the insane thing is that it didn’t matter to me (or many others) if Tiger had been missing those putts all day. I was 100% sure he was going to make that putt, and I was stunned when he missed.
That said, I think this is more about Yang winning than Tiger losing. The other big names in contention – Harrington, Els, Singh, Stenson – wilted like they always do. It didn’t matter if Tiger shot in the mid 70s and the door was cracked open. Same old story, they couldn’t take advantage. Yang was the first EVER to knock the door down.
There’s lots of talk about Yang being the first Asian, but Tiger is half Thai, right?
“Today was the first time that Tiger did not win when leading/tied on the weekend.”
In a major, that is correct. This is the 2nd time in his career he did not win when he held at least a share of the 54 hole lead.
Yang joins Ed Fiori as the only players to slay the Tiger in that position.
Yang is the first Asian-born major championship winner.
I also read a number of stories about Tiger refusing to do media interviews after the round, and some poor sportsmanship by Steve Williams, his caddie (big shocker). Granted, there are people out there looking for any reason to criticize Tiger–can you say Schadenfreude?–but he and Stevie do have a bit of a reputation as sore losers. I guess that’s part of what drives him to win so much.
I, for one, think it was wonderful for the sport that Tiger lost. And, it just might give him the drive to get even better. That’s just scary.
I’m not really a golf fan, but I’m less of one because of Tiger. Let’s face it, what’s the point of watching a sporting event if I know the outcome in advance? Tiger is beloved, but I’ve never quite understood that. I’ve always found him, well, boring. Sure, he’s a great golfer, but he dominates in an extraordinarily boring way.
For some odd reason, I found myself watching the final round, even though I was sure I knew the outcome. Only I didn’t. Tiger missed and seemed mortal. He pouted and whined a bit in the press conference about how things didn’t quite go his way. He seemed like a person. And for the first time, I found him interesting.
Having been to the practice round on Wednesday, having listened to some of the local reporters talk about golfers and their attitude, I’m less of a golf fan than I was.
Many of the best players in the world acted as if the fans didn’t even exist. They treated the press poorly. Frankly, I’m glad Tiger lost. He’s the best golfer ever, maybe. But has his treatment of others made the world a better place? I know, it’s not his “job” to make the world a better place. Well, I disagree. I think we are all put here to make the world a better place, at least a little. Tiger and many of the other big names couldn’t be bothered by the fans on Wednesday. They couldn’t be bothered by the media.
Frankly, I’m kind of sad today about the realization that some of these guys couldn’t take 10 minutes out of their super important lives to sign autographs, or otherwise give lifetime memories to their fans. Yup, I’m sure it a is a pita to do. But, think about the power to make the world happier. Take 10 minutes to sign 100 signatures, and give 50-100 people lifetime memories. Or, walk back and forth in front of them (like one did on the bridge 4 times), and don’t even look them in the face…..
As for the match, I had to miss it to drive home from a huge family reunion. I did see 18, though. When Tiger backed away to check the wind 2-3 times before hitting into the green, I felt like I was watching a mortal, not Tiger. He looked done at that moment.
Woods putted very poorly compared to his standards. But he just played too conservatively and Yang brought it to him
As always Joe, I have never watched a single second of golf on TV. You are the only person to ever make it even remotely interesting.
For that, thank you.
So I live in Europe and just can’t watch really any sporting events live ever. Not a big fan of what they play over here…anyway, that was great Joe Poz. That was what I needed to know about Tiger losing in dramatic fashion. I soooo wanted him to win because I want him to catch Nicklaus, but that was the way I wanted to see that loss. He has gotten a bit stale recently really, just like Federer did as well…
Joe, do you think if you cloned yourself and brought up the clone on your own that he could write like you?
That was a delightful read. Thanks Poz.
Two things that stuck out to me at the finish:
1) On 17, I loved how Yang stood clearly in Tiger’s line of sight when he (Tiger) was putting. A bit of gamesmanship that Tiger was surely unaccustomed to.
2) I thought Tiger was a bit ungracious at the end. Instead of offering to finish out so that Yang could have his putt(s) for the championship (a foregone conclusion at that point) Tiger made Yang putt and then wait for him to finish before he could truly celebrate. A more fitting finish would have been for Tiger to putt out, and then let Yang have the stage.
Neuty, did that surprise you? Tiger not letting someone else have their moment, at his expense, was a surprise? The guy only cares about winning, nothing else. It’s part of what makes him great at golf.
Yeah…but it’s also what makes me look like a d-bag.
Er…
“Yeah, but it’s also what makes HIM look like a d-bag.”
Wow, whoops. Touche.
I didn’t watch any of the final round, didn’t know who won, assumed it was Tiger because he had the lead, it was a major and he doesn’t lose holding the lead after 54 holes. I found out what happened watching the Golf Channel last night. It wasn’t the score, it was Tiger being interviewed after the tournament. He looked like he was in shock, like he couldn’t fathom what happened, like he just shit out a leprechaun and couldn’t explain it.
Here’s how Tiger’s post-round interview could have gone . . .
“What really busted me was the lack of ‘IN THE HOLE’ shouts. Sure there were a few, but nowhere near as many as I need to shoot a subpar round. C’mon golf fans, you know those are really important. The ball just won’t drop without them.
“And where have my ‘YOU DA MAN’ guys gone? I felt totally alone out there. Friendless.
“I’m going to have to reassess the reasons I play this game; decide if I truly have chosen the right career.”
@Mike in MN
might want to climb down off your moral high horse. Tiger Woods donates millions of dollars to youth charities every year….. that’s far more valuable than signing autographs for rich white people at a golf tournament.
Joe,
As bad as he putted, if he had made only ONE of those previous 31 putts going to the 18th tee, he and Y.E. would have been tied. No one knows what would have happened if Tiger didn’t have to force a birdie, but it tells me Tiger can have the worst putting round I have ever seen him have and still come within a stroke of winning another major.
Great article. Shane Bacon is right. I am embarrassed to even consider myself a writer when I read your prose…
Thank you.
This might have been an interesting post, if golf were a sport.
Not only a sport, in 2016 golf will be an Olympic sport.
Joe,
I have never read anything that you have written, but will from now on.
I have passed this article on to everyone I know that plays the game so they can have the pleasure of reliving the final round.
Thanks for the enjoyment.
Beautiful, Joe….it was an amazing Sunday and you captured it perfectly
Tiger Woods always brings in the fans.
Good one Kevin. I agree, donating millions to charity is more important. That doesn’t mean that my point is invalid. Sorry, just bad logic on your part. And, no where did I say this was a moral (or even ethical) issue. I said I was sad that they weren’t more willing to interact with their fans, the fans that make them millionaires through their support of the game.
And, this wasn’t about “rich white people”. This was mostly about kids, kids who looked very happy when they got autographs, and very disappointed when they didn’t.
But, feel free to disagree. That’s your right.
Absolutely a wonderful column and great read. Loved your writing.
I admire Tiger for his golfing ability, but he does not have the graciousness of golfing greats of the past like Norman, Watson, Palmer and Nicklaus. He stood in Yang’s field of view on the tees, and quick-walked off the green on 17 when Yang was putting out. I coach high school athletes and we preach “Win with humility and lose with dignity.” Tiger has the first part down, but he and Mini-Me Stevie have a long way to go towards the second. Golf is unique among sports. Etiquette is a major part of the sport at all levels and in all situations. Tiger is most often compared with Phil, and many true golf fans respect and admire Phil for the grace and poise he showed on the green at Winged Foot after he lost the Open.
I just want to throw in there that Yang is *not* the first Asian golfer to win a major … just the first male Asian golfer to do so. I’m amazed in all the coverage of this that the increasingly dominant Korean female golfers are getting no mention.
I haven’t read the comments, so I assume the Posnanskian mindmeld wonderment has been pointed out (it’s like Bill Simmons when he started and before he became so widely read that the Hawthorne Effect kicked in) and I won’t repeat that (but it’s a pleasure to read and it’s also why some sports happenings are not complete until I can read this blog). Two primary points: 1) Minus the element of evil and the Voldemort clouds left to smother Kansas City sports for decades after, I waited for Tiger’s chip-in or miracle putt the same way I waited for Yankees’ home runs since, say, Wohlers-Leyritz. They were interrupted in 2001 and maybe gone forever in 2004, but I still fully expect them, and, again this year, expect the Yankees to win the World Series. But they haven’t come in recent years, and Tiger lost a Sunday lead in a major, and 2) that makes Tiger’s accomplishments all the more amazing. 36-1 since Ed Fiori? 14-1 on leading major s
Sundays. I was pulling for Yang (and Vijay before that, while he outplayed Tiger on Saturday — and thought he should have waived his idiot putter during a Tiger swing so that Stevie would throw Vijay’s putter in Lake Ovaltine), and I’m happy he won. I’m glad *somebody* overtook Tiger. And that fact that Tiger could have lost any of those 14, which didn’t seem possible until this PGA, that he *could* have lost any of those but didn’t, that he’s human and that the wins aren’t inevitable, that 19 is not inevitable, makes his achievement all the more amazing. Thanks, Joe.