"Maybe it’s time to stop having so much fun and start winning majors again."
Robert Lusetich is fascinated by a recurring theme from the American golfers who almost won the Open and asks, "Which of them is going to have the constitution in the cauldron of the back nine on Sunday afternoon to win a major?"
Phil can win them when he’s in the mood.
Otherwise, he’s happy to just have “fun,” a word he used about a dozen times Sunday to describe his final round.
“Oh, man,” he said, his eyes widening like they do. “That was some of the most fun I’ve had competitively.”
What is this, a theme park, Phil?
And about Rickie Fowler:
Fowler was two shots behind Clarke. He needed to be bold. Instead, his first putt, from off the green, came up about 12 feet short. He missed the next one, too.
But he wasn’t taking it too hard.
“All in all, it was a fun week,” he said.
And maybe that’s the point.
Maybe it’s time to stop having so much fun and start winning majors again.
Huggan: Three Americans impressed me hugely. If there was a point to be made, they made it. Phil was terrific for 63 holes, but then turned into "Old Phil" for the last nine. After showing me he really can play links golf in a wind, he reverted to type, missed the inevitable short putt, got too aggressive and, presto, didn't win. As for Johnson, get your money on now. He will win the Open at St. Andrews four years from now. I'll be shocked if he doesn't.
Elling: Dustin Johnson has been in the final group in three different majors over the past two seasons. That, alone, means something. Will he get over this setback? Why not? He always has. Not a deep thinker, per se.
Huggan: And Fowler? Like I said, loved watching him play. It looked like he was from, oh, somewhere like Northern Ireland. Whereas Rory is more suited to golf American-style. Call it irony. I like Johnson's play, even if I'm not a huge fan of his technique. That shut face worries me. But he has the perfect game for the Old Course -- see John Daly 1995.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at 08:27 AM
Reader Comments (47)
The 'fun' word kept coming up in the context of how challenging and demanding the golf and conditions were. It doesn't imply a lack of effort.
And for the record Johnson was in it and was applying pressure on the back 9. Until the big brain freeze on 14 anyway.
I imagine Phil took some inspiration that he may still have a chance to win an Open, and that he can still compete in majors. To say Phil needs to be in the mood to win a major seems to do him a disservice. I don't think his record is possible without a strong competitive bent.
Tiger gets ripped at Augusta for being pissy, Phil gets ripped for being sunny.
Ernie Els could not bring himself to speak to the media after letting the US Open get away last year for example.
Some gave him a pass, some criticized his not speaking. He should have spoken but the message to me is that he cares deeply and worked too hard...
Nicklaus and Woods do not have an exclusive on history.
James "not a Phil fan" H.
I can see how Phil could have just decided to play a bit too loose on the last few holes, and let Clarke have his moment.
And It was late enough in the game,that the OB whack by DJ may have been a part of the let. I don't know. DJ and PM are close, so it would not surprise me too much if DJ saw the handwriting on the wall if Clarke could win it, and bam, OB....whoops....game over
All something to think about.
A note from a true professional, but your mileage may vary. And it doesn't just apply to professional athletes, btw.
After a hard loss you should shake hands with your competitor (if that's tradition), and you should meet with the media. If your pissy or upset though, I get it, but then again Tiger's tv interview after the Masters bugged me not a whit. Phil laughing as he was walking up 18 though, bugged me a lot.
Don't even remotely think he blew it on purpose though, think it's just hard to sustain a charge all the way through a round.
Will you promise to hold your breath until Tiger makes this big comeback you're hoping for?
And here's a news flash for you:
Phil's record is already history making. Compared to every other guy that gets his card and plays on the PGA tour, he's in the top .5%. (Yes not top 5%, top point 5 percent).
Just caught your post. Spot on.
The guy they were all chasing went out in 33.
No way, These guys do not think like that. Who would know what Clarke would do with the rest of his round anyway? Just ridiculous.Been to Roswell NM lately?
And Danny Boy I agreed with you (and there are a lot of examples), but to some here Tiger's the devil incarnate, rather than a person with good points and bad
I am going to go out on a limb and say you don't know a thing about Tiger's DNA or anyone else on the tour. I can say that by your one comment, you do have the dominant gene for being condescending. I pay attention to what the media reports as well as what the players say, so it's just my opinion. I gave up kool-aid when I was 11.
As for love, LOL, that's funny. Go watch a re-run of the season finale of the Oprah Winfrey show and I'll be more than happy to send a box of tissues for you, in case you run out.
Do you need to play the post round interviews with Kostis and Macatee backwards to hear him complimenting other players? Otherwise, there was not one syllable of acknowledgement to his competitors.
With respect to YE Yang, I remember a lot of unsportsmanlike gamesmanship exhibited by Tiger which, amusingly, Yang didn't seem to notice. And with respect to complimenting Yang, I can't remember a thing. I Remember Tiger griping a bit, producing short answers to questions, and then hastily shoving Elin and their kids into a courtesy minivan to bee-line it to his G5 to get the hell out of there.
Graciousness, not.
I bet you've never won anything in your meager little life.
Or probably it was this quote from his press conference.
"Well, if you look at him as a player overall, he's always been a wonderful ball-striker. And I think the only thing that's really held him back was the flat stick.
And today he went out there and executed his game plan. He was driving the ball beautifully, hitting his irons in the correct spots. He didn't really make a lot of putts except for a couple par putts here and there.
But he was doing exactly what you have to do, especially in these conditions. It was so blustery out there, nobody went low. I thought today if I shot under par I would win the tournament. And that would have been the number.
But it was just a tough day. He did things he needed to do. He was driving the ball in play, hitting the ball in the correct parts of the green and giving himself looks. And he did all the things he needed to do at the right time and just had that one hiccup there at 17. But other than that, you look at his round, I think he played beautifully."
As for Fowler, here's a young American playing on a course and in conditions entirley alien to him. He could have adopted the McIlroy approach and been blown (literally) away. Instead he chose to embrace the conditions and try to enjoy the challenge. He succeeded. Again, a good thing.
It is quite possible to enjoy the competition but still be gutted to lose. Had either come out and told the press how disappointed to lose they were then the story would have been of ungracious, sore losers. The criticism is bonkers.
As to digsouth's conspiracy theory (PM threw it to let his mate win) it is, of course, utterly absurd. Particularly as if anything was calculated to test Clarke's bottle and risk him blowing up it was for one of the world's best golfers and a multiple major winner to make a charge and tie the lead on the front 9. Clarke not only withstood that test but responded (by matching PM's eagle on 7). I'd suggest that the PM threw it deliberately theory does fall into the ungracious loser category.