|
1. The delicate dance
You saw the agonizing tango of tensely talking it over Jon Rahm and caddie Adam Hayes engaged in before the Spaniard ultimately ignored his looper’s advice and sent his hopes of winning The Players to a watery grave at the 11th hole, Sunday.
Now, here’s some additional post mortem, courtesy of Golf Digest’s Sam Weinman and veteran caddie Kip Henley.
- Henley: “Ninety-eight percent of America looks at that and knows Adam was making the right call,” Henley said. “Birdie is great, but par doesn’t kill you, and a good caddie is able to look at the situation without as much emotion as the player.”
- Weinman: “So Hayes does fight-at least to a point. As Henley said, the odds are always stacked against a caddie when player digs in his heels as well. He says a caddie wins these arguments about 10 percent of the time, so at some point, a caddie has to contemplate caving. That’s what you’re seeing when Rahm starts explaining why he doesn’t feel comfortable laying up because it will leave him an awkward lie. At that point it doesn’t matter that Hayes is still in the right. He knows he can’t win.”
- Henley: “The whole time you’re fighting you better be aware where your guy is leaning because if you know he’s not coming over, you need to start backpedaling. You then need to make him feel like it’s a good decision. Everybody does that. You read your guy, and you find a way to change your tune.”
2. A fresh mental approach for McIlroy
Credit to Brian Keogh of the Irish Independent for including this Rory McIlroy quote in his piece on what’s going on between the Ulsterman’s ears…
- “It’s just another step in the journey. I’ve been preaching perspective, and I feel like I’ve got a pretty good handle on that perspective.
- “It’s a glimpse. My career is hopefully going to last another 15 or 20 years, so one tournament or one day or one month in those 20 years is nothing. It’s just a glimpse. So it doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t change who I am.
- “It’s another step in the right direction. But that’s all it is to me. It’s a huge tournament to win.
- “I’ve just got to do my thing, and if I go and I concentrate on me, control what I can do, good golf and good attitude takes care of the rest.
- “And if I go to Augusta with a similar golf game to what I have now and the attitude I’ve shown over the first few weeks of the year, I think I’ll have a great chance.”
3. Tiger’s slow build to Augusta
ESPN’s Bob Harig with a lengthy look at the state of the Tiger with the Masters less than a month away…
- “Woods had no three-putts, which is an improvement from six three-putts at both Riviera and Mexico City.”
- “But he was just 70th in the field in strokes gained approach, an unusually poor number for him. Woods hit 52 of 72 greens for the week and had fewer than 30 putts in only the final round.”
- “And yet, he had one of his best weeks of the year off the tee, finishing fifth in the field in strokes gained and taking some confidence with him.”
- “I’m excited the way I drove it,” said Woods, who dropped from 11th to 13th in the world ranking. “I drove the ball well this week. I drove it not quite as long on the weekend with a little bit cooler temperatures, but I was driving it pretty straight, and I was able to shape the golf ball both ways with all three of my woods, which was good to see.”
4. Reed’s favorite green jacket memory
Per Tara Sullivan at the Boston Globe (and from Reed’s Monday conference call)
“Asked his favorite memory in the jacket, Reed told a story about his young daughter.”
“It would have had to have been right after we won and right after I got done talking in the press conference, right after we finished,” he said. “I went back to Butler Cabin, and my daughter was there, and she just came over and gave me a big hug and told me I did it and told me she loved me. That is by far the best experience I’ve ever had with the green jacket. That’s a memory and a moment that I’ll never forget, no matter if I were to win multiple other green jackets, any other tournament I were to win, or anything like that. It’s going to be hard to be able to top a moment like that that I was able to cherish with the little one.”
|
19th Hole2 weeks ago
19th Hole2 weeks ago
