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Olazabal driven to win
Posted: Saturday April 06, 2002 8:28 PM
By Scott Michaux
The Augusta Chronicle
The presumption has been that the expanded yardage at Augusta National might eliminate the short- and medium-range hitters from contending at the Masters.
But it will take more than 285 extra yards to keep Jose Maria Olazabal from expanding his green jacket wardrobe.
"He's the kind of guy who in a barroom fight you'd have to kill him to stop him," said Butch Harmon, the instructor who counts Olazabal among his students, along with Tiger Woods. "He's got the heart of a lion. He's every bit the competitor Tiger Woods is. He doesn't quite have Tiger's talent, but he's got the same heart and same desire."
Desire certainly counts for something at Augusta National. It's desire that helped Olazabal win his second green jacket in 1999, four years after many people had written him off because of serious foot and back problems.
Olazabal has a new desire these days - distance and accuracy off the tee. At age 36, he figured he couldn't live without those anymore.
"That is something that I have to do," Olazabal said. "I have to improve my driving if I want to compete against the rest."
With Harmon's help, Olazabal adopted a new swing philosophy that comes straight out of a car commercial - wider is better. A wider takeaway on his backswing has created a more consistent swing and more consistent contact with the center of the club face. The upshot: An average of 20 more yards per drive and more tee shots in the fairway.
The results have been so good that Olazabal ranks among the top 50 on the PGA Tour in driving distance. He won the Buick Invitational on an expanded Torrey Pines course that measures 7,600 yards.
Harmon attributes it to heart and hard work.
"At Pebble Beach we literally were on the range every night 'til dark," Harmon said. "It was cold and freezing, and he was hitting balls 'til dark. Every single night. Then he goes to San Diego and wins."
Even so, Olazabal isn't ready to declare himself a new player. The changes in his swing still feel foreign to him. The comfort he feels on the practice tee doesn't carry over into live rounds when he has to play with the consequences of a bad shot.
"I've been using the other swing for 30 years, so it's not something that's going to go away in a couple months," Olazabal said. "We're working on it, but there's still a long way to go, I think."
As for his decision to alter his lifelong driving habits, Olazabal said the changes to his favorite golf course didn't force the issue.
"It just happens that both things collided on time," he said. "I think it's going to be a must to hit a longer ball and a straighter ball on that golf course now. I was going to be hitting longer irons to those greens now, so driving is going to turn out to be a primary thing. Obviously the chipping and putting has always been a very important thing over there, but driving has become more and more important."
Now that Olazabal combines both elements in his repertoire, the naysayers against the medium hitters at the Masters shouldn't discount his chances.
"He's the kind of guy you can't ever rule out," Harmon said. "Augusta has always been a long hitter's tournament and he's won two of them. He's such a tenacious competitor, has such a great short game and is such a great pressure putter, you just can't rule him out, period. Having said that, he is hitting the ball farther and driving it better, which gives him a better chance."
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