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Season-ending thoughts
Posted: Friday November 05, 1999 03:43 PM
O.K., people, this is the final Mailbag of the year. If you're feeling suicidal, call the SI 800 number. There are trained professionals who will talk you through your grief. However, I'll be back in a matter of weeks for dot-com's slick Year in Review package, so stay tuned! It seems that Colin Montgomerie has had enough of the rude American crowds.
He is cutting his American schedule to just the majors and WGC events. I may be
one of the few Monty fans in this country, and it's sad that people don't see
this guy as someone who speaks his mind and doesn't mindlessly sugarcoat every
statement. It will be sad not to see him on the U.S. tour as often, but I'm glad
he's telling the U.S. golf fans to stick it. Do you think other Euros will join
him in limiting their American schedule as a statement to American golf
fans?
No. There's too much money to be made in the big U.S. events for the top players to skip them. Monty, for whatever reasons, is the only foreigner who has really incurred the wrath of the yahoos in our galleries. I must admit partial culpability -- I use Monty as a punchline here all the time, but only out of sheer laziness, because he's such an easy target. Like you, I really do enjoy his presence, even when he is at his crustiest. Sure, he's been rude to me on a couple of occasions, and, yes, he can be a boor to fans and tournament officials, but in general he is a very sarcastic, funny guy who is obsessed with playing great golf. What's wrong with that? We all know who No. 1 is this year. My question is: Who's No. 2 (and I don't
mean on the money list)? I'm not sure what happened to David Duval, but he
certainly hasn't seemed like Tiger's main challenger in a while. Any other
contenders?
There is no No. 2. Woods is so far ahead of everyone else that the best these other schlumps can do is hope to be No. 3. Our man Monty has played the best golf in the world this year besides Woods, but until he proves himself over here (which, after all, is where three of the four majors are played) his credentials will be shaky. Of course, if the Ryder Cup had been a stroke-play event, he would have won by six shots, and his performance there certainly enhanced his reputation. If I need a 66 to save my life I'd probably pick Monty -- as long as he got to play in some unpronounceable town in Europe against a bunch of guys named Sven. I agree, it has been painful to watch Duval these past six months. His season basically ended on the back nine at Augusta, when he lost control of his game, making only one par and taking that devastating double bogey at the 11th hole. He never regained his form or his spirit, which showed in his self-immolation on the weekend at the U.S. Open. Next year will be a crucial one for Duval's reputation -- will he meet Woods' challenge or will he become just another talented guy happy to win a few tournaments here and there? I think at this moment (following the first round at Valderrama) Vijay Singh is the second biggest force in golf. It just seems like he brings it week after week. When he is putts well he will contend, period. He makes Monty look loveable, but still, it's time to recognize VJ as the talent that he is. Do you think Tom Lehman will get back on track after his shoulder surgery? He
hasn't come back as strongly as I had hoped. I worry he may end up like Paul
Azinger (from great to
mediocre).
The Azinger analogy isn't bad, but Lehman didn't miss nearly as much time, and his wounds don't run as deep, physically or emotionally. I think Lehman's problems have almost nothing to do with his little shoulder injury. His inability to win -- the guy's last W was at the 1996 Tour Championship -- is basically all in his head. Remember, Lehman wandered the golf landscape for over a decade before he found himself as a player. Then, practically overnight, he was winning (and winning big) on Tour. This sounds like total psychobabble but I've actually discussed it with Lehman: He never quite believed he was the player he was. Dig? It was like, even for all his accomplishments, he still saw himself as that struggling mini-tour player, and when he fell on some hard times in recent years he couldn't get rid of the doubts, because they had been there all along. There is certainly nothing wrong with his swing -- he hit it great at times this year. I think Lehman, more than any other player, will benefit from the Ryder Cup. I think he was reminded that he belongs among the game's best, and I expect him to finally get the results next year, especially early in the season. Remember the monster 1992 Fred Couples had, winning two early tournaments and then the Masters? That was due in large part to a carryover of the success he had at the 1991 Ryder Cup, when Couples played the most fearless golf of his career. Look for Lehman to duplicate that trajectory. A gap wedge is something that I have thought about adding to my bag. I now
play with a sand wedge, a pitching wedge and a lob wedge. I would like to know
if a gap wedge would be helpful, or should I learn to use what I currently have
more
efficiently?
Gap wedges are O.K., but I much prefer Banana Republic wedges. But seriously
folks ... You should just learn to control the distance on your pitching wedge.
I obviously don't know how you hit it, Mike, but for me, I get 100-105 yards
with a full swing on my sand wedge and about 120 with my pitching wedge. A gap
wedge, then, has a usefulness in only a very narrow range. If I've got 113 yards
to the hole I just choke up on my PW a little, take a tad of juice off my swing,
and voilà, birdie putt. Assuming you only allow yourself 14 clubs, adding
a gap wedge means you have to drop something else. A lob wedge is far more
useful (from off the green to 75 yards), as is one more low iron or a versatile
fairway wood. Just try to get more out of your existing tools -- that's my motto
for next year's
'Bag.
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