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No day like Tuesday
Posted: Thursday March 23, 2000 01:31 PM
Sports Illustrated senior writer Gary Van Sickle will answer your questions every Thursday during the golf season. Click here to send him a question. The best day to watch professional golf may be on Tuesdays, practice-round day. You don't have to put up with big crowds and you get to see the players be themselves in a more relaxed atmosphere. I was reminded of this at last year's the Players Championship at the TPC at Sawgrass, the infamous Stadium Course. I caught up with a foursome of Fred Couples, Tom Kite, Justin Leonard and Mark Calcavecchia on the back nine early Tuesday afternoon. I think there was some kind of game or wager on the tee at the par-3 17th, the island-green hole, although I never found out what. Couples was up first, probably hitting only a pitching wedge. He made his usual relaxed, damn-near-double-jointed swing. The ball covered the flag all the way. He backed one in for an ace there during the tournament a few years ago and almost did it again -- this shot stopped three inches short of the hole. Kite stepped up and also hit a beautiful shot that drifted slightly right, hit the tier and trickled back to inside two feet right of the pin. Then it was Calcavecchia's turn. His shot was right all the way, landing in the rough just right of the green but on the edge of a mound. The ball hopped to the left, onto the putting surface, and the combination of backspin and slope made the ball roll down next to Kite's shot. It was a poor shot that got lucky -- hey, I once made a hole-in-one when my tee shot missed the green, so let's not diss luck. Leonard, looking at three kick-in birdies, acted thoroughly disgusted by Calc's ugly ball. He put his hands on his hips in mock anger, tossed his own golf ball into the lake in front of the tee in a "Why bother?" gesture, then gave Calc a friendly shove. The gallery laughed. Leonard teed up another ball and prepared to swing. He was half a second from pulling the trigger on his backswing when a youngster, about two years old, broke the silence by suddenly crying out, "Noooo!" At first there was stunned silence, as if somebody had just sneezed in church. Then Leonard stepped back from his ball, chuckling, and quipped, "I've felt that way a lot of times on this tee." The gallery laughed again. It was the kind of thing you'll never see on a tournament day ... unless you're following Lee Trevino. And now, letters:
If Tiger Woods smokes Augusta National again this year, do you think big changes are in store for the course? Like, say, growing rough, moving the 17th tee back so the Eisenhower Tree is a factor, planting a few more trees at 17 and 15, and moving the second tee back? Last year's Masters probably featured the biggest changes in tournament history since they reversed the nines. I don't think we'll see any more big changes for a while. The course is already dangerously close to resembling a paint-by-numbers project.
Why is Johnny Miller not playing golf? He is not that old. Why did he quit while others like Jack Nicklaus and Arnie Palmer continue to participate in their sport? Johnny can't putt. His last gasp was a Shell's Wonderful World of Golf match against Jack at Olympic Club, Johnny's original home course. Call them the yips, the flinches, spasms or hand-grenade hands, he can't putt consistently and sometimes putts embarrassingly badly. If you can't putt, you can't play. Miller also has bad knees and circulatory problems in his legs, which was why he faded out of competitive Tour golf in his 40s. One of the best iron players ever, Miller can still play tee-to-green well enough to compete with the geezers. He knows his putting stroke won't work on the green, so who needs that aggravation when he's already got the best job in golf?
Is it just me, or is Greg Norman really avoiding playing events that Tiger has entered? And how badly do you beat that Alan Shipnuck guy anyway? It's just you. Since hurting his shoulder, Norman has played a limited schedule. Tiger doesn't exactly wear out his clubs in PGA Tour events, either, so their paths simply don't cross that often. SI writer Alan Shipnuck and I have played golf together only once. He's a high handicapper with potential; my handicap waffles around 1 or 2. Frankly, I think Shipwreck is avoiding me.
How can proven players, such as Davis Love III, overcome the intimidation factor brought on by Tiger? Call Jeff Gillooly (who now calls himself Jeff Stone). He's known for his club selections.
Why does the PGA penalize a player who hits a beautiful drive only to find his ball landed in a divot? It would make sense that the player be allowed to remove the ball from the divot and place it alongside the divot so he can have the best lie possible for his second shot. Anyone who's hit into a divot would agree. Except golf is about playing it as it lies. That means playing it out of bad lies, too. If you let players move the ball out of divots, you might as well play lift, clean and place. In fact, you might as well use wooden tees to tee your ball up in the fairway. Make the cup wider. Allow do-overs. Play defense. Use bodychecking. Sorry, that just wouldn't be golf.
What's gotten into Paul Lawrie? Having difficulty adjusting to sudden fame? What fame? Jean Van de Velde is way more famous for losing last year's British Open than Lawrie is for winning it. Actually, I thought Lawrie was doing O.K. He was in position to beat Tiger in a quarterfinal match of the World Match Play event at La Costa until he realized what he was doing. Then he couldn't find a fairway with a Sherpa guide and Woods pulled out a win. He also played pretty strong golf at last year's Ryder Cup. And before he won the Open, Lawrie wasn't exactly dominating the European Tour. His British Open win was impressive for his finish but also, given Carnoustie's idiotic setup, it was something of an accident. Lawrie's a legitimate talent, however. Give him time.
Click here to send your golf question to Gary Van Sickle.
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