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Flatstick failure Frustrated Fulke laments some million-dollar lipouts
Updated: Monday January 08, 2001 8:41 PM
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Three times, Pierre Fulke had short putts that would have drawn him even with Steve Stricker. He never caught up in the Match Play Championship, leading him to put a new spin on an old golf saying. "I couldn't buy a putt -- not even with a million dollars," he said. When a 4-footer lipped out on No. 6, Fulke was disgusted. When another 4-footer slid by on the right at No. 12, he was shocked. And when his 12-footer failed to fall on the 14th, he looked helpless. The putts didn't go. But when Fulke looks back on his week, he'll have 500,000 reasons to smile. "It's been a great week," Fulke said after his 2-and-1 loss to the American. "It's only January 7th and I've already got a half a million dollars." It wasn't the $1 million payoff that Stricker received, but the Swede's play this week at Metropolitan Golf Club virtually assured him a spot on Europe's Ryder Cup team. "That's great, the Ryder Cup at the end of the year is a big goal now that I can prepare properly, and yes, hopefully, have a good season again," said Fulke, who has just begun designing golf courses in his native Sweden. On Sunday, he said he was the architect of his own demise, failing to take the first 18 holes of the 36-hole final seriously enough. "I've got only myself to blame," said Fulke, 29. "I played really crap for the first 18 holes today. Dropping three shots in a row from 15 to 17 wasn't very good." Fulke was 2-down after the morning 18, managing to stop Stricker's momentum with a birdie on the 18th. "I had trouble concentrating this morning," said Fulke. "I knew it was going to be 36 holes and I thought the holes in the beginning didn't really matter because there were so many holes to go. It was stupid I guess, but that's the way I felt. I couldn't really focus on what I had to do." While Fulke struggled with the short putts, Stricker was making everything in sight. "Steve putted great -- he holed some key putts where I thought he was out of it and he drained a 20-footer for par," he said. "I missed my birdie and that's the way it goes." But don't feel sorry for him. Admitting he loves playing on the sandbelt courses of Melbourne -- "the condition, the design of these courses are the best in the world," -- Fulke says he's satisfied. "When I go back to the hotel tonight, I'll have a shower and relax a little bit," said Fulke. "Before I go to sleep, I think I'll be pretty pleased."
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