Steve Lowery's double eagle and thrilling stretch run at the International was proof that the Zone is not something golfers only imagine

Courtesy of CBS

By Lynn Marriott
One of Golf Magazine's Top 100 Teachers

It's not a question of if someone is going to play in the Zone for 18 holes and shoot a 54 or better, but when it will happen. Steve Lowery's thrilling stretch at the International makes me more certain than ever that it's going to happen sooner rather than later. Hey, if Lowery, a potbellied 41-year-old with only two career wins, can go so deep into the Zone that he can birdie from a pond, hole out a wedge shot for eagle and jar a 207-yard six-iron (above) for double-eagle, then someone more physically gifted can stay in the Zone for a full round.

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STOP SIGNS Superlow scores would be more common if pros really wanted to shoot them. Very few players understand how much skill and potential they have, so their goals aren't lofty enough. Asked if he was surprised by his double eagle, Lowery said, "Yeah, shocked." Why? Annika Sorenstam and Tiger Woods think they can birdie every hole. It shouldn't take an odd scoring system that induces an all-or-nothing attitude to inspire middling pros to think big. Another roadblock is that only a handful of pros do the self-analysis that's necessary after playing and practicing to learn how they get into the Zone and what they do while there.

SHARK ATTACK Watching Greg Norman climb to within a point of the lead on Sunday and then fade to fourth reminded me of the fatal flaw that has caused many of his collapses. Norman doesn't always acknowledge his flaws, so he doesn't have a chance to fix them. Norman might not have come unglued at the '96 Masters, losing a six-shot lead on Sunday, had he admitted his game was coming apart and then found a way to fix it. Before the final round of the 1996 U.S. Women's Open, Sorenstam was so worried about holding her three-shot lead that she asked Pia Nilsson, the Swedish national team coach, for help. Nilsson offered Sorenstam some calming techniques -- talk slowly and count your steps instead of your strokes while walking -- and Sorenstam cruised to a six-shot victory.

SEOUL SEARCHING Five years ago the LPGA had one South Korean, Pearl Sinn, and she was 151st in earnings. This year the tour has 12 Koreans, and after Mi Hyun Kim's second win in three weeks (and the third straight by a Korean), four of the top nine money winners are from Korea. What's behind the sudden success? A relentless work ethic that makes other LPGA players marvel. It might sound like stereotyping, but the Koreans, as a whole, flat outwork their peers, sometimes logging twice as many hours on the practice tee. I've witnessed this when coaching Grace Park, the predominantly Korean UCLA teams in the mid-'90s and many non-Korean amateurs and pros.

Lynn Marriott is a co-owner of Coaching For the Future, a golf education company in Phoenix, and one of Golf Magazine's Top 100 teachers.

Issue date: August 12, 2002