Tim Herron blew his opportunity to win the Hope by losing his cool and making the wrong decision while trying to pitch out of a rock pile

Courtesy of CBS

By Rick Grayson
One of Golf Magazine's Top 100 Teachers

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Jay Haas made the right decision in going for the green on Sunday at PGA West's watery par-5 18th. Haas had been hitting beautiful long-iron shots all week and was tied for the lead with Mike Weir, who had laid up. Haas was playing to win. He dunked the shot and finished two strokes back, but a four-iron from 194 yards is a routine play any pro would try. Tim Herron, on the other hand, made a reckless decision that cost him a shot at victory. Tied for the lead with Haas while playing the par-4 16th, he flew his approach from a fairway bunker over the green onto the side of a hill, his ball lodging under a couple of boulders. After taking a penalty for an unplayable lie, Herron had to then drop onto rocky hardpan. Visibly flustered, he risked further penalty by cavalierly removing loose impediments, and then he made a fatal gaffe by opting for an aggressive recovery shot. Herron swung hard and shallow, guaranteeing that a mishit would be long -- the one place he couldn't miss, with a canal sitting beyond the green. A gentle, steep swing would have been a more defensive play, because a mishit would be short of the green in the rough. Herron bladed his shot into the water, leading to a killing quadruple-bogey 8.

Rick Grayson, 47, is an instructor at the Connie Morris Learning Center in Springfield, Mo., and one of Golf Magazine's Top 100 Teachers.

Issue date: February 10, 2003