David Toms lost the Match Play Championship to Tiger Woods because, unlike his opponent, he couldn't find the strength to play out of La Costa's nasty rough

Courtesy of ABC

By Kent Cayce
One of Golf Magazine's Top 100 Teachers

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Watching David Toms lose the Match Play final to Tiger Woods by flubbing a 20-yard pitch reminded me of one of golf's most overlooked facts: Power isn't just desirable off the tee, it's a key element of the short game, too. Toms is not a fitness dynamo like Woods, but he should be in good enough shape to get up and down from gnarly greenside rough, which is what he needed to do to stay alive on the 35th hole. However, he took too short a swing on the shot and didn't have the leverage to drive his wedge through the thick grass and make solid contact. As a result he produced a weak floater that stopped on the fringe (above). Last Saturday, Woods faced a similar shot twice, on the 17th and 18th holes, during his thrilling semifinal victory over Adam Scott, and he used his enormous strength and a big, bold swing to hit superb blasts onto the green. Woods, who has put on 25 pounds of muscle since turning pro in 1996, didn't add that bulk through some sort of secret workout regimen. At a Tour event a few years ago Tiger and I were the only ones in the hotel fitness center at 6 a.m., and I watched him run through a basic program of cardio on the stationary bike, strength training on the universal weight machine and a little stretching . Here's the real secret to Woods's success: While he's sweating, his peers are sleeping.

Kent Cayce, 59, is the director of instruction at the Laurel Golf Center in Laurel, MD., and is one of Golf Magazine's Top 100 Teachers.

Issue date: March 10, 2003