Roberts Rules

The masters favors powerful, high-ball hitters—guys like David Duval, Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods—but a creaky 45-year-old singles hitter, Loren Roberts, tied for third in Augusta this year. Roberts also finished among the top 10 at the U.S. and British Opens, and he put on a clinic of course management and putting at the Greater Milwaukee Open, where he coasted to an eight-shot victory. As the best golfers keep getting younger, Roberts rose 12 spots on the money list from 1999, to 18th, and established himself as the oldest player among the game's elite.

At 6'2" and 205 pounds, Roberts should be a long hitter, but he's not, averaging 257.9 yards off the tee, 192nd on Tour. His low ball flight makes it difficult to hold firm greens, and his wedge game is erratic. However, Roberts compensates by maximizing his assets. Here is his survival guide in the age of Tiger. Putting "Most guys don't know how to practice. Even on tour, I see players putting 15-footer after 15-footer. There's little percentage in that because even the best putter makes only half of his six-footers. What's important is to get your long putts close, and to focus on not missing from inside four feet. So the bulk of my practice consists of long lags and a bunch of short putts."

Course management "The length of my approaches and the fact that I'm not Seve around the greens prevents me from going pin hunting. My priority is putting the ball on the middle of the green and getting the putter in my hand." Equipment "I stay on top of what's new. At the start of this season I got a new driver with a higher center of gravity and a shaft that was one quarter inch longer than my old one. For many years, because of my low ball flight, I used a balata ball that spun a lot, but balls that spin don't give extra distance. This season, though, I found a ball with an elastomer cover that goes farther and spins nearly as much as my old one. The combination of the new ball and driver gives me eight extra yards off the tee."

Scheduling "It's hard to go low enough on courses with firm greens because I can't stop the ball close enough to the hole. But firm greens don't bother me as much at majors because the premium is on making par. Where I get killed by Tiger and other young guys is on the par-5s. So I go to courses that have either really long par-5s or really short ones that even I can reach in two."

[This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine or PDF.]