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Shotgun Start: Puzzling putters; cult of Goydos
category: Golf
14.05.2008 01:26
CBSSports.com staffers Ross Devonport and Steve Elling take a scattershot look at three compelling and timely topics in the game.
| 1. Sergio Garcia, one of the shakiest putters on the PGA Tour for the past several years, wards off his demons to win the Players Championship, the biggest title of his career. Do you guys believe it is it possible, by sheer will or improved mechanics, for a bad putter to improve markedly? Will his success stick with the short stick? | |
| Steve Elling | Ross Devonport |
| I have always maintained that bad putters cannot be cured, and that only Band-Aids can be applied to marginally fix the symptoms. Among star players, only Vijay Singh was somehow transformed from being a poor putter to a reliable one, though lately he's not making much of anything when it matters. Garcia had two good putting rounds (Thursday and Sunday) and two awful ones. It's just that the rest of his game was so solid, he stayed in contention anyway. It's hard to grasp that the winners of the two biggest events of the year, the Masters and Players, ranked almost at the bottom of the putting stats for the year. Whether Trevor Immelman and Garcia can replicate that success consistently will be a huge storyline in 2008. I admit, I am skeptical. | I'm a decent putter, and I can tell you that feel on the greens is just something you either have or you don't. Sergio had an OK putting day last weekend, but it was his stellar ball striking that won him the tournament, not his performance on the greens. Garcia and Immelman are poor putters who will have good weeks on the greens now and again, and their overall game will get them in contention on occasion. Thing is, good putters always seem to be around the top of the leaderboard, even when their game isn't particularly on. That maximizes their chances for victory every week, while the bad putters must have everything going well to contend. |
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