Copycat game? Sure, golf is one, too
Like many other sports, especially at the professional level, golf is a copycat game.
How many times have we seen a team in the NFL switch to a non-conventional alignment or play and then see that switch show up in a handful of other games before very long?
It happens all the time and we really shouldn’t be surprised.
It happens frequently in golf as well. The pros see their competitors putting a new club in play, they make note and are always open to finding new tools that make the game a little easier.
Take the example of Jason Dufner. Last year’s PGA Tour sensation, who posted his first two wins on tour, has struggled this year. One of the reasons for the tough start is that he hasn’t made putts. He’s ranked 133rd in the strokes gained putting category at -.215, meaning he’s losing ground to the field on the greens.
After not putting very well the first two rounds of this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans, he switched to the putter Adam Scott used to win the Masters a couple weeks ago, the Scotty Cameron Futura X Prototype.
The only difference was this one was a conventional length and had the oversized SuperStroke grip.
It turned out to be a good move, at least for one round. He needed just 25 putts in Saturday’s third round, his best day of the week and he missed only two times inside 10 feet.
While he was pleased with the 65, he’s not pleased with how he’s playing.
“After two days, I just kind of went with it because it didn’t really matter – it couldn’t get much worse than the first two days,” said Dufner, who is at 8-under 208 going into today’s final round. “Sometimes when you’re struggling with your putting, a change like that, to see something different, can make a difference. I haven’t been putting well at all this year.”
Is Glover back?
Remember Lucas Glover, the long-hitting, soft-spoken, deep-drawling South Carolinian who shocked the world by winning the U.S. Open in 2009 at rain-soaked Bethpage Black?
He seemed poised to find his way to a place among the game’s elite, but never really capitalized. He battled injuries, including a left-knee injury in January of 2012 while body surfing in Hawaii that sidelined him until late March.
That injury plagued him last year and he had his worst season as a professional. Seeing him on top of the leaderboard this week reminded me of a story about his grandfather. When Glover played in the Sunnehanna Amateur at Sunnehanna Country Club in Johnstown in 2001, his grandfather, Dick Hendley, walked the hilly course with him every day.
Hendley is a name that might be familiar to older Steelers’ fans. He was a star blocking back at Clemson University and was drafted by the Steelers and played for them in 1951 before becoming sidelined by an injury.
On the third day of the tournament, I was riding around in a cart, following Glover. As we started the uphill climb on the ninth fairway, I came upon Hendley, who asked very nicely if he could hitch a ride up the hill.
We not only rode that hole, but most of the back nine, too. I told Glover about the meeting and our day a few years later when I ran into him at a PGA Tour event. He looked at me and smiled, saying “That was very nice of you. I guess all you media guys aren’t bad!”
Record numbers
The United States Golf Association announced that there were 9,860 entrants registered for the U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club in June. That eclipses the 9,086 entrants for the 2009 Open at Bethpage Black.
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