I feel so sorry for Adam Scott. 10 under par, leading by four shots with four holes to go, it looked like the championship was all done and dusted. Commentators were dwelling on what people down in Australia would be doing at 3am in the morning. There were close up camera shots of Scott's name already pencilled on the winner's medal, ready to be engraved. Finally, Adam Scott would fufill all his potential and capture his first major.
I do no know if it was a foolish decision or just an uncharacteristic error brought on by nerves, but Scott's second shot on 15 missed left of the green and slowly trickled into one of Royal Lytham's 200-plus pot bunkers. He failed to get up and down for par and this moment would mark the rapid decline of what should of been Scott's finest week of golf.
I was not thinking that at the time though. It was just a minor hiccup, surely he would not drop 3 shots over the next 3 holes, especially as he stepped onto the short par 4 16th. Scott hit a great tee shot and his second shot made the green, the wind taking it about 40 feet past the hole. Surely a 2-putt par then go to 17? His first putt was well judged distance wise but remained 4 feet left. In what could of only been caused by nerves, Scott pulled his putt and could only watch in despair as it cruelly lipped out of the hole.
Ernie, after leaving several putts short over his previous 17 holes, made a clutch birdie on the 18th and tossed his ball into the crowd. Little did he know that the next time he would step onto the 18th green, he would be on his victory walk.
Scott found some heavy rough on 17 and the resulting bogey now meant he was tied at 7 under with Ernie Els, a situation that seemed impossible 30 minutes ago. Scott's club choice, 3 wood, on 18 surprised me. He had been hitting his driver well and it probably would have carried all the bunkers around the 250-280 yard range. If he had hit a long iron, it would of come up short of danger. But a pulled 3 wood landed in a bunker, where all Scott could do was pitch out and hope to make his par putt. It slided by, and the look on Scott's face, coupled with a few expletives, was hard to take in - anger, sadness, denial, disbelief.
So did Scott "choke?" I believe in a way he did. Nerves got the better of him. It was not physical talent that let him down. His swing had worked for 68 holes over three and a half days. Matthew Syed, in his book 'Bounce' has a great chapter on "choking" in sport. Essentially, it occurs when the automatic (subconscious) comes into the conscious. For example,being a golfer myself, when you swing the club you don't think about every fundamental there is - shoulders, feet, posture, grip,hand position, knee flex, club position at top of swing, the list goes on. You might pick one or two of these things to work on in practice but when playing it is best to clear the mind of everything apart from your target. Once you start standing over the ball and think about these automatic things, your mind is not focused on the actual job. Did Scott do this? I'm not sure. In his after round interview he said he was calm over those last holes. But I have a feeling that his stomach must of been churning given the situation he was in. Could it of been as simple as controlling your breathing to relax?
On a side note, it would be fair to say that learners in any activity cannot choke since they have not learned the fundamentals and have not had the chance, yet, to put them in their automatic/subconscious part of the brain. I think Syed mentions this in his book.
It was a great presentation speech by Ernie Els, giving his condolences to Scott and telling him he has "too much talent," then went on his way to thank his caddy, team around him, and Nelson Mandela who recently had a birthday. In other words, he was very humble in victory and I admire that. Scott handled himself well whereas I probably would of cried. I would also have snapped at the reporter who asked Scott "Did those bogeys hurt you?" Are you serious?!
At the end of it all, my pick Lee Westwood finsished well down the leaderboard, and still there has not been a multiple major winner since Padraig Harrington in 2008. New Zealander Steve Alker, ranked 789 in the world, finished in the top 20 which would have to be the biggest result of his career. Okay, a top 20 is nothing to gloat about, but for someone ranked so low and with so little experience playing in majors it was a great week for him. Let us hope he builds on this and creates more hope for Kiwi golf fans.
Last but not least, Tiger. Again so close. He could very easily have won this Open being 5 under entering the last day. There are two ways to sum up Tiger's tournament and, in particular, his last round. Firstly, hitting irons off the tee and giving youself 200-220 yards into some tricky holes with tricky pin position tucked near bunkers and slopes will not give you a lot of short putts for birdies. Tiger still has this fear of the driver and although avoiding the driver kept him out of trouble off the tee, it did not give him much chance to make up ground on the leaders. Having said that, the leaders came backwards and this leads on to the second way to sum up Tiger's performance. If it was not for the horrible triple bogey 6, which included a nasty bunker lie, he possibly would of won or made a playoff with a conservative game plan all week. He missed his fair share of putts and up-and-downs. Honestly, I don' think he is that far away from completely blitzing a field by several shots if he just tidys up a few loose ends.
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