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Just before Thanksgiving, Phil Mickelson joined an elite group of golfers when he shot 59 at the Poipu Bay Golf Course in the final round of the Grand Slam of Golf. Mickelson, who hadn’t touched a club for two weeks prior to the tournament, couldn’t explain why he went so low. “I just went out and just kind of played and today, the ball went in the hole,” he said. “I don’t really have an explanation for it.” In an effort to uncover what happens on these magical days, we spoke to some of the Southland’s best pros and amateurs about their best rounds. As a bonus, they gave some great advice about how to conquer the demons of going low. Who: Chuck Montalbano, former Champions Tour player What: 63 Where: Sugar Valley Country Club, Bellbrook, Ohio How: Birdied a tough hole early “It was a Senior Series tournament in Ohio, and entering the final round I was in a pretty good position to win. The second hole at Sugar Valley is a good par 3, about 210 yards uphill. I could only see the top of the pin. I hit a really good 2 iron to about seven or eight feet and made it for birdie and that just started things off. After that I made eight more birdies and won the tournament relatively easily. “Making a birdie on a hole I’d be very happy to make par on, allowed me to make some more putts. “There are a couple reasons why people have trouble going low. One is playing in the future, which is absolute death in golf. And the other is that people often let up on the easy holes. Ben Hogan said that the hard holes are easy to play, it’s the easy holes that are hard to play.” Who: Ricky Fowler What: 62 Where: SCGA Members Club, Oak Valley How: No 5s “For every round my goal is to not have a 5. That day I didn’t have one. There are days when you have 10 birdie putts, but you only make five of them. That day I made all the putts I wanted to make. “Once people start going lower, they lag their putts up there, they think they’re going to hit a bad shot and blow it and they don’t think about making more birdies. It’s a natural thing. You break it by going low a few times. Once someone has shot a low score they know they can do it again. It’s just building up to it and getting to where you can do it. Once you do it, just keep doing it.” Who: Michael Owen, PGA professional, Torrey Pines What: 63 Where: Torrey Pines North Course How: No difficult decisions “When you play golf you have to make difficult decisions. That day I was spared them. I was never in between clubs and I made a couple of putts early in the round that got me started in the right direction. “The key thing is that good players who are 4-under after the sixth hole feel they should play every stretch of six holes in 4-under par. They think, ‘if I can do it on the first six, why can’t I do it on the second six?’ The amateur player shoots a couple under after six, they’re scared that everything is going to go wrong and they try to protect it. “That day it seemed easy at the time and you think, ‘I should do that every day.’ It just seemed very, very simple.” Who: Randy Devereaux What: 62 Where: Azusa Greens How: Made putts early “I made a couple of putts early and that took the pressure off the other parts of my game. Instead of trying to flag it, I was like, ‘let me just hit it to 20 feet.’ I thought, ‘if I can make 20-footers, it’s going to make the rest of the game a whole lot easier.’ Then, because I was so relaxed, I hit a lot to within 6 feet. “One of the most important things in going low is taking the price tag off each putt. Don’t worry if a putt is for birdie, par or bogey; it’s just another putt. I always want to feel like I just walked on to the putting green at Roger Dunn’s, pulled a putter out to give it a try and give it a nice stroke. When you do that there are no consequences. And you can’t have consequences if you’re going to go low. “ Who: Ming Lao, PGA professional, Tustin Ranch What: 64 Where: Recreation Park How: Remaining calm “For the Skins Game that’s out there, 64 is not that astonishing. There were four players in my group and we were cumulatively 20-under par. That’s probably what contributed to me shooting 8-under, not worrying about it. My game is elevated when I play with good players. There’s a sense of calm. When I’m not the only guy playing well, there’s not a big X on my back. Everybody is making putts and hitting good shots. “People get into trouble when they get so worried about attaining a goal. Things break down. I wish there was a way to faze all that away. I think that’s what happened to me. If you don’t think about it too much it happens. You’re focused on that level of play and you lose consciousness of what’s happening.” n |
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