By D.A. Weibring
Last week the Champions Tour completed our springtime swing through California. We played two terrific golf courses, an old-school course at Newport Beach Country Club, and Valencia Country Club in Valencia California, the Robert Trent Jones Sr. golf course with narrow Fairways, and very challenging, undulating greens that trail off on every side down into some pretty nasty rough.
My friend Tom Purtzer shot 10 under par and followed it with a 17-foot birdie on the fourth playoff hole to edge out Loren Roberts for the win.
For me, this week was a bit disappointing, but for different reasons than last week. If you recall last week I made 15 birdies in the three rounds, but I made too many mistakes and ended up finishing 3 under par and tying for 25th. For the most part I have hit the ball pretty well all year, but I really had some putting challenges at Newport Beach where I three putted a number of times and missed a couple of short putts that really stopped my momentum. This week my putting improved but I didn't hit the ball very well. Isn't that the nature of the great game we play; when you work on one part of your game when you perceive a weakness, sometimes another part of your game falls apart.
Last week I told you how I was working with Dave Stockton and that I had also talked to Andy North as well as my caddy Troy Martin, who's a very good professional in his own right. All three helped me a lot and as the week moved forward, I began to putt better, probably the best on Sunday; then all of a sudden, I didn't hit the ball very well.
If you remember in last week's article I shared with you how Pro's help each other, and how we compete against the golf course more than each other. Frankly, I don't think very many of us think about competing against one another at all, unless it's coming down the stretch, or in a playoff.
Now, fast-forward to early Sunday morning when I passed Tom Purtzer on the way to the putting green. He asked me why I was going out to the course so early and I said I was going out to work on my putting with Dave Stockton. He looked surprised as if to say he didn't think I needed any help with my putting. From that point on I guess Tom must have started thinking about his own putting because he dropped by to visit with Dave as well. Later on, in his post-tournament interview, I heard that he credited Dave Stockton for helping him with his putting.
As it turned out, Dave did help me with my putting as well and I improved as the week went on, but apparently he helped Tom Purtzer a lot more... all the way to first place... and I couldn't be more pleased.
Tom is a good friend. He has always had one of the best swings in the game. He played well at Newport Beach finishing maybe fifth and really got things going coming down the stretch with some key putts. Truthfully, I was pleased but not really surprised to hear that Tom thought that since I was working with Dave, it might not be a bad idea for him to spend a few minutes with Dave as well. After all, in many ways, we are all on the same team.
So, we do help our fellow Pro's; as a matter of fact, it happens all the time. Check it out the next time you go to a tournament. See if you notice how often players will go up to one another on the practice tee and encourage each other about how well they've swung the club or rolled the ball that day.
It's a very humbling game and sometimes a little teamwork is what's needed.
