Former football coach, and now television hair stylist, Jimmy Johnson likes to say that winning is not about who makes the most good plays but about who makes the fewest bad ones. Golf is like that; just don’t have a 72nd hole melt-down like Phil Mickelson’s U.S. Open performance and everything is going to be okay. Meet Trevor Immelman the master of the fewest mistakes and now the 2008 Masters champion.
With the likes of Tiger Woods, Stewart Cink, Brandt Snedeker, Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington and Steve Flesch taking aim at golf’s most coveted wardrobe upgrade, Trevor Immelman made exactly three fewer mistakes than all of his pursuers and now he gets to order dinner at next year’s Champion’s pig out.
For hours we watched and waited for Immelman to back up, which he did eventually, but by that time it was too late. If Tiger shoots 69 Immelman is another Len Mattiace. If Steve Flesch shoots 70, Immelman is relegated to who’s he. And, if Brandt Snedeker could stop crying long enough to shoot par everyone would know how to spell his name instead of Immelman, but that didn’t happen, and Trevor is the toast of the golf world.
So, what did happen? Was this a collective choke, or did Immelman simply beat all comers? The answer is yes; it was a collective choke, and Immelman did beat all comers. Did everyone play as well as they could and Trevor was just better? No, that’s not what happened, Trevor made the fewest mistakes. Would Trevor have won if Tiger had brought his “A” game, probably not, but remember Trevor didn’t bring his “A” game either.
Did Tiger Woods, Stewart Cink, Brandt Snedeker, Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington and Steve Flesch choke? It depends on your definition of choking, but it didn’t look like anyone of them could have mustered up enough saliva to spit. Big stage, big money, careers made and forgotten and perhaps golf history in the balance, but who’s counting.
Some rise to the magnificent occasion over and over, but no one does it every time, not Tiger, or Jack, or Jean Van de Velde.
Do you remember these historic chokes? Here’s sports journalist Brent Kelly’s top ten:
When Lorena Ochoa came to the 18th hole at the 2005 U.S. Women's Open she was in a position to win or at the very least get into a playoff when she hit one of the worst drives in ever hit in a major.
Her driver hit the ground a couple inches behind the ball - taking a divot - then bounced up into the ball. The ball shot left and dove into the water. To make matters worse, Ochoa's second drive found the rough, then her approach to the green went into the grandstands. She quadruple-bogeyed No. 18 and finished four shots back.
Ed Sneed started the final round of the 1979 Masters with a 5-stroke lead, and kept it through most of the day. Then, things fell apart. With a 3-shot lead and three holes to play, Sneed bogeyed the 16th, 17th and 18th holes. His par putts on 16 and 17 stopped right on the lip. On No. 18, Sneed again came agonizingly close. The par would have won him a Green Jacket. But with bogey - and a 76 total for the fourth round - Sneed fell into a playoff, which he lost to Fuzzy Zoeller.
Phil Mickelson entered the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot going for his fourth career major and third in a row, and if you remember, he almost got it. But then with victory one par away, he reverted to the old Phil. With a 1-stroke lead as he stood on the 18th tee and despite hitting only two fairways all day, he pulled the driver again and promptly drove his ball over a hospitality tent, bounding into the spectator area.
Rather than advancing the ball a short distance but getting it back in the fairway - where he might make par the hard way, or, at worse, bogey to get into a playoff in which he'd be the heavy favorite - Mickelson attempted a huge slice under and around tree branches. It didn't work. The ball hit a branch and stopped 25 yards in front of him.
He hit another big slice, but this one plugged in a back bunker, and not even Mickelson's short-game magic could save him from there. He double-bogeyed and that was that.
Mark Calcavecchia’s 1991 Ryder Cup collapse is one of the more painful to watch. Known as the "War on the Shore," Calcavecchia's singles match was against Colin Montgomerie, and Calc was in great shape: he was dormie, 4-up with four to play. A win on any of the final four holes and he'd win the Cup for America. You know what happened: Calc lost all four holes and halved the match.
The stretch included a tee shot on the par-3 17th at Kiawah Island that was very close to a shank, Calcavecchia's ball plopping into the water. Thinking he had lost the Ryder Cup for Team USA, Calcavecchia walked away from the 18th green, down onto the beach, sank into the sand and cried.
Doug Sanders was a successful PGA Tour player from the mid-1950s to the early-1970s, winning 20 times, including five times in 1961. But he never won a major. The 1970 British Open was his best chance. Playing at St. Andrews, in the final pairing with Jack Nicklaus, Sanders had a one-shot lead on 18 after a saving par on 17 from the Road Hole bunker.
His approach to the No. 18 green left him 30 feet above the hole. If he two-putts, he wins. Sanders' lag putt stopped less than three feet from the cup. But it was a downhill slider, left-to-right. As soon as he struck the ball, Sanders' body began moving forward, and he reached out to the ball as if to try to bring it back for a do-over. There was no do-over, and Sanders fell into a tie. The next day he lost the playoff to Nicklaus.
Scott Hoch should have won the 1989 Masters, but didn't. Hoch led Nick Faldo by one at No. 17, but missed a relatively short par putt and fell back into a tie. Hoch's and Faldo's scores matched on No. 18, so they went to a sudden-death playoff.
On the first hole of the playoff - No. 10 at Augusta - Faldo struggled to a bogey 5. Hoch was left with a birdie putt - he could two-putt and win the Masters. Hoch three-putted.
Faldo sank a 25-footer on the next hole for the victory.
Sam Snead won a record 82 PGA Tour events but he never won the U.S. Open, and his 1947 playoff loss is just one of four runner-up finishes in the event for Snead.
In 1947, Snead needed a birdie to get into a playoff, and snaked in an 18-footer to do just that. The 18-hole playoff was with Lew Worsham, and Snead had a 2-stroke lead with three holes to play. But he gave both those strokes back and went to 18 tied.
Snead and Worsham reached the No. 18 green in two and had very short putts of similar lengths for birdies. Snead's putt was only 2 1/2 feet in length, and he took his address to putt first. But as Snead was about to putt, Worsham interrupted and stopped play. He wasn't sure whether Snead was away and wanted a measurement to determine who should putt first.
Was it gamesmanship, or a genuine concern over order of play? Regardless, after measurements were taken, it was ruled that Snead was away after all. Sam took his putting stance again ... and missed. Worsham made his putt for the victory.
Greg Norman had a career that combined bad luck with bad nerves in critical situations. At times Norman seemed snakebit, still, his career was stellar: 20 wins and two majors.
The Masters was the tournament he wanted more than any other. Jack Nicklaus was his hero, and Nicklaus had six green jackets - beating Norman by a stroke for one of them. Norman had come close at Augusta before, and 1996 seemed like his year to finally win it.
Norman played great all week - he shot a course-record 63 in the first round - and entered the final round with a 6-shot lead over Nick Faldo, but from the start, Norman's game was off, and Faldo's was on fire. Norman's lead disappeared quickly, and he never regained it. While Faldo was en route to a 67, Norman was on his way to five bogeys and two double-bogeys 78.
Jean Van de Velde was a journeyman player on the European Tour, not a golfer who had much experience playing near the top of major championship leaderboards.
But any Tour golfer who needs only a double-bogey on the last hole to win should be able to do better than Van de Velde did on Sunday on No. 18 at Carnoustie in 1999.
Trying to become the first Frenchman to win the Open Championship since 1907, Van de Velde reached the 18th tee with a 3-stroke lead. It seemed as if the tournament was already over. Then Van de Velde compounded bad shots with bad decisions and the rest, as they say, is history.
Arnold Palmer began the final round of the 1960 U.S. Open seven shots behind - and won. In 1966 at Olympic Club, Palmer had a 7-shot lead in the final round - and lost.
Palmer started the fourth round three shots better than Billy Casper, and when the players made the turn, Palmer had stretched his lead to seven strokes, but then Casper went on a tear and Palmer cooled off. Plamer gave up a stroke at the 10th, then lost another at the 13th. The players halved the 14th, so to speak, which left Palmer with a 5-stroke lead with four holes to play, which Casper completely erased that lead over the next three holes. Palmer gave two back at the 15th, then gave up another two on the 16th.
When Palmer bogeyed the 17th, the entire 7-stroke lead was gone. Palmer and Casper were tied. Palmer staggered home but managed to tie Casper on the 18th, forcing an 18-hole playoff the following day.
Once again, in the playoff, Palmer let a lead slip away. Up by two in the playoff with eight holes to go, he gave up six shots over the remaining holes. Casper won the playoff, 69 to 73, and the U.S. Open.
So, the next time you miss a three foot putt and lose five bucks, take heart in knowing that you’re in good company.
