Notebook: Golf all about having the right weight

text size

Kinnaird/Getty Images

Tom Watson putted from off the green on the 72nd hole at Turnberry. His attempt finished eight feet from the hole.

Tom Watson made bogey on the 72nd hole at Turnberry because of his weight.

In yet another example of two cultures using the same words with different meanings, Watson spoke all week during the British Open about getting his weight right. To hit the ball the right weight simply means to hit it the right distance.

Tiger Woods often talks about distance control. He is seldom heard, if ever, saying "weight control." Not so for Watson, a five-time Open champion (and very fit for 59), whose affection for golf in Scotland includes using the proper language in golf's home country.

On the eve of the tournament: "With the rookies out there that haven't played this before ... the most important thing in golf has always been (to) hit the ball the right weight, hit the ball the right distance."

On his shot to the 18th in the first round: "I had over 200 yards and hit 7-iron. The most important thing about doing it well is hitting it the right weight. Just hitting it the right distance. Can you judge how far to hit? If you're short and long all the time, either you're not hitting the ball solidly or you don't have the feel for it."

On his three-putt bogey from the back of the ninth green in the third round: "I knew I had to lay off the wedge, I just couldn't lay off of it enough to get the right weight to it."

And his 8-iron to the 18th on Sunday in regulation that went over the green: "It was a tough day to play. It's a difficult golf course, crosswinds, getting the right weight, which I prided myself in. I just didn't do it in the last hole."

For most Americans, it was a curious term. In Scotland, it is simply part of the golf vernacular.

John Huggan, once a top Scottish amateur who now writes for Golf World, hit a woeful putt at Gullane No. 1 the day after the British Open and said sarcastically, "Except for the line and the weight, it was a great putt."

After a week listening to Watson, it made perfect sense.

------

MAJOR CUTS: The pressure is on Kevin Sutherland at the PGA Championship.

Sutherland is eligible for all four majors for only the second time in his 22 years as a pro, yet he's among only 15 players who made the cut in the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open.

That list doesn't include Tiger Woods, who left Turnberry early; and Phil Mickelson, who didn't play the British Open.

Masters champion Angel Cabrera is the only player to win a major and make the cut in the other two -- Lucas Glover didn't qualify for the Masters and missed the cut at the British Open, while Stewart Cink missed the cut at the Masters.

None of the 15 have lit it up at each major. The consistency award probably would go to Ross Fisher of England. He finished under par at the Masters (T30) and the U.S. Open (5th), and was leading early in the final round of the British Open before the quadruple-bogey 8 on the fifth hole sent him to a 75 and a tied for 13th.

The 15 players to make the cut in all three majors: Sutherland, Cabrera, Fisher, Kenny Perry, Steve Stricker, Sean O'Hair, Jim Furyk, Camilo Villegas, Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy, Vijay Singh, Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Andres Romero.

The more dubious list is for those who have yet to make a cut in all three majors. That would be Briny Baird, D.J. Trahan, Brandt Snedeker, Michael Campbell and Alvaro Quiros.

But at least they qualified for all three. Scott Verplank and Woody Austin, members of the last Presidents Cup team, have yet to play in any major this year.

------

SINGH'S PROGRESS: Vijay Singh concedes that he came back too early from knee surgery earlier this year.

Singh

Singh played at the Mercedes Championship before having surgery to repair a torn meniscus, returning a month later for the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, where he missed the cut. He missed the cut the next week, too, and did not record a top 10 finish until he closed with a 67 to sneak into a tie for ninth at THE PLAYERS Championship.

The 46-year-old Fijian has yet to seriously contend on the back nine this year, with only three top 10s.

"I just started playing a little too soon and it kind of put me back quite a bit," Singh said last week in a conference call. "Instead of taking two months off, I took a month-and-a-half off, and going to the range created a lot of bad habits for my golf swing. And it took two or three months to get out of it, because every time you get out of something, you develop something new."

Not that he's terribly concerned.

A year ago, Singh didn't win until the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational in early August, then he won the first two tournaments in the PGA TOUR Playoffs to essentially wrap up the FedExCup.

"My golf game is coming around," Singh said. "I have two weeks to practice, and I can't wait to get out there and do it again."

------

NAME GAME: Sean O'Hair became a father for the third time after the U.S. Open when his wife gave birth to a son, Grady Quinn, a name that has no particular significance.

O'Hair

Not so with the other two children, Molly and Luke, and it amazes O'Hair to talk about it.

"When Jackie was pregnant, she had a dream with 'Molly' written on the wall in purple," O'Hair said. "And she looks just like Jackie."

Luke comes from his father-in-law, Steve Lucas, whose surname became his nickname in college.

"He looks like Steve's mother," O'Hair said. "No one else in the family has red hair. It's weird."

As for Grady Quinn?

"Pulled that one out of the air," O'Hair said. "But he looks like me when I was that age. G.Q. Maybe that's it. He's a handsome devil, just like his dad."