Drive for show, putt for dough...

My fellow blogger has in this post provided the major highlights from the exciting finish at The Memorial this past week. I add this post just to highlight what a great example the final stretch of holes provided of that old aphorism that you drive for show, but putt for dough. Bart Bryant made a series of great one-putts on the last five holes at Muirfield Village, which enabled him to play those holes -3 despite a tee ball into the creek on 18. Meanwhile, Freddie Couples rode a hot putter to the top of the leaderboard through the 14th hole, but then missed crucial putts on 15 (for eagle) on 16 (for par) and on 17 (for birdie). Relatedly, David Toms continued his brilliant ball-striking on the front nine yesterday, but dropped off the board after an ugly 3-jack on 9 and some ugly misses over the next few holes.

Of course, as we head toward the US Open, we can recall that Retief Goosen's hot putter allowed him to make a series of remarkable pars to help capture the 2004 title (while Phil Mickelson found a way, yet again, to miss just enough putts to keep him from claiming a national championship). The old aphorism is always current and never goes out of style (and also highlights why I know better than to ever play for serious money).