Golf myth: "learning how to win"
I've heard a lot of Monday morning Leadbetters complaining that Michelle Wie should "learn how to win" at easier events before competing on the men's tour. Hogwash. If I were her and had her talent, I'd do whatever I wanted after getting advice from David Leadbetter and my parents. Hey, but that's just me, I believe life is too short to listen to critics.
"Learning how to win" is a myth. The example from allCarry's post yesterday and Notah Begay shows that "winning" doesn't somehow make you a better player for life. Just ask David Duval. An even better example is provided by Bobby Clampett. That guy had an amazing amateur career, "learning how to win.": Winner 1978 and 1980 California State Amateurs. Low amateur 1978 U.S. Open. Winner 1978 World Amateur medal. Three-time All-American at Brigham Young 1978-80. Two-time winner of Fred Haskins Award, presented to top collegiate player. Since he "learned how to win," you'd think that Clampett would've won the 1982 British Open after opening up a 6 stroke lead and leading for 3 rounds. He didn't. And he soon retired and found his way to the broadcast booth.
And then there's Vijay Singh, who worked as a club professional in Borneo after being suspended from the Asian tour for alleged cheating. Singh had no storied amateur career, and he hardly won anything when he first started. But look where he got.
9 Comments:
Gotta agree on Wie, she should concentrate on learning to putt, not "learning to win." Winning will come automatically.
I have to disagree.
First, playing tournaments as an amateur and a professional is a completely different situation. When playing as an amateur, you do not have the same pressures of playing as a professional, earning your living. Granted, taking an example like Wie is tough to compare, since her earnings have already been covered with endorsements, but it still sits in the back of your mind on the course that how you preform determines the cash that comes to your pocket. As an amateur, making a putt to determine 2nd or 3rd place is important, but the difference in money earned is not considered. That is not true as a professional, and the final holes weigh heavily on your shot selections and performance.
Secondly, I think learning how to win is not a myth. As has been revealed in interviews, professionals have always said that getting their 1st and 2nd win or major are the toughest test in their career. After that, they have the confidence of knowing that they can perform down the stretch, and that winning a tournament just "seems" easier. While not a professional, I did find that after winning several times on an amateur basis, it was easier to ignore the pressure of performing down the stretch, knowing that I could trust my abilities to perform down the stretch. Prior to that, I had more concerns of playing safe, not playing to win a tournament, but playing more to just not implode, and hope that my competitor did. Learning to win is having the confidence that you can win, and makes a strong determination on how you perform under the gun.
so what ... did begay and duval just forget what they "learned"???
for an artist's view on the importance of putting, see my blog or my site: http://martina.shk.ca/
Since Begay and Duval were brought up, I'll go with those.
Notah Begay had a bulging disc in his lower back that he admitted had plagued him for 6-12 months prior to that (mainly 2003). He talked about it publically at the Player Interviews at the 2004 Wachovia Championship. When discussing it, he said that for several years he had limited motion, and that his swing changed (he was 20th on the money list in 2000). He said he admittingly was now playing trying to avoid a blow-up round and to keep out of trouble. and that goes back to exactly to what I said...winning gives you the confidence to trust your swing. Once you have a situation that forces you out of your comfort zone (unfamiliar swing due to injury, for example), you no longer have the trust in your swing to focus on the course and not worry about where your ball may go.
Which brings me to Duval. Same scenario. Has Vertigo, as well as injuries (from snowboarding) and changes his swing dramatically. Only recently has he gone back to his old swing, helping his to play strong in his last tournament. also same scenario...isn't swinging well enough to even get in the position to win down the stretch, so you can't expect many strong finishes.
I think both Power Fade and Imgonnapickup make some valid points. Begay and Duval did have injuries, but at least in Duval's case, he seemed to go through a total mental meltdown. Imgonnpickup's point, therefore, has some validity with Duval. And the Bobby Clampett example seems pretty on target. I think the point is that there are plenty of well credentialed pros out there who undoubtedly "learned how to win," but that didn't get them very far.
PowerFade's point about it being harder to win the 2nd time around rings of some truth to me. But Michelle Wie has already won a few head-to-head match play matches against decent amateur men. I'd just give her some more time. She's only 16. She is still learning.
I am not going to discuss the Begay and Duvall portions, Power Fade did an excellent job of covering that as he/she does with most topics. Vijay Singh, that is just flat out hard work. He works twice as hard as anyone and then works on his game some more just in case. I am half surprised that the original poster did not ask what happened to Jack and Arnie, after all, they knew how to win. As far as Clampett, maybe being a top Am was as good as he could be. Just because you do well on one level does not mean you are going to do well at the next. Look at the US Am winners between Tiger and Ryan Moore, Kuchar, Kuehne, Gossett, Quinney, Dickerson, Barnes and Flanagan. Not a whole lot of 2006 PGA Tour cards in that group.
My criticism of Wie has always been her inability to close the deal. That and I truely believe Team Wie has decided that taking the money is the first priority and winning golf tournaments is somewhere farther down the line. Some have called her inability to close choking, I have not. Nobody here can honestly say she has done well under pressure, converted an important shot at a critical moment. When we watch the all time greats, Jack, Arnie, Tiger, Annika, we expect them to make birdie on the 72nd hole to win by one. Wie on the other hand shoots 82 in the final round of the Women's Open after starting T1. She makes her only double bogey of the tourney with 4 holes to play when she is a shot inside the cut line at JDC. She bogies both the 17th and the par 5 18th, the hole playing the easiest on the course, to miss the cut by 1 on the Asian tour.
Most all of us would put her in our top 5 female golfers on the planet, as I would, yet she was not in contention one time this year during a Sunday round on the back nine, not once. Multiple 2nds, many top 5s, never once in serious contention at the end. How can someone good enough to almost make a PGA cut never be in contention on the LPGA? Lets be honest, there are a number of tours that are better than the LPGA but not as good as the PGA, the European Tour, Nationwide, Senior, Canadian, Asian... the list goes on and on. Anyone good enough to almost make a cut on the PGA tour should be regularly winning on the LPGA tour. Do any of us think Creamer could almost make a PGA cut? I dont and she won two LPGA events last year. Since Sorenstam played at The Colonial, she has won 46% of the tournaments she has entered. Wie is now something like 0-25 in LPGA events. She has not won an event in over 2 and a half years which includes not winning 2 Womens AMs, a Womens Pub Links and a Junior Girls Am.
So those of you who think she is good enough to be competing in PGA events, please, please explain why she is not winning early and often on the LPGA tour. Just to clarify, I dont care if she plays PGA or other Open events. If the tourney wants to give her an exemption, great, if she qualifies, perfect. Do I think she has earned an exemption, clearly she has not based on golf performance.
Instead of saying "learning how to win", maybe we should say "learn how to not snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory". Because that is what she does, snatches defeat out of the jaws of victory and once again, my weekend golf watching plans are ruined.
What about Kelli Kuehne?
She had an amazing amateur record and didn't do squat on the LPGA.
"Learning how to win" is the most overrated cliche ever, period.
I think you are missing the point. Kelli Kuehne doing well at the amatuer level but not being able to make the next step and do well on the LPGA tour is not the same as Michelle Wie almost making the cut a number of times in PGA tour events yet not being able to win lesser events such as the LPGA or even the Womens Am event.
Clearly Wie has the talent to win on the LPGA tour but as of yet has not. Clearly she had the talent to win the Womens Am and Girls Junior Am but never did win either of those. Her one national Am win was the Womens Pub Links. Anyone that can almost make a PGA cut should be lapping the field in an Am event and winning on a regular basis on the LPGA tour. So far, she has not done that.
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