This year’s PLAYERS Championship was as exciting as promised and the competition down the stretch was made more interesting because of a few subplots that arose.
Could Phil Mickelson exorcise his demons from a disappointing 72nd hole double-bogey at last year’s U.S. Open at Winged Foot? Could Tiger continue his amazing play of the last 10 months? Could we see the emergence of a new, young American superstar under the age of 30 in Sean O'Hair? How would the players and fans view the recent changes and additions to The Players Club at Sawgrass? These questions were all answered last week in Ponte Vedra.
I was on site at THE PLAYERS Championship with one of the tournaments three presenting sponsors, JELD-WEN, and I experienced first-hand the incredible spectacle this event has become. I remember when we first played at the "TPC- Sawgrass" in the early 80's in what was originally an experiment of then-commissioner Deane Beman’s "stadium golf" concept. I would say Commissioner Beman's experiment has been a huge success.
The two "subplots" that jumped out at me the most involved the eventual champion Phil Mickelson and the performance and courage of Sean O'Hair.
Everyone questioned whether Mickelson could ever rebound from his last hole problems at last year’s U.S. Open. There was never any question in my mind as to Phil's ability to come back from adversity. That is exactly what professional golfers do...we manage our failures! No one wins every tournament they enter; not Tiger, not Nicklaus, not Ben Hogan or Sam Snead. What makes those and other players great is their ability to recover from a huge disappointment and win again and again. There isn't a Hall of Fame competitor in any sport that hasn't suffered through some type of poor performance or meltdown "down the stretch." It's their confidence and ability to respond to these challenges that sets them above the rest.
As for Sean O'Hair, many experts criticized his play on the dramatic island green 17th hole at Sawgrass, where he made a quadruple-bogey as he stood in 2nd place only two strokes behind Mickelson with two holes to play. That criticism is unfair and unfounded. After Mickelson had safely and wisely put a pitching wedge approach onto the green, O'Hair decided to take an aggressive line at the flag, which was in its traditional final round placement on the back right of the green.
He hit a pure 9-iron directly at the flag and it looked good all the way. Unfortunately for Sean, it was too much club and it airmailed the green. His second tee shot from the drop area also found its way over the green, leading to his quadruple-bogey seven.
Experiences like what Sean went through on 17 can be very impactful on your game, and this one will help to shape and define Sean's career in a very positive way. When he wins next he will probably look back at this experience and say, "that helped me." Sean has a lot of heart and a lot of game, and I think you'll see Sean O'Hair's name in the mix at many other major championships in the future.
At least, that's my take...what's yours?