Putting woes continue

Still trying to solve my eternal putting conundrum

AS always the year’s opening Majors threw up plenty of drama. At Augusta I wondered if Bubba Watson had the temperament to finish it off but he did.

I want to call him the modern-day John Daly. He is so powerful like John and is a bit of a different character, not as wild as John, but he’s certainly unlike everyone else.

Everybody is going on about his shot at the 10th hole in the play-off but, for Bubba, that sort of shot is meat and gravy and not that difficult.

I backed Tiger Woods as I really thought he would do well and I was very disappointed in the way that he carried on all week.

He wanted to win so badly and dropping his club after every bad shot is not going to do him any good.

Another player whose body language was dubious was Sergio Garcia and he said afterwards that he doesn’t think he can win a Major.

For me that is a load of old rubbish. We get asked questions when we are most disappointed and that is the worst time to ask a professional golfer as we are pretty sulky at the best of times.

I have won plenty of other tournaments but I haven’t won on the LPGA Tour for 10 years and I think I can win another one.

I’d love to see Lee Westwood pull it off but he holed nothing. It was a tragedy Colin Montgomerie didn’t win a Major but I think it’d be an even bigger one if Westwood didn’t.

On a much smaller scale I can relate to that. It is so frustrating as your playing partners are knocking them in from everywhere and you’re missing all the time.

It is a feeling of desperation, you hit it into four feet and straightaway you’re telling yourself you have to make it.

Maybe it’s me being stubborn but I have been through these spells before and I’m pretty sure I’ll start holing them again.

You will probably grip it a bit tighter and, most likely, miss it. You have to hole a few before you stop thinking about it so much and it’s a vicious circle.

Like Monty and Westwood in the Ryder Cup, my best putting came in last year’s Solheim Cup and I don’t think I have holed that many putts over the last two years.

I definitely hole more par putts than birdie putts and my caddy Johnny is always telling me that.

He says if I have a six-foot par putt then he’s pretty confident whereas if it’s for birdie he’s crossing his fingers.

At the Kraft I played great the first day and shot four over which was ridiculous. I can’t remember being so upset walking off a course.

It could so easily have been one under and then we would have been in the tournament but, as it was, I was thinking about making the cut.

On the Friday, at the 2nd, I was in the rough and went for the par 5. It clipped a tree and went straight out of bounds. I looked at Johnny and said ‘I don’t know what we can do here’.

Johnny was reading the putts and he was reading them well, they just didn’t want to drop. I’m not nervous over them. It’s bizarre as I feel good over the putts and hole lots In practice.

I’ve never really seen anyone about it as I have never really thought there is a need to; as long as the ball position is good and you haven’t got your hips wide open then you have a chance.

Maybe it’s me being stubborn but I have been through these spells before and I’m pretty sure I’ll start holing them again.

Johnny is bringing down an old putter to try and it’s the one I used in 2010 when I won five times.

I don’t really know why I stopped using it and, for some reason, I gave it to his dad. We were trying to think why we ever gave it away – neither of came up with an answer.

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By Laura Davies
on 03 May 2012

Putting woes continue

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