I had the pleasure of going to the Wachovia Championship this past week. If you’re wondering, I wasn’t one of the dedicated few that stuck it out on Sunday even though a few of us had tickets. I love golf, but not enough to stand in hard, cold rain.
So while I was watching Jim Furyk pour (no pun intended) in his par putt on the first playoff hole, I thought I’d run down a few of the numbers that stood out to me. This week it’s The Numbers Game, Wachovia Championship style.
Furyk’s Misses
I was shocked to see him miss two makable par putts in a row on 16 and 17. Furyk is a guy who is consistently ranked at or near the top in putting year in and year out. This year he is in the top 30 in both. I’m willing to bet that there won’t be many other opportunities to see that happen again.
Another interesting fact is that those two holes comprised 33% of Furyk’s bogeys the entire tournament. He had only six. No doubles, no dreaded “others” – just six bogeys. Furyk won the tournament because he didn’t let Quail Hollow eat him up… he took little bites out by taking opportunities on the par fives and staying safe on the par fours.
Davis Love III
570-yard par 5. Would you ever think about hitting a 3-wood off the tee? I know the pros are blessed with firm and fast fairways (and it is slightly down hill), but my goodness. I saw Davis absolutely crush his 3 wood leaving himself about 250 in. So what does he do? Pull a 4-wood and land a perfect shot right in the middle of the green.
Waching Love I really thought he was going to be at or near the lead in the end, but he slipped in the third round like he’s done all year. Except for Doral, he hasn’t shot under 73 all year in the third round. I keep thinking, as do others I know, that Davis is going to break out of his funk and put together four solid rounds… but I might be waiting a while. The final-round 74 didn’t make me feel any better either.
David Duval
Another story that was hit upon this past weekend was the never ending saga of David Duval. Personally, I’m one of the many that is rooting hard for this guy to get his swing back, make the 125 and start making some noise.
There were two numbers that stood out to me for David Duval this weekend. 22 is the first one. That is where he finished… which is not too bad considering the competition at the popular Wachovia Championship. He managed to keep from making the large number that usually kills his rounds. Even though he only hit 42.9% of the fairways and played out of the thick Quail Hollow rough, Duval only made two doubles all week.
The other number is 27. That’s the number of spots on the money list he moved up after cashing in $63,000 last Sunday. Right now Duval is at 160 and needs to do some work to get to 125. I want to see a few more tournaments like the Wachovia for Duval. I really think he has a top 10 in him.
Temperature, or Lack Thereof
I live just north of Charlotte and got the full effect of the changing weather over the weekend. When we went Saturday, it was comfortable, overcast and in the mid 70s. Saturday was even nicer. It was beautiful and in the low 80s. Then came Sunday.
My brother, father and I had three tickets for Sunday and were looking forward to going until we woke up that morning. It wasn’t the rain that bothered me. It was the high of 59 AND the rain that bothered all of us. I’m sorry if I sound like a lightweight, but when you have 59 and rain in one hand and watching from the comfort of your own home with your family, I took the latter. Hey, at least I got to go one day and watch some great golf.
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