04/18/24
May 15, 2011
K.J. Choi Wins Players Championship in Playoff: The Players Championship was decided in a first-hole playoff Sunday on the famous island 17th at TPC Sawgrass. K.J. Choi made a par putt to defeat David Toms, who had made an 18-foot birdie on the 18th to force the playoff. Choi and Tom both had to complete more than 30 holes today, finishing the third round in the morning because of a storm-shortened Saturday.
$1.7 million for first. It's a whole new world since '97. I asked my coach years ago why so many mediocre pros kept plugging away when they never appeared at or near the top of any leaderboards. "Easy - it's a fickle game and above a certain level, your best golf will beat most other people's less-than-best golf, so even those guys are only ever 4 great days away from a million quid. No one could walk away from that and not wonder what might have happened if they'd hung around for one more week."
Good for KJ. I've always liked him, but would never want to get into a poker game with him. You can never tell whether he's hit a good or bad shot from looking at his face.
posted by JJ at 09:17 AM on May 16, 2011
Shame the extra holes have to be decided on a short putt missed by the same guy who made such a solid stroke a few minutes before that on 18. Oh well.
posted by dyams at 01:22 PM on May 16, 2011
It was a major letdown. As they played 18, I was on 17 with a couple thousand other fans whose only reason to be standing there was in case of a playoff. We let out an immense roar when Toms made his tying birdie.
I don't see how the same guy who sank that 17-foot birdie putt on 18 -- one of only four birdies all day on the course's hardest hole -- comes back and makes his son cry on 17.
posted by rcade at 01:41 PM on May 16, 2011
Pressure's a bitch, and perversely there's considerably less of it over a 17-foot putt for birdie to get into a playoff than over a 3-foot putt to stay in one. The former you can give a good rattle at the hole and know that no one will have anything to say other than "bad luck" if you miss; the latter you should hole all day long, so the pressure to not mess it up is massive.
Same sort of thing applies in all sorts of sports. How can a player who scores a half-court shot at the buzzer for half time miss an easy lay-up in the third quarter? How can a soccer player who scores a 35-yard screamer in the first half miss an open net from 6 yards in the second? It's pressure, and it's the reason golf (and sport in general) is so fascinating to watch. The big difference in golf is that you've got so much time to think about it before you do anything. In soccer or basketball - or any moving ball sport - the chances are fleeting and you rely on instinct as much as anything else. In golf you don't have that luxury.
posted by JJ at 05:33 AM on May 17, 2011
I attended the final round. On the first hole Rory Sabbatini hit into the woods where I was standing, so I got to see him interact with the volunteers to clear an area. He couldn't have been more polite or soft-spoken if he tried.
Seventeen is a blast as a spectator. I went back to it for the playoff and was standing right by the path that leads onto the green. The slope of the green is unbelievable sadistic.
I thought the crowd was going to all be rooting for Toms since an American hasn't won in a while, but fans were cheering just as hard for Choi at the end.