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Over the years in golf we have had a fair share of these kind of moments. How best could we explain how a broken down pro from a bygone era could walk through a steam bath during a Washington D.C. summer 43 years ago, to play a final round of 36 holes better than anyone els. Even though each step that Ken Venturi took, the chances of him passing out were greater than being able to make par on his way to victory. Still for Venturi his 1964 U.S. Open victory was one for the ages and something which still mystifies us on how he accomplished it.
How best could we explain that spring like day back in 1986 when Jack Nicklaus, in the sunset of his career, was able to look at an article on his refrigerator door and walk out and shot an incoming 30 with his son carrying the bag to win the Masters, for his 18th major career victory.
And how best can we explain that week in Augusta in 1995 when Ben Crenshaw lost his best friend and mentor Harvey Penick. In the final days of his life Penick gave lessons from his deathbed to longtime student Crenshaw only to die on the eve of the Masters. Just days after serving as a pallbearer at Penick's funeral, Crenshaw was able to keep his composure and win that Masters and as he told media afterwards it was like Penick was a 15th club for Crenshaw in that supernatural victory.
This week we had another one of these stories to add to the list with Scott Verplank winning the EDS Byron Nelson Championship. How best can we explain Verplank's victory in the year after Byron Nelson's death in an event that both cherished so much.
For Verplank it came at an event that he attended as a youth, he would watch Tom Watson win and dream of the days that he too would compete and win on the PGA Tour. Verplank was a special talent as a junior, so much that it attracted the eye of Byron Nelson who contacted the youth when he was 17. Thus started a special relationship in which a dozen or so times Verplank played with Nelson or had the great man watch him swing on a driving range a dozen times. Nelson would give Verplank his words of wisdom and support, something that decades later Verplank still remembers fondly.
When Verplank was young it seemed like his destiny was to walk in the steps of Byron and be as great as his mentor. Verplank won the U.S. Amateur in 1984, then a year later won the Western Open thus becoming the first amateur in 29 years to win on the PGA Tour. A year after that he won the NCAA Championship and came on the PGA Tour with the type of resume that foretold greatness. But as he found out, sometimes greatness can't be achieved.
Verplank won the 1988 Buick Open but soon afterwards funny things started to happen to his body and golf game. His game started to deteriorate and he couldn't put his figure on it until he bottomed out in 1991 when in 26 starts he only made one cut. After that he was diagnosed with elbow problems which required surgery and he also found out he was a diabetic, which took a complete lifestyle change for him to control the problem.
By the time he got a grasp on all these problems in 1996 and started to play well again, things in the game were changing around him. Verplank was a classic shotmaker type of player who didn't really hit the ball very far but was able to hit lots of greens and scramble his way to victory. Still Verplank was able to exist in golf, even though the game changed and favored those that hit it farther. In 1997 he was the medalist at Q-school and got his card back for 1998. That year he lost a playoff at Greensboro and earned $1.2 million which placed him 18th on the money list. With that he became the PGA Tour comeback player of the year.
The next year he slipped down to 82nd on the money list but in 2000 he was able to get back to the winners circle for the first time in 12 years with a victory at the 2000 Reno-Tahoe Open. In 2001 he played good enough to get a nod to play on Curtis Strange's Ryder Cup team and just three weeks after that won the Bell Canadian Open. He finished the year 10th on the money list and since then has been a regularly consistent player on tour not dropping out of the top-50 of the money list since 2000.
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So like in a Hollywood movie, Verplank went out and made his dreams of winning a reality. It wasn't an easy task, Verplank had a gritty finish and for a great bunker save at 17 on Sunday plus a miss by Donald from ten feet on the final hole that could of tied the affair it was all Verplank. Going back to his Thursday meeting with Peggy he asked that she would be around on Sunday and she was in the same place as she watched Verplank get the victory.
When he made his final putt on the 18th hole, it was very reminiscent of what happened to Ben Crenshaw when he won the Masters, both broke down after their winning putts and looked to the heavens to possibly thank the men that inspired them both to victory.
Keys to victory for Verplank
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In this week's key's to victory we can't discount any of the inspiration that Verplank got this week, weather it was in the sprint of Byron Nelson himself or the fact that Verplank worked up he confidence to a level that it would of been impossible for him not to win. As for the sprint of Byron Nelson, little things on Sunday gave Verplank the feeling that Byron had a presence. One of the things that helped Verplank the most was a gentle breeze that blew through when he was about to drive on 18, that breeze turned into a calming element for Verplank letting him do what he had to do with his tee shot and 2nd shot. But the fact of the matter was that after Verplanked missed his birdie putt at 18 and showed Luke Donald the line on the putt, Donald hit a good putt but it didn't hold the line thus missing which gave the victory to Verplank.
Here are some other keys for his victory:
- After five holes in Sunday's final round, Verplank sat three shots behind overnight leader Luke Donald. He would birdie five of his next eight holes en route to taking his own three shot lead before eventually winning by one.
- Verplank was able to stay calm on the final three holes when things seemed to be falling apart. With a three shot lead, Verplank hit a poor drive at 15 leading to a bogey. Then at 16 he lost another stroke when Donald made birdie. But the shot of the tournament had to be on 17 when Verplank bunkered his tee shot but hit a supreme shot that rolled to within inches to save par and go to the 18th hole one up.
- Played the par 3s in 4 under, best in the field.
- Hit 53 of 72 greens, T5th for the week
- Didn't have a single three putt all week.
- Played the par fours in 6 under, third best in the field.
- Made only 5 bogeys, least of anyone in the field.
Verplank's stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 38 of 56 ..... (T32nd) Driving average: 277.7 ..... (T8th) Greens hit: 53 of 72 ....... (T5th) Putts: 111 (27.75 a rd) .... (T15th) Putting breakdown: 0-putt greens: 2 1-putt greens: 29 2-putt greens: 41 3-putt greens: 0 Play on par 3s: -4 Play on par 4s: -6 Play on par 5s: -3 Eagles: 0 Birdies: 18 ................ (T3rd) Scrambling: 14 of 19 (73.68%)... (10th)
Scrambling measures how many times a player gets up and down for par or better on the holes where he missed the green in regulation.
What This Win means for Verplank
- It took Verplank 21 tries before he won the EDS Byron Nelson Championship. It's the longest span to win an event on the PGA Tour since Scott Simpson took 22 tries to win for the first time the Buick Invitational in 1998.
- Verplank becomes the first Texan to win the Nelson since Billy Ray Brown did it in 1992.
- Scott Verplank's first win was the 1985 Western Open as an amateur. You have to go back to the winner of the U.S. Bank Championship Corey Pavin who won his first PGA Tour event in Houston in 1984 to be before him in victories
- Going a step further with this, of all the winners in this millennium (going back to Jan, 2000), only 9 (Hal Sutton, Corey Pavin, Scott Hoch, Nick Price, Joey Sindelar Dan Forsman, Fred Couples, Craig Stadler and Peter Jacobsen) players have won before Verplank did in August of 1985.
- Scott Verplank won in his 497 official PGA Tour start. The most starts in winning a PGA Tour is 654 by Mark Calcavecchia
Luke Donald - Why he lost
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No too ways about it Luke Donald was on the wrong side of a runaway train on this. Weather you believe that Byron Nelson's sprint had something to do with it or the fact that Donald double bogied 9 and bogied 12 and you just don't win tournaments with play like that are all keys to why he didn't win.
The fact of the matter is that Donald has to play a lot better in the clutch to win tournaments, he has seen things like this happen before and this is the reason why he has only won twice on the PGA Tour.
Here are some other reasons for losing:
- The great up and down by Verplank on the 17th hole.
- Not being able to make the birdie on 18 to force the playoff. He got a perfect read on it off of Verplank's ball but just wasn't able to make the putt.
- After playing the first 36 holes with just one bogey, Donald made four bogeys and a double in his last 36 holes.
Donald's stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 41 of 56 ..... (T1st) Driving average: 284.1 ..... (47th) Greens hit: 52 of 72 ....... (T7th) Putts: 112 (28.00 a rd) .... (T7th) Putting breakdown: 0-putt greens: 1 1-putt greens: 41 2-putt greens: 29 3-putt green: 1 Play on par 3s: -2 Play on par 4s: -4 Play on par 5s: -6 Eagles: 0 Birdies: 19 ................ (T1st) Scrambling: 15 of 20 (75.00%) (T15th)
Scrambling measures how many times a player gets up and down for par or better on the holes where he missed the green in regulation.
What this means for Duke:
- Donald continues his streak of rounds in the 60s at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship this week. His past 12 rounds at the tournament have all been in the 60s, with this week's second place finish being his best result.
- With the runner-up finish Donald was able to move up into the top-ten on the Official World Rankings.
