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As he got ready for the 2nd round all of his bags were packed for a quick departure back to Palm Beach Garden, on the other side of Florida. For weeks now things hadn't gone right for Calcavecchia, even though he was hitting the ball great he just couldn't make a putt. Last week at the Honda Classic he said that he didn't make anything over four feet, (he was a bit wrong, he did make a six footer and two five footers). So after a first round 75 in which he took 36 putts with three, three-putts he just thought it was another lost cause and was ready to go home for another weekend off.
Calcavecchia brought two putters with him to Tampa this week, a prototype that Ping had given him that he tried last weekend and putted great with in a practice round. He also brought a putter that he bought last weekend in a shop by his house. After another poor putting round on Thursday, Calc put into his bag the store bought putter, went to the putting green before the 2nd round and while hitting some putts it dawned on him that maybe, just maybe if he used his left hand a bit more it would help. So he loosened the righthand and tried putting with his left hand with the right hand guiding the putter and things just clicked.
In the round he made three putts over ten feet but more importantly eight putts over 7 feet. He had 23 putts, shot 67 and it turned into a prelude for his next day. On Saturday he hit 14 greens, again took only 23 putts making nine putts over five feet on the way to shooting 62.
Things were a bit rougher for him on Sunday, yes the new putter did cooperate for him but toward the end of the round he missed a crucial 4 footer at 15 that put him in a talespin as be bogey two of the last three holes. Still he got a lucky break when Heath Sloucm missed a four-footer on the final hole that gave Calc the win by a shot.
In his whole career Calc couldn't remember anyone missing a short putt on the final hole to give him his victory. Now it may of seemed like a bit of luck, but as you see below he played great and just found another way to get on a streak and win for the 13the time on the PGA Tour.
Keys to victory for Calcavecchia
No two ways about it look no further that putting. After taking 36 putts in the first round, Calcavecchia changed putters and had 23 putts on Friday, 23 on Saturday and 27 on Sunday. For the week he had 109 which is 27.25 putts per round which was the 3rd best in the field.
This was his best putting week on tour since the 2006 Verizon Heritage when he also took just 109 putts. Since 1997 Calcavecchia has averaged 29.08 putts per round. Last week at the Honda Classic, Calcavecchia took 63 putts, an average of 31.50 putts per round.
Here are some other keys for his victory:
- Last week when he missed the cut at the Honda Classic his longest putt made was 6 feet as he only made three putts in the five to six feet range. Different story this week, he made 16 of 25 putts from 5 to 10 feet, 4 of 11 putts from 10 to 15 feet, 4 of 10 putts from 15 to 20 feet and 2 putts over 20 feet, a big difference over last week. So in total he made 26 putts over feet.
- Now this doesn't mean that everything was all putting for Calc, he was ranked T12th in fairways hit and T9th in greens hit so he had a good week. On top of that he made 23 birdies, the next highest was 17.
- Made the most birdies with 23.
- Played the par 5s in 9 under par, third best in field. 2007
- Played the final 54 holes in 199, the lowest on the PGA Tour in 2007 is 198 by Charles Howell III in the Sony Open, Aaron Baddeley and Vijay Singh at the FBR Open.
Calcavecchia's stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 36 of 52 ..... (33rd) Driving average: 277.0 ..... (T12th) Greens hit: 50 of 72 ....... (T9th) Putts: 109 (27.25 a rd) .... (3rd) Putting breakdown: 0-putt greens: 2 1-putt greens: 34 2-putt greens: 33 3-putt greens: 3 Play on par 3s: 2 over Play on par 4s: -3 Play on par 5s: -9 Eagles: 1 Birdies: 23 ................ (1st) Scrambling: 13 of 22 (59.09%)... (41st)
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 Calcavecchia
- Most importantly this win gives him back his confidence which always seems to breed more good golf.
- One thing that Calcavecchia did with the win was go over the $20 millon dollar mark in career earnings. He is only the 12th guy to have done that. Funny but in his career the PODS Championship becomes his highest payday at $954,000
- Just about exempt on the PGA Tour for the next three and a half years till he turns 50 in June, 2010.
- Calc may of had one of the better lines when told that he had gone over $20 million in PGA Tour career earnings. When told he shot back to the reporter, "Hard to believe, 3 million in debt and I won 20 million."
- Earns an invitation to the 2008 Mercedes Championship but most importantly into the WGC-Ca Championship in Doral next week. Doral is a course that he loves playing and only has missed once since turning pro. But the most important item for Calcavecchia is the chance of getting into the Masters. He is now 7th on the money list and if he can stay in the top-ten or move into the top-50 of the world rankings (presently is 62nd) at the end of the Ca Championship will get a last minute invite to the Masters.
- After his first round 75 Calcavecchia was T112th in the standings. Of all the winners on the PGA Tour since 1970 only three others have been higher after the first round, Ron Streck was T113th after the first round of the 1978 Texas Open, Pete Brown was T115th after the first round of the 1970 Andy Williams-San Diego Open and Greg Norman, who was T115th after the first round of the 1986 Panasonic Las Vegas Invitational which was played over 90 holes.
- Calcavecchia opened up with a 75, it was the highest opening round by a winner on the PGA Tour since Jeff Sluman shot 75 in the first round of the 1997 Chrysler Classic Tucson. Since 1970 the highest opening round by a champion is 76, which has been done five times the last time was the 1989 Houston Open by Mike Sullivan. Since 1970, 12 players have shot 75 in the first round and gone on to win.
- Also, Calc had a third round 62. Looking at the PGA Tour dating back to 1970, 62 or lower has been shot 438 times with 85 of those winning the tournament.
Taking this one step further, 62 or less has been shot 96 times on the PGA Tour in the third round with only 22 of these players winning.
Is Calcavecchia Hall of Fame worthy?
At 46 he is in the sunset years of his career on the PGA Tour. It's his 13th wins, but other than the British Open win and maybe the 1989 Nissan or the 2005 Bell Canadian Open they haven't been what you call marquee events.
Lets look at the stats:
In 664 starts he has 13 wins, with one of them a major the 1989 British Open. He has finished in the top-three 57 times, has had 81 top-five finshes and 134 top-ten. That's not that bad, a 20% of his starts have been top-tens, but this is nothing compared to Tiger Woods who averages 62%.
In major championships Calcavecchia hasn't been that great. In 74 starts he has only six top-ten finishes. Other than his 1989 victory in the British Open, the only other major he had a real chance at winning was the 1988 Masters when Sandy Lyle made birdie on the final hole out of a fairway bunker to beat Calc by a shot.
So on the whole Calcavecchia's has had a good career, but nothing great that will make him Hall of Fame worthy. He is more of a streaky player instead of a consistent player like a Tom Kite or a Hale Irwin, who knows if Calcavecchia wants to really attack the Champions Tour and he can win three to five of their majors plus about 25 Champions Tour wins, maybe that will be a different story. But we probably shouldn't write him off just yet, you never know he could easily stroll in and out of Augusta with a victory, then it will be a different story.
Who was the biggest winner, Calc or Eric Larson?
Nobody but insiders know who Eric Larson is. He caddies for Mark Calcavecchia and he could be more happy at Calc's win than Calc himself. That is because Larson has had some tough times, just getting out of federal prison after ten years for dealing cocaine.Calc and Larson have know each other for 20 years and they bonded there friendship as Larson was a caddy on the tour. But while Calcavecchia was becoming a star on the PGA Tour Larson was struggling as a caddy and to make ends meat sold cocaine. He wasn't a user or the type of guy that was bring plane load of drugs into the United States. He was nothing more than a middle man who got got in 1993 and was thrown the book and sentenced for 11 years in a federal prison.
Even with him in prison, Calcavecchia cared about his friend and visited him in all four prison's that he was in at Florida, California and North Carolina. In every visit Calc made a promise of a job for Larson the moment he got out and when he was released 15 months ago Larson took him up on the offer. So it's been a special journey for Larson who had one person help him through all of the tough times, the fact that Calcavecchia's wife would have to carry Larson's cell phone to tell probation officers that Larson was working and staying out of trouble.
But now it's another special time as Larson, who has very little money will be able to also reap the reward of Calc's win and with somewhere in the 10% range, $95,000 is a lot of money for someone just out of prison. And as Calc said after the win he will try to keep the team together with Eric on the bag at Doral next week, hopefully at the Masters next month and in Hawaii next year when the two will be in the Mercedes Championship.
