In my last post, I suggested that the short (2'11") missed putt that kept Camilo Villegas out of the finals of the Accenture match play event might haunt him. After Saturday's round of the Honda Golf Classic, I almost posted: "Beware of the 3 footers on Sunday!" I thought better of it because it seemed negative, and I really like Villegas.
I cringed on Sunday when Camilo missed a short one for par on the 12th hole and ShotLink reported that it was 2' 11". OH NO! Did I jinx him? In fact, it was his second short miss of the event. In Round Two, Camilo missed a putt of 3' 1" on the 16th hole. As discussed in my last post, this is not part of the characteristic performance of a PGA Tour event winner.
How then did Camilo overcome these short missed putts to win by 5 strokes? Let me count the ways:
a. No Tiger breathing down...
b. The rest of his game and his putting was extremely solid. In fact, in spite of the short misses, his overall putting compared favorably to our Winner's profile.
Driving - On a relatively difficult golf course with ample opportunities for penalties, Camilo had no errors off the tee. And Villegas is long!
GIR's - He averaged 13.2 per round, comparable to the 13.6 of our Winner's profile.
Short Game - Camilo's average putting distance following his Chip/Pitch shots was 4" 9", almost a foot closer than our Winner's at 5' 7" and he successfully saved 69%.
How much more will Villegas win if he masters those pesky 3 footers?
I cringed on Sunday when Camilo missed a short one for par on the 12th hole and ShotLink reported that it was 2' 11". OH NO! Did I jinx him? In fact, it was his second short miss of the event. In Round Two, Camilo missed a putt of 3' 1" on the 16th hole. As discussed in my last post, this is not part of the characteristic performance of a PGA Tour event winner.
How then did Camilo overcome these short missed putts to win by 5 strokes? Let me count the ways:
a. No Tiger breathing down...
b. The rest of his game and his putting was extremely solid. In fact, in spite of the short misses, his overall putting compared favorably to our Winner's profile.
Driving - On a relatively difficult golf course with ample opportunities for penalties, Camilo had no errors off the tee. And Villegas is long!
GIR's - He averaged 13.2 per round, comparable to the 13.6 of our Winner's profile.
Short Game - Camilo's average putting distance following his Chip/Pitch shots was 4" 9", almost a foot closer than our Winner's at 5' 7" and he successfully saved 69%.
How much more will Villegas win if he masters those pesky 3 footers?
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