Winning Ways

Last updated: 5th April 2010

Golf365 reveals the secrets of success for last week's worldwide winners including Anthony Kim.

ANTHONY KIM - SHELL HOUSTON OPEN CHAMPION

In the bag

Driver - Nike VR Tour
Fairway-woods - Nike SQ DYMO
Irons - Nike VR Forged TW Blade
Wedges - Nike VR Forged
Putter -
Ball - Nike One Tour

Turning point

When Kim played the 72nd hole poorly, culminating in a missed par-putt from six-feet, most would have thought the advantage lay with Vaughn Taylor, his play-off opponent.

But Taylor revealed afterwards that his mental state slipped prior to the play-off and it was critical.

"I didn't quite get committed," he said. "So many things were going through my head I just didn't get quite back in the mode of playing."

"You know, 18 is a tough tee shot. I just wasn't committed and kind of just bailed on it. Couldn't quite get back into the mode. If I had a little more time, maybe I could have gotten focused."

A bogey resulted for Taylor and Kim made a winning par.

Stats

Kim's victory was a triumph of short game skills.

He hit the ball a long way but with very little accuracy (he ranked 72nd for Driving Accuracy and 50th for Greens in Regulation).

But time and again he recovered from that sloppy long game with superb recoveries: he ranked fourth for Scrambling and 11th for Sand Saves.

Not only did he hole plenty of putts to save par, he also one-putted to make birdie too - ranking fourth for Birdie Conversion.

Little wonder he ranked second for Putts per Round, taking just 27 putts in rounds one, three and four.

Insight

A few weeks ago Rory McIlroy was taken to lunch by Jack Nicklaus and came away impressed by one particular point the great man had made.

"He told me," McIlroy said, "that he sometimes played great golf and didn't win, and other times he won without playing well."

It was a lesson we could all learn from and perhaps Kim took it to heart. As the stats suggest, Kim wasn't hitting to too well, but he coped.

"I'm home after two days (i.e. missing the cut) if I hit it where I hit it the way I did the first two days," he said. "But I don't know what it was. I feel like I'm grown up. I'm trying to enjoy everything. Trying to embrace being a professional golfer and being on the PGA Tour and just getting to live my dream out here, and there's no reason to pout about a bad shot or a 3-putt because it's going to happen.

"This is definitely the hardest and most patient I've ever been. This is the hardest position I've been in in a golf tournament. I think I've seen every bush or tree or hazard. We were in about seven or eight hazards the first three days.

"Now, I played out of a couple of them, but that's a lot of red lines we're seeing by my golf ball.

"So I feel like this is a culmination of hard work, and the people around me have pushed me along. I feel so grateful that I've got a great team around me to make sure that I keep my head screwed on straight."

In his words

After missing a six-foot par-putt on the 72nd hole, Kim needed a play-off to win the title. Afterwards he acknowledged that his response to that miss revealed a change in his character.

"Two years ago, that bag may have been in the water," he said. "I might not have had clubs to go to the playoff. But I just feel calm out there, I feel no sense of urgency. It's something that's happened naturally and not something that's been forced.

"I'm comfortable with who I am out there. I found my identity."

YANI TSENG - KRAFT NABISCO CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER

In the bag

Driver - Adams Insight Tech
Fairway-woods - Adams Speedline
Hybrid - Adams Idea Pro Gold
Irons - Adams Idea Tech
Wedges - Titleist Vokey Spin Milled
Putter - TaylorMade Rossa Spider
Ball - Titleist ProV1x

Turning point

The winner of the year's first major always looked like it would come from the final three-ball to leave the first tee. Karen Stupples led Tseng and Suzann Pettersen by one shot.

But the Taiwanese star took little time to take command as she made an eagle three on the second hole and birdie three on the third.

When Stupples bogied the fourth hole (having birdied the second), Tseng had a two shot lead over her playing partners and it would prove to be enough of a gap all day.

She played the final hole with that lead and although Pettersen very nearly produced a chip-in eagle, Tseng could sigh with relief and make par for victory.

Her early spurt had proved crucial.

Stats

Tseng triumphed with her long game. Earlier in the week Becky Brewerton commented that the course suited quality ball-striking and Tseng back this up.

She hit 77% of the greens in regulation which was solid enough to just hold off Pettersen who took four putts fewer than her friend Tseng during the week.

Insight

Tseng explained that the difference between her first major win - the LPGA Championship in 2008 - and this one was vast.

"The last time I won a major," she said. "I didn't feel (pressure) because I didn't feel like I could win a tournament. I just felt I wanted to go out and play. I didn't even think about winning."

But in the meantime she has become a regular on the LPGA Tour, one of the stars of the ladies game and winning has (ironically?) become more of a challenge.

"This week I knew I had a chance to win," she said. "So I called my coach, my short game coach, my long game coach, my psychologist to see what should I think about today, because I was really nervous.

"So after I talked to lots of people and then they helped me a lot just to stay relaxed. And then my goal was smiling today, and I feel I did it. I smiled to the fans, to TV, to everyone here, just tried to make smiling."

She thanked former world number one Annika Sorenstam who had helped her come to terms with her position in the game.

"I don't know if it's because she's my big idol but every time I see her I'm just like shaking and I don't know what I should say!

"My friend asked her to talk with me because I was struggling last year with expectations. After she talked to me then I just kind of focused on my problem, like driving, second shots, putting, and then you just go work on it, and then everything will come, that you don't have to worry about too much.

"And then everything outside the ropes you need to just get rid of. When you get inside the ropes you just want to have fun and play golf, and you don't want to think about too much."

In her words

The happy and enthusiastic Tseng gave a memorable account of her jump into Poppy's Pond, a tradition for winners of this event.

"After I jumped in, because I jumped like all the way to the middle, I said my caddie, 'I don't know how to swim, can you help me to get on the top?' I was trying to get out because I don't know how to swim. I just kept jumping there and told my caddie, can you let me get out here, because it was a little scary."

AROUND THE WORLD:

ASIAN TOUR
Richard Karlberg - SAIL Open Champion

On only the second start of his rookie year on the Asian Tour Karlberg went wire-to-wire in New Delhi, his final round 66 sending him clear of his playing partner Shiv Kapur who started the round in a tie for the lead. "When I saved par on the second hole with a 15-foot putt," he said afterwards, "I knew that was the turning point because my putter was hot." On the very next hole Karlberg's Kapur bogied opening up a gap that was not just never closed but extended to five shots by the end of the round.