A Lesson Learned: Sony
Open
By Ben Alexander, PGA Professional Director of Instruction,
Poppy Hills Golf Club
Over the many years of writing instruction articles for PGA
Magazine and other publications, my main focus has been to
provide a tip or two to help readers play a little better, but
to also stress that they remember to have fun. Having fun was a
major theme of this past week's PGA TOUR event.
This week at the Sony Open, many familiar names were featured on
the leaderboard -- Paul Azinger, PGA Champion; Rich Beem, PGA
Champion; Jim Furyk, U.S. Open Champion -- but there was another
player who was someone I had never heard of, or thought of, in
the golf world.
This guy was no. 1 all week in greens-in-regulation, he peeled
off six birdies on Saturday, fifth in putts-made from
ten-feet-and-in, and fourth in distance-to-the-pin with approach
shots. Even more, he is the youngest player in 50 years to make
the cut in a PGA TOUR event. So who is this guy? Tournament
winner Paul Goydos? Charles Howell III?
Nope, his name is Tadd Fujikawa. That's right, Fujikawa. He is a
16-year-old local high school kid who lives in Hawaii, an
amateur golfer who has to worry about homework and curfews as
much as birdies and leaderboards. He is all of five-foot-one,
and 140 pounds. Hardly an imposing figure, but after this week,
a character we might always remember.
They say you can't measure the size of someone's heart; but you
would need a wheel barrel to carry Tadd's heart, and he wears it
proudly on his sleeve. One thing I paid particular attention to
while watching Tadd play -- compared to the seasoned PGA Tour
players -- was how Tadd played loose and relaxed, as if he had
nothing to lose. In fact, that is exactly what he said in a
television interview.
More than anything else, this is a lesson for all of us to learn
from watching this week's TOUR event. Without question, we all
-- including TOUR players -- put way to much pressure on
ourselves when we play this wonderful game. I often ask golfers
when they are entering the clubhouse where I work, "Hi welcome
to the course, how are you?", and almost to a person they
respond, "I don't know, I haven't played yet". My initial
thought to myself is, "Wow, I don't care how you will play today
but just, HOW ARE YA?"
Tadd went out there to the Sony Open this week with definite
goals, but also realistic expectations about his play. And he
had fun, loads of it. Everyone can learn from this. If you had a
busy week at work, kids got sick or life got in the way, and you
didn't have any time to practice or hit even a putt or two, how
do you expect to shoot great scores on any kind of consistent
basis?
Try not to base how you feel on the score you shot, but the fact
that you are out on a beautiful golf course playing a game you
love. The PGA TOUR players are the best in the world, but I
noticed that even many of them would hit an errant shot -- as we
all do -- and would express their displeasure with words or
gestures or just an angry facial expression. Well I know its
frustrating, but believe me, a smile and a better attitude can
carry a long way towards helping you play better golf; just ask
Tadd Fujikawa.
He isn't sure if he will ever play in another PGA TOUR event but
he I can tell you, he sure made the best out of this one. Isn't
that a great lesson for all of us? Apply that to your next round
and this will be a valuable "Lesson Learned".
Ben Alexander, the 2004 Northern California section "PGA Teacher
of the Year", is a PGA instructor based out of Poppy Hills Golf
Club in Pebble Beach, California. He has written for a multitude
of golf media including Golf Digest, PGA Magazine, and Golf
Tips, hosted television and radio programs, and has his own
series of instructional CDs and DVDs. He can be reached at (831)
277-9001 or
teachgolfR@aol.com.
