The Metropolitan
January/February 2021
Phil’s PGA Win & Modern Te The Bogeyman Dan O’Neill
(Editor’s note: This story appears courtesy of Morning Read (www. morningread.com) There’s a number of reasons why a baseball player like Adam Wainwright can still pitch effectively at the age of 39. He keeps fit, uses his knowledge and experience, and there are eight teammates competing along with him. Likewise, you can explain Tom Brady quarterbacking a Super Bowl win at age 43 in a lot of similar ways. He’s a remarkable talent, to be sure, and he succeeded with the help of his offensive line, receivers and running backs. How does Zdeno Chara patrol a blue line for the Washington Capitals at age 44? He’s big, he’s tough, he’s smart.… and he shares his ice time with four teammates and a goaltender playing a team game. But how do you explain Phil Mickelson winning one of golf ’s four major championships at the age of 50, a PGA that featured 99 of the top 100 players in the Official World Golf Rankings playing the same golf course? Golf is different from baseball, football or hockey, different from the team sports entirely. You have a caddie, but you have no teammates in golf. No one’s blocking for you, no one’s catching or hitting for you, no one’s back-checking or making saves on your behalf. No one else impacts your performance, other than you. So how do you explain it?
outplay 27-year-old bombardier DeChambeau at the 2020 Masters? H 48-year old Lee Westwood finish 13th at the 2020 U.S. Open? For that how does DeChambeau win at Wing while hitting just 23 fairways all w fewest by a U.S. Open champion sinc
A lot of factors are in play: fitness know-how, guts. But the explana Mickelson’s victory last month, a performances of Langer, or Westw DeChambeau, includes one other pro ingredient - equipment.
Yes, the golf adage remains true i ways. When it comes to repeating making smart decisions, course kno reads, poise, accuracy…. it rema Indian, not the arrow. But the tec that goes into the arrows these d considerably. They are more forgiv dynamic than ever before. And in can be lethal.
They even cause some of the most p the game is headed.
“There’s only two ingredients in t and direction.” said Hale Irwin, wh prolonging his illustrious career. “A direction, big time.”
How does Mickelson out-drive brawny Brooks Koepka (31 years old) with a 366-yard bomb on the 16th hole on Sunday at Kiawah Island. How does Mickelson average 313.1 yards off the tee during the championship?
That’s to take nothing away from th among just 14 players to win as to win more than one past a 40th championship ever played, he beca birthday.
And while we’re at it, how does 63-year old Bernhard Langer
Time travel has a special place in
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