Sergio

[Backspin9]

Did anyone see the putter he was using?  A Cameron Newport -- Mid-slant, I think.  Interesting that he would play (and win) with that after playing so many TM's the last few years. 

Scotty takes a lot of heat (here) but the new Newports have been redesigned.  They have a higher toe profile to (supposedly) combat the left miss, and the new weighting system is supposed to give it a higher MOI.  I'm not exactly sure if Sergio was playing one of the newer ones but in any case, he should keep that one in the bag for a while.

[Hungsolo]

Did anyone see the putter he was using?  A Cameron Newport -- Mid-slant, I think.  Interesting that he would play (and win) with that after playing so many TM's the last few years. 

Scotty takes a lot of heat (here) but the new Newports have been redesigned.  They have a higher toe profile to (supposedly) combat the left miss, and the new weighting system is supposed to give it a higher MOI.  I'm not exactly sure if Sergio was playing one of the newer ones but in any case, he should keep that one in the bag for a while.

It was supposedly 10 years old.

[Desmond]

Did anyone see the putter he was using?  A Cameron Newport -- Mid-slant, I think.  Interesting that he would play (and win) with that after playing so many TM's the last few years. 

Scotty takes a lot of heat (here) but the new Newports have been redesigned.  They have a higher toe profile to (supposedly) combat the left miss, and the new weighting system is supposed to give it a higher MOI.  I'm not exactly sure if Sergio was playing one of the newer ones but in any case, he should keep that one in the bag for a while.

The story I heard is that Utley asked Sergio which putter he owned with which he  putted best -- and told him to use it.

As to Cameron, ugh, the guy is off browsing the internet for inspiration - evidently the last site he found "inspiration" was SeeMore as his new prototype copies the RST System.

What's new?

One man's inspiration is another man's patent stealing.

Ugh, the story I've heard more than once is that Scotty pitches a hissy fit if a Tity Stafffer uses something other than his putters. I can hear it now: "What do you like about that putter? If I could do something like that, would you bag mine? Give me that stick and let me go to my Studio for inspiration."

Voila.

A new, original Cameron is born.

[razorface]

My opinion on the topic at hand...

Sergio, great ball striker?  I think he's very good.  Not sure if he's great.  Gets a lot of pub for it yet never really leads in GIR%.  Let's not forget he hadn't won in 3 years either.    How great can he be?  You can say he's better off the tee than Tiger but Tiger is gonna beat him in GIR% most any year he's not going thru a swing change. 

Sergio, bad putter?  Mercurial, I think is a better descriptor.  I think he finished top 25 last year in putting average, which was a helluva lot better than his ballstriking rank was.

In the "gotta have it" category, Sergio choked on numerous Sundays while in contention.  He wasn't only putting bad on those days.  He was hitting it well period.  Plus, he was dressing up in bright yellow, looking like a Chiquita banana.  Three strikes and your out Sergio. 

The big questions: hasn't he learned confidence?  Is he practicing enough for himself to be consistent?  He's got the game to win majors.  The TPC was a perfect dichotomy of that.  You had one guy putting the daylights out of the ball: 39 one-putts in 72 holes.  Un-freak-in-be-liev-able!  Then you had another guy who was numero uno in FIR% and numero uno in GIR%.  Again, un-freak-in-be-liev-able!  When the winning score is -5, the ballstriker has the advantage.  If guys are struggling to make pars, ain't a lot of birdies going down, and the ones that do are mostly on the par 5s where guys can two putt. 

If most majors in the future play at or near par, Sergio should be in the hunt.  Those events favor the ball striker.  Not that I think he's the greatest ball striker in the world but those events favor him over an event where -17 is the winning score. 

Later,
David

great post.

[E. Guido Soda]

Did anyone see the putter he was using?  A Cameron Newport -- Mid-slant, I think.  Interesting that he would play (and win) with that after playing so many TM's the last few years. 

I don't know - no wins in three years, why not?

[DaveT319]

The reason everyone was so excited for Sergio is because he has never been able to close a big tournament. "Fifth major" or not, there's no denying that with a purse of $9.5 million this was a very big tournament. However, with regards to his putting, I think he still has a lot of work left ahead of him. He lead the field in driving accuracy and greens in regulation, but was T69 in putts per round. That's no great putting. That's average-to-mediocre putting. He should have been miles ahead of the field; he should have won this going away. All he had to do was be tops in GIR and top-10 in putting and he wins by 12 shots; top-20 and he still wins by 8 shots. Instead, he's in a playoff. Now, granted, he made a few putts when it really mattered (the par-save on 18 was clutch), but the putt on the first playoff hole really said a lot to me about his confidence in his putter: he goosed that 4 footer toward the hole. Now, true, when you have 3 putts to win it, you don't want to do anything really stupid like blow it 8 feet past the hole. But that was a VERY tentative stroke; not much confidence there. So I think it is VERY premature to call his putting woes cured. He's heading in the right direction, but he's not there yet. Despite that, it was definitely a very big win for him, and maybe one that will build his confidence for big tournaments in the future.

Dave

[razorface]

Dave,


 I completely agree.  When he sunk that putt on 18 for a moment I thought he had conquered the demons.  But then he stroked the playoff putt and I cringed.


I do believe that this is the closest he has been to making that break through.  He needs a couple of more good putting rounds under his belt....and he needs them to be under pressure.

[pd22]

I don't think using the putt on the playoff hole is a good gauge of his putting.  You have to look at the other meaningful putts...16 & 18 come to mind. 

Lot's of players, great putters included, pigeon-toe a final putt for the win if they have several strokes to give.  If he had made that gaff of a putt when he was actually putting for the win (make it you win, 2 putt for a tie) then it's something. 
Granted, his putting was not good.  I am just saying don't use the playoff putt as the litmus test.

[razorface]

I used the play-off as an example only because he commented on it in his post round interview.  He mocked himself.

IMO, he knows he has a mental block with regard to his putting....and he's come miles in the marathon to conquer it.

[pd22]

I used the play-off as an example only because he commented on it in his post round interview.  He mocked himself.

IMO, he knows he has a mental block with regard to his putting....and he's come miles in the marathon to conquer it.

Fair enough.  Next tournament will be the test.  Will the putting continue to improve or will he resort to great ball striking poor putting sergio?

[razorface]

again...imo..

he needs to spend a week shacked up with stan utley and that newport mid-slant. 



he could also use some Dr. Gio.



i hope he can keep up the pace.

[alexthegrrr8]

Well it was a win that was a while in coming. A win is a win but personally I liked how he sounded like a Sprint Cup racer (NASCAR) thanking his sponsors and naming the products.

I wanted Goydos to win...lol him and that deadpan sense of humour. Nothing would beat a round with Goydos and Woody.

Alex

[SKrinsky]

I hate to say it, but he can't putt. He was in position to win yesterday on 17 in the playoff and nursed that putt toward the hole. Absolutely nursed it.

Of course he nursed it. It was a treacherous putt, he had two putts to win and a power lip-out on the high side could have rolled 6 feet past the hole. Who on earth wouldn't have nursed it? Even Phil or Tiger would not have tried to slam it in, they'd have hit it with the cover on the putter if it was legal.

[DaveT319]

Of course he nursed it. It was a treacherous putt, he had two putts to win and a power lip-out on the high side could have rolled 6 feet past the hole. Who on earth wouldn't have nursed it? Even Phil or Tiger would not have tried to slam it in, they'd have hit it with the cover on the putter if it was legal.

Sure, none of them would have slammed it into the back of the cup - well, maybe Tiger would - but even then it was not a very positive stroke. To me it showed that he still doesn't really have much confidence in his putter. And why should he? He was almost last in the field in putting. When it comes right down to it, his putting didn't win him the tournament; his ball-striking did. He still has a long way to go, but the one positive he can still take away from this is that he made the clutch putts when he needed to, which couldn't be said of him in the last few years.

Dave

[Hungsolo]

If he drives it and has iron play like he did at THE PLAYAS, look out at the US Open this year. 

[alpha9.5]

Guys, he just won the PGA Championship, with his non putting stroke(as you say). Have any of you putted on the greens that they have? Have any of you won a PGA event? Most of you criticize people's game, but look at your own game and do the same. He may not be the best putter on tour, but he has won I think 7 times at age 28, that's pretty good by anybody standards. I would have like to have seen Paul win it myself, but it was a good tournament.

[razorface]

confidence is the only thing lacking.


if you have to fist pump three times after you make a four footer.......you're not confident in your stroke.  and there isn't anything wrong with that.


i believe he could be getting on track.  one shot at a time.  one week at a time.  one win at a time.  kudos sergio!

[jeffkar]

Guys, he just won the PGA Championship, with his non putting stroke(as you say). Have any of you putted on the greens that they have? Have any of you won a PGA event? Most of you criticize people's game, but look at your own game and do the same. He may not be the best putter on tour, but he has won I think 7 times at age 28, that's pretty good by anybody standards. I would have like to have seen Paul win it myself, but it was a good tournament.

I don't think that's a very good argument at all.  We all know that the PGA guys play a game with which we are not familiar.  At least not most of us.  No one is saying that they could do better.  But for a PGA player, Sergio's putting is suspect at best.  He knows it, and we're all saying that we know it too. 

Sergio's definitely got the skills to be a top 5 player, but his putting is what's holding him back.  I agree that he didn't need to slam it in the hole during the playoff, but his stroke did look REALLY tentative.  From all accounts, he was a fantastic putter in his younger (relatively speaking) days.  But years and years of missed putts and squandered opportunities have clearly taken a toll on him mentally.   If he can get his confidence back, I feel he could seriously challenge Tiger.  This win certainly helped, and I think he will be a factor in a couple of the majors this year.

Oh, not to nitpick, but it was the PLAYERS championship not the PGA Championship. 

[Raidermatt]

According to PGATour.com Sergio was T39 for putts per GIR.

That is pretty average, but when you are #1 in GIRs, average putting is going to be enough to win a lot of tournaments.

Of course, we don't know how often Sergio will put those two things together (High GIR with Avg Putting).  But when he does, as he did last weekend, he's clearly one of the best out there.

[Hungsolo]

I don't think that's a very good argument at all.  We all know that the PGA guys play a game with which we are not familiar.  At least not most of us.  No one is saying that they could do better.  But for a PGA player, Sergio's putting is suspect at best.  He knows it, and we're all saying that we know it too. 

Sergio's definitely got the skills to be a top 5 player, but his putting is what's holding him back.  I agree that he didn't need to slam it in the hole during the playoff, but his stroke did look REALLY tentative.  From all accounts, he was a fantastic putter in his younger (relatively speaking) days.  But years and years of missed putts and squandered opportunities have clearly taken a toll on him mentally.   If he can get his confidence back, I feel he could seriously challenge Tiger.  This win certainly helped, and I think he will be a factor in a couple of the majors this year.

Oh, not to nitpick, but it was the PLAYERS championship not the PGA Championship. 

Totally agree.  Nobody said "I'm better than Sayrhio...."  I'm tired of that fallacy.  We can be critical without saying that we are better or could do it.  The facts remain that Sayrhio has a balky putter, has been immature at times, and has done some rude things on the course.  We can be critical of those things without needing to prove that we are better.

[jsfain]

Yeah, but too often the criticism has nothing to do with the golf; saying he is a lousy putter because he spit in the cup and he's had a lean time therefore he can't putt is not at all objective.
Criticizing him for winning the Players because it isn't the PGA is weird, the PGA is later in the year isn't it? He didn't say this was the fifth major and more important than the PGA, he just won the darn tournament.

He asked for help with his short game and putting in particular, he then won the big tournament and sank the putts when needed. I think that's good enough for a week's work and look forward to seeing if this is a trend. I hope it is, I've heard some good stories about him and he has some energy and individualism to him.

OLE...OLE...OLE.OLE.OLE.

[jc2bg]

That 15-footer he made for par on--what was it, hole 5?--was a big indicator to me that SG was likely to be in it till the end this time. On other occasions, he hasn't made ANY of the putts he really needed to make. A little confidence booster early in the round can get your head right for the rest of the day, even if you don't make them all. -- JC

[Mr.103]

Congratulations, Sergio!  You deserved to win.  I don't have a problem with his victory.  What I take offense to is the hype machine that goes into overdrive everytime a talented 20-something wins.  If you watched TGC afterwards you'd think it was Tiger & Sergio then everyone else.  Sergio is a terrific ballstriker.  But people take a tee-to-green performance at one tournament and suddenly he runs circles around Tiger in ballstriking.  Like NJM said, I don't know if he's ever finished better than Tiger in GIR% on the PGA tour. 

He hasn't cured his putting woes yet.  This was his 1st PGA tour victory in about 3yrs.  ONE victory and now he's challenging Tiger for golf supremacy.  Give me a break!  Same thing with Adam Scott & Anthony Kim (of whom I'm a fan btw) with their single victory.  Yes, the upside for all three of these guys is HUGE.  But why can't we at least wait for them to win 2 events this season or win major number one before annointing them the 2nd coming.

I want greatness from some 20-somethings as much as the next guy, but the marketing departments ain't gonna make it happen.  Let the results speak for themselves.  'Til then, it's still the Tiger & Phil show.   

[alpha9.5]

Not offended by the correction on it being the player's championship, I was thinking pga tour event and just got to far ahead of myself.

[Raidermatt]

  But why can't we at least wait for them to win 2 events this season or win major number one before annointing them the 2nd coming. 

Because the more 2nd comings they can convince the public are out there, the easier it is to get people to support/watch the events they play in.  They are trying to create drawing cards so people will care when Tiger isn't around or isn't in contention.

Can't blame them really.  If nobody watched when Tiger and/or Phil weren't around, they wouldn't want to put those events on TV.

I agree though, the hype can be irritating when it's not tempered with some perspective.