Capelle On Golf

2008 US Women’s Open

We can analyze to death why some players win majors and some don’t. Talent is the price of admission to the big show. But the X Factor is that some players are born to win. They have the winner’s way, that aura of confidence that enables them to keep their cool and to perform when other’s crumble. The biggest winners of all time have shown this talent at an early age, then perfected it as they climbed golf’s ladder. That’s the approach Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods took.

That brings us to Inbee Park, the newly crowned 2008 US Women’s Open champion. While her competitors struggled on a windy day with gusts to 30mph, she methodically worked her way around tree-lined and rough infested Interlachen C.C. with a three-quarters swing that’s slower and arguably smoother than Fred Couples at his best. It produced a GIR of 68.1%, tying her for 21st, and no card wrecking double bogeys.

Park’s chief weapon, however, is her putting. Her slow, smooth, and unhurried stroke is so pure that it just might rival Tiger Woods’s as the best in the game. The stats confirmed her expertise as she tied for second in putting with an average of 28.75 per round on Interlachen’s topsy-turvy greens where every putt was an adventure.

Park’s final round card showed the numbers expected from a winner. She bogeyed 6 (4.216 – 8th), 9 (4.676 – 1st) and 17 (4.595 – 2nd), but these were respectable bogeys because they came on some of the toughest holes. Park countered them with five birdies, three of which came on the par fives. In short, she made birdies where they were there for the taking, only bogeyed tough holes, and parred all the holes she should. That’s Nicklaus like course management at its best.

But here’s the kicker. Park’s masterpiece was orchestrated by a player who’s been in the game only 10 years and who is two weeks shy of her twentieth birthday. She’s a player who won the USGA Junior Girls Championship at age 14. And last year, at age 18, she finished 4t in the Open, three back of Cristie Kerr, sending a signal that a prime time player was in the making. Ah, to be so good so young, and to have the major’s monkey offer her back so soon.

Three of the last seven ladies majors have been won by teenagers. Morgan Pressel won the 2007 Kraft Nabisco at age 18, Yani Tseng captured the LPGA three weeks ago at the age of 19, and now Park, the youngest winner of golf’s most prestigious title.

Two American youngsters Stacy Lewis (23) and Paula Creamer (21) entered the final round in the first and second positions, both looking for their first major. Both rolled sevens on the second hole and continued to drift over par for the day. After their matching 78s left them tied for fourth and sixth respectively they must look at this as a painful learning experience. What other choice do they have? But as for Nicklaus, Woods, and these three teens, winning’s the thing, and the sooner the better.