The Zone Interactive Golf Magazine (UK) The Zone Issue 25 | Page 21

USPGA REVIEW

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HEY said he couldn’t putt. He certainly hasn’t been anywhere near a gym in the recent past. And he gets an attack of the waggles before every shot he hits. Jason Dufner may not be the perfect identikit of a major champion, but he woke up with the Wannaker Trophy on his bedside cabinet, having left a world-class field in his wake on his way to winning the US PGA championship. It is the culmination of a period of three years in which he has consistently shown himself to be one of the best and one of the most consistent players on the PGA Tour. As to the claims that he can’t putt, well you don’t shoot a 63 in a major championship without holing more than your fair share. And when you possess the ability to get dialled in with your wedges as Dufner was during the final round at Oak Hill then it really doesn’t matter how well, or badly, you putt. Shot after shot finished so close to the pin that he was left with a series of tap-in birdies – admittedly, one or two of those tiddlers found their way into the cup via the side and back entrances. Dufner would subscribe to the view once aired by the legendary Lee Trevino, that the hole should be twice the size is presently is because there is too much emphasis in puttng. For, in truth, Dufner is not a good putter. One of his problems is that he seems to freeze over every putt for what seems like an age, and it is worth considering what must be going through his mind during that time – if he could find a way of releasing the putter as soon as

he stands over the ball, the result would surely be more encouraging. But he only took 270 strokes over 72 holes at Oak Hill, and, in anybody’s book, that is great golf. Some will say that the course was too easy. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson would not be among that number, and they weren’t the only top players to find it too much of a test. At any major championship the first requirement is to find the fairways, and Dufner did that better than anybody else, apart from Lee Westwood. It is difficult to know what to say about the Englishman. Once again, he played magnificently from tee to green and, once again, he couldn’t buy a putt to save his life. Worst of all were the number of short putts that he missed. His putting stroke appears to be too slow, too deliberate. Like Dufner, he needs to find a way to free his mind of all the thoughts that are surely bouncing about in there. Unlike Dufner, however, Westwood is a man who enjoys interacting with the galleries, who will smile when he holes a putt or enjoys a piece of outrageous good fortune, and who will scowl when things go wrong. Ditto the likes of Rory McIlroy, Mickelson and Woods. Dufner’s expression never changes. Some see it as an asset, but I just wish that he could at least look as though he is enjoying what he does for a living. Whether he rams home a 50-foot eagle putt, hits an approach into a lake or misses a short putt, his expression never changes.
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THEZONE / ISSUE 25