Sergio

I was pleased to see Sergio showing some great form last night, and is well in contention again. His driving looks steady and he can still show the rest just how good his iron play is, but his putting ..... I watched the interview after his round, and he seemed to have a haunted look in his eyes and you could tell he was in pain. He mentioned things like 'bad thoughts when over the ball', and you wonder what's happened to him. He's always had way too much pressure on him due to the media hype about him being the only player who can live with Tiger, etc, etc, etc. he's had that all his career and thought he'd handled it well. Now he's not so young, it seems like he's fighting the demons every time he walks onto the short grass. I have a nasty feeling that he's going to have a nightmare at some stage this weekend, but why, when he has one of the sweetest games in golf. Yips? I don't know but he needs some help.

Why does this happen to some players. Young kids coming through are usually in 2 camps, as you get the latent talent of some, who can do anything with a golf ball. Then you get the not so talented ones, like Poulter, who through massive self belief and determination make themselves into solid golfers. many of those talented kids fall by the wayside, because they don't have the Poulter mentality but some make the breakthrough like Rory and Sergio before him. In the case of Sergio who has spent a decade at the top of world golf, with plenty of wins and top 10's, something happens inside their head and its like they can't do something thats been so natural. faldo was a mix of the 2 types of player. he had latent talent, but also self belief and determination that scared his opponents to death. With Tiger on the slide, you would have thought Sergio would have picked up his mantle, but he seems to have slid at the same time. There are plenty of other talented players who seemed to implode over the years, but I would love to find out what causes it

I backed Sergio each way at 100/1 so I'm hoping he doesn't have a nightmare!!!

My opinion on players like Sergio and Rory that have such fantastic golf swings is that they have spent a disproportionate amount of time on the range compared with around the chipping and putting green. When you have such natural golf swing's like theirs everyone wants to see you hit irons and woods and this where their confidence growing up came from whereas scoring is all about chipping and putting.

I am hoping that Rory can live up to the hype surrounding him but his career does feel like a carbon copy of Sergio's at the same age. I remember when I was a junior everybody was talking about this amazing kid from Spain that was going to be the next big player to dominate but as much as he has been told he should be winning absolutely everything for most of his career. He now seems to be doing some soul searching to find out why everyone was wrong all this time and more importantly why he listened to them!?

It's the players that spent their youth scrapping round the chipping greens that score well rather than those that learnt how to hit good 7 irons...

Sharrison I agree, and we've seen plenty of examples from Rory. Rory's final round at Quayle Hollow was probably the best round of golf seen in a decade, completley flawless and spectacular. But Rory needs to have a good start on the field, otherwise he seems to blow up and he's still never put 4 solid rounds together at this level. Last years open saw him blitz the field only for him to blow up, although he managed to make a good fist of the final day, but was too far behind.

Sergio's problems only seem to be on the green now, and he still has a great short game, but the short stick seems to scare him to death. These yip like problems are common we know, but can't understand it. maybe if I was great on the green and then find my putts not dropping in anymore, I could understand it better, but people like JB Homes are gob-smacking to watch, because you just feel he's going to have a heart attack, or his opponents are going to fall asleep. maybe Sergio needs to find himself a sports shrink to get him into another thought process

The astounding thing with sergio is he actually has a fantastic short game all bar the putting, but he's never been a great putter there has always been something that caused him to miss a little one regularly. He still is one of the best ball strikers on tour, and I think he'll breakthrough again this year.

Maverick wrote:The astounding thing with sergio is he actually has a fantastic short game all bar the putting, but he's never been a great putter there has always been something that caused him to miss a little one regularly. He still is one of the best ball strikers on tour, and I think he'll breakthrough again this year.

Mav do you reckon Tigers starting to go through the same thing on the greens. Not so long ago anything from 10-foot was in the hole, on whatever the green. Now he seems to be getting the long and short game sorted, but missing out on the greens. What putter is he trying now, because it did look ugly and think he should bring the old Newport back out

according to his website it's the same Nike Method 003 he used at St Andrews and a few other places.

It's a heel shafted mallet putter.

I'd love to see him win a major - would be one of the biggest golfing tragedies for someone with his talent not to have one.

Another one that is similar to Sergio and Rory is Adam Scott that has resorted to a belly putter and at such a young age. I think it is to do with working so hard to get a picture perfect swing and not hard enough on the end that counts. All three of these players strike the ball so so well and so naturally and are all very athletic whereas players like McDowell and Poulter don't seem anywhere near as athletic but just get the ball in by any means. Maybe due to being less athletic they have always decided to play to their strengths and anyone can learn to chip and putt really well.

Every now and then, you get great ball striking with an imaginative short game and exceptional mental strength on the greens. But Tigers don't come around too often...

I think Tigers just tried changing too much to be honest, I understand why he's changing the swing but how he releases the putter that change makes no sense. Adam Scott did spend too much time on his long game much like Badds and he suffered for a few years

I read somewhere that Tiger was trying to bring his new swing philosophy to all parts of his game - including putting. It seems to have left him with a vary ungainly action that at times looks like he's really stabbing at his putts

I'm sure Adam Scott has won a major, but may well be wrong. I seem to remember that he was also much heralded as the new Tiger beater and think he's still big mates with the flawed one. Deffo had putting problems which seem to have gone since he picked up the 30ft putting shaft. I fancied him this week, because he looked rock steady with that putter last week

No majors for Adam but he did win TPC

Davie wrote:No majors for Adam but he did win TPC

Thanks Davie

And also the Tour Champ.

I think this Masters is absolutely wide open. Almost impossible to pick a winner this year. Even narrowing it down to 'will it be a Yank, Euro or ROW player will be difficult enough - don't know if my nerves can stand it until Sunday night. Might finger nails are shreded alrady There's only one way I'm going to make it