Shooting pressures

Matchplay is demanding as the players have to judge their opponent's skill on each hole

There are two kinds of golfers. Golfers and matchplay golfers. The former string together great rounds and the latter revel in pressure, hole after hole, day after day.

Tiger Woods once said that if the leading golfers were required to play matchplay events every week, their playing lives would considerably shorten.

This week, the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour sees the SRF Matchplay Championships. After losing in the first round of SRF last year, Jeev Milkha Singh said: "Matchplay is like a shoot-out everyday." Jeev went down to a player who was ranked No. 63 out of 64 in the draw.

In the first round of the World Matchplay two years ago, Tiger lost to World No. 64 Craig Parry. Typically, all players dread the pressures of a matchplay. Phil Mickelson once said, "It's difficult sleeping at night knowing who you have to play but not what you have to shoot."

Often a player shoots a three-under or a four-under, and yet, finds himself out on the road, losing to a player who has gone down even lower. For instance, at SRF, Basad Ali shot a four-under over 15 holes but was eliminated after Arjun Singh shot seven-under for the same stretch and won the match with three holes to spare.

Then there is Ali Sher who had enough experience to shoot crucial pars, and in the process, shot down a young star, Ashok Kumar, the leader on the Merit List. In a matchplay, it's not the birdies or how you play the course that matters. What counts is how you deal with your opponent's play on each hole.

Experience can ease the pressure as it did in the case of Ali Sher. Coming to the 18th, Ashok pulled out a driver in quest of a birdie. That proved fatal as the Delhi Golf Club roughs gobbled up his errant tee shot. Seeing his opponent in trouble, Ali Sher played a straight driver and forsook distance for accuracy. Then with a three-wood and chip, he was within five feet of a birdie which he duly holed.

Even Rahil Gangjee had found that even getting onto the fairway is no guarantee as he missed some short putts against an experienced Amandeep Johl Gangjee.

Gangjee said, "I missed some short putts and he (Amandeep) holed his putts at the crucial stages. It is important to stay with the other guy at each hole. If you miss one at a certain hole and he holes it, he is one up."

Matchplay is played under pressure. While in strokeplay you have the next hole or even the next round to make up, matchplay, in comparison, is like a shootout.

The All-India Amateur Matchplay Championships is one event which has managed to retain this format. At the global level, there are WGC-Accenture Matchplay and the HSBC World Matchplay. The Ryder Cup also has these one-on-one contests. The Dunhill Cup and the President's Cup, and the recently instituted Dynasty Cup in Asia, are some of the known events that use the matchplay format.

Tiger Woods, who plays best under pressure, has an amazing record in matchplay. At the President's Cup earlier this year, the match tied between the two nominated players "" Tiger Woods and Ernie Els.

Woods was staring at the second putt from 15 feet on the second extra hole to force Els to make one half that length to tie the hole. If one was to take into account the length and difficulty of the putt Tiger faced, he could have been forgiven for missing.

Instead Tiger made the putt. That's what matchplay demands "" clutch shots and clutch putts. Pressure is what you feel when you face three-foot putts which a club golfer would drain without a second thought and to you it looks like 30 feet with the world watching you.

 

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European PGA	Open de Sevilla	New Event
LPGA	Takefuji Classic	Candie Kung
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Indian	SRF Matchplay	Vijay Kumar