Phil Mickelson Couldn't Hang 10 at Rainy Quail Hollow

Phil Mickelson Couldn't Hang 10 at Rainy Quail Hollow











Ryan Ballengee May 6, 2013 1:48 PM


COM
MENTARY | Phil Mickelson had no business winning the Wells Fargo Championship, and, in the end, he didn't.





Mickelson came up short of a playoff at Quail Hollow when two bogeys in the final three holes left him a shot out of the overtime with Englishman David Lynn and Derek Ernst, who was fourth alternate heading into the week.



The 41-time PGA Tour winner bogeyed the 16th and 17th holes down the stretch, taking him from one shot clear of the field to a solo third-place finish. Mickelson carded a second-consecutive 1-over-73, unable to drain the par-savers he so effortlessly made in the opening two rounds.



Over the first two days, Mickelson did not miss a single putt from inside 10 feet, going 31-for-31. However, on Sunday, Mickelson missed five putts in or darn close to that 10-foot radius around the cup, including three in a row from Nos. 15-17 that cost him the championship.



Of course, it's unreasonable to expect any player -- even the one with the short-game affinity Mickelson has -- to sink every pressure putt. A country-club legend has been built up that Tiger Woods has always made the clutch putts. Even at his best, that's generous rounding on his make percentage. To go 1-for-3 down the stretch, though, would not have been that much of a stretch for the 42-year-old.

The perfect percentage through the first two rounds was misleading anyhow. It was indicative of how poorly Mickelson managed to play from tee to green, needing those putts inside of 10 feet to bail him out from wild driving and lackluster ball-striking that often left him swinging from nasty, deep rough, bunkers or around trees at the majestic Charlotte club.

With his pedigree and, frankly, the pedigree of those that were chasing him most closely, this is a win that Mickelson let slip from his grasp.



Derek Ernst wound up winning the title on the first playoff hole from Lynn, who is only on the PGA Tour because he finished a distant eight shots behind Rory McIlroy to finish alone in second at last summer's PGA Championship. The check afforded Lynn PGA Tour membership for 2013, which he had to be talked into taking by friends after he initially denied interest in playing stateside full-time.



For his part, Ernst only got into the tournament because nine players withdrew for myriad cover reasons to avoid the highly criticized greens at Quail Hollow. As the fourth alternate, he was given little chance, going off at 500-to-1 odds. After battling through all four stages of PGA Tour Q-school last fall to earn his card, Ernst had missed five of his last six cuts. His best finish of the year was a T-47 last week in New Orleans.



Good on Ernst for finding nothing to complain about by earning a start and taking full advantage. It's precisely what Mickelson should have done to lock up his first multi-win season in four years.



Instead, Mickelson could not put it all together in the final round, unable to overcome ball-striking that had him T-71 in fairways hit and T-67 in greens in regulation through three rounds. The nearly four strokes he had gained on the field with his putting proficiency was not enough to get him the W.

Then again, the putter has to be working for a player to win. Just ask Rory McIlroy. If ball-striking determined the title this week, the Ulsterman would have won going away with it. However, McIlroy was near the very bottom of the field in strokes gained putting. It's a fact rich in irony, considering McIlroy said ahead of the tournament, "I don't mind (the poor greens) because I'm not a guy that relies on my putting, per se."



But back to Lefty.



The disappointment may leave him hungry enough for a buffet at TPC Sawgrass for next week's The Players Championship. The 2007 champion, however, will have to have all facets of his game in fine form to figure out Pete Dye's masterpiece puzzle. If this week was any indication, that's not very likely.



Ryan Ballengee is a Washington, D.C.-based golf writer. His work has appeared on multiple digital outlets, including NBC Sports and Golf Channel.

Derek Ernst Shocks Golf World, Wins Wells Fargo Championship

Derek Ernst Shocks Golf World, Wins Wells Fargo Championship











Ryan Ballengee May 6, 2013 2:01 PM


COMMENTARY | Derek Ernst's calendar just filled out for the rest of the year.



With a par on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff against David Lynn, Ernst won the Wells Fargo Championship for his maiden PGA Tour title.



To say this was completely unexpected is quite an understatement.



On Monday, the 22-year-old UNLV product w
as the fourth alternate at Quail Hollow, just as well assuming he would make the drive to Athens, Ga., to compete in the Web.com Tour's Stadion Classic this week. Then, largely in response to the poorly conditioned greens at Quail Hollow, the withdrawals began. There were nine in total, with Ernst landing a spot when Fredrik Jacobson decided not to give it a go.





The expectations had to be somewhat low for Ernst, who had missed five of his last six cuts in his rookie season on the PGA Tour. His best finish of the year came a week ago in New Orleans, cashing a T-47 check at the Zurich Classic -- only his second payday of 2013.



However, Ernst found himself in a seven-way tie for first after opening 5-under-67 at Quail Hollow. Most could be forgiven for assuming the likes of Rory McIlroy, Nick Watney, Ryan Moore or Robert Garrigus would be more likely threats from that Thursday gaggle to win the title on Sunday.



Ernst didn't go away, though he didn't find the 60s for the remainder of the week. He played 3-under golf for the final 54 holes, including a 2-under-70 on Sunday, May 5 that was good enough to land him in a playoff with the runner-up from last summer's PGA Championship.



Phil Mickelson could have prevented this fairy tale story from reaching its surprising conclusion, but two bogeys in the final three holes cleared the stage for Ernst. McIlroy had his chances, but atrocious putting left him in the dust or, more appropriately, stuck in the mud. Nick Watney seemed poised to win yet again, but he was unable to hang on Sunday in rainy conditions.



In the playoff, Ernst handled the pressure like a veteran twice his age. He made a rather routine-looking par on one of the most difficult holes on the PGA Tour, snagging the win when Lynn could not match him. In fact, the win was reminiscent of what Joey Sindelar, then 46 years old, did in 2004 when he won the second edition of this championship in a two-hole playoff over Arron Oberholser.



The contrast? Sindelar's win was his first in 370 PGA Tour starts. Ernst won in just his eighth start.



The week prior, another 20-something claimed his maiden PGA Tour win -- that the golf world saw coming for months. Billy Horschel, 26, had been knocking hard on the door throughout this season. The Florida product owns the tour's longest active cuts-made streak. He had finished on the medal stand in two of his last three starts before winning at TPC Louisiana. Ernst's win came amid nasty, rainy conditions in Charlotte -- not ideal for seeing something like this in the offing.



Now Ernst will get to experience all of the perks of being a rather sudden PGA Tour winner. He has a spot in The Players next week, as well as the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, the Hyundai Tournament of Champions next year and, yes, an invitation to the 2014 Masters. He also has the peace of mind from knowing his spot on the PGA Tour is secure for two years.



There likely will not be a win quite like this one on the PGA Tour for way longer than two years.



Ernst battled his way through all four stages of PGA Tour Q-school to earn his playing privileges this season. That path has been blocked, however, by the rise of the Web.com Tour finals, moving all PGA Tour cards that were available through Q-school to a four-tournament series combining the best of the Web.com Tour and the not-so-best of the PGA Tour. The Derek Ernsts of the world would likely need a one-year pit stop on the Web.com Tour to get this opportunity.



Ernst, who entered the week at 1,207th in the Official World Golf Ranking, is expected to land in the top 125 -- likely a record leap. That's appropriate considering what he accomplished in Charlotte.



Ryan Ballengee is a Washington, D.C.-based golf writer. His work has appeared on multiple digital outlets, including NBC Sports and Golf Channel.

Padraig Harrington's Anchoring Woes Don't Help Their Case

Padraig Harrington's Anchoring Woes Don't Help Their Case











Ryan Ballengee May 6, 2013 6:24 PM


COMMENTARY | Just because Padraig Harrington went belly-up in Charlotte doesn't mean that the a
nchored stroke should be saved.





The three-time major champion made the shocking switch to a belly putter for the Wells Fargo Championship. The results, albeit a small sample size, were disastrous. He opened with 8-over-80 on Thursday, May 2 at Quail Hollow to finish dead last among the 156 players in the field. A second-round 75 left him tied for dead last and sent packing for the weekend.



For at least this one week, the belly putter was of no help. But this flat-out, flat-stick failure also is of no help to the argument made by the likes of Webb Simpson, who continues to rail about the looming possibility of a full-fledged ban of the anchored stroke in 2016.



In fact, Harrington talked eloquently after his first-round nightmare about precisely why the anchored stroke should still be banned.



"I was like, 'Oh, I wonder what that looks like,' and I was surprised to see everything was better," Harrington said. "In terms of the mechanics, it was a far better stroke."



He continued, "I think it's bad for the game of golf. [But] I'm going to use everything, if something's going to help me for the next three and a half years, I'm going to use it."



The argument made by so many proponents of anchoring is that players who affix a belly or long putter to their bodies rarely crack the top 25, much less the top 10, in strokes gained putting, the PGA Tour's stat of record for putting efficiency. Reigning U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson made that argument last week.



"2 guys in the top 45 in strokes gained putting category (PGA Tour's most accurate putting stat) use a belly putter or long putter," Simpson tweeted April 27.



He continued with a not-so rhetorical question: "Is it really an advantage???????? NO."



As someone who believes the game's governing bodies are making the right decision in attempting to ban the anchored stroke, it's hard to decide which tweet to tackle first, but perhaps the latter is better.



If there was no advantage in using a belly or long putter coupled with an anchored stroke, why would anyone use it? The putters are long, unwieldy, a little more expensive because there's more material, and take time to learn. It seems like an awfully big inconvenience for gaining no advantage whatsoever.



However, it is Simpson's first line of logic that is perhaps most flawed.



Simpson is looking at the strokes gained putting stat in a way that helps his case, not the way that it should be viewed. The rubric determining the value of the anchored stroke should not be if players catapult into the top 25 in putting categories, but rather if they improve significantly as compared to a traditional stroke.



If a player gets better by switching to the anchored stroke, there is an advantage. Of course, that is not measured one round or one week at a time. It might take months for the peaks and valleys of putting level out the true advantage a player might see by committing to the anchored stroke. Therein, however, lies another problem.



Pro golf has no offseason these days. There is little time for a player to take a month or two to practice with the anchored stroke to gain enough proficiency with it to take it to a tournament with a lot of confidence. Players that struggle with putting and feel they must switch to anchoring do so because their year, their livelihood is in danger if something bold isn't done. But those players must also often compete 30 times in a season to cobble together enough earnings to keep a PGA Tour card. If anchoring doesn't prove to be an immediate fix, players are bound to abandon the evil they still don't understand for the one they might still be able to control, so they go back to the traditional stroke.



That could very well be the ending to the story of Harrington and the belly putter: It didn't work, and the Irishman might not put in enough time with it to see if it actually would pay dividends down the line.



Harrington does understand, though, that the anchored stroke must go because he sees the inherent advantage of it. In fact, a lot of PGA Tour players do. The problem with the proposed ban of the anchored stroke -- and the source of the Tour's disapproval of it -- is that it took the game's governing bodies 23-plus years to announce their reversal of course from when they blessed Orville Moody's use of the long putter to win the 1989 U.S. Senior Open.



The Harrington case should give some cover to the USGA and R&A. It probably should not have taken them two decades to decide the anchored stroke was a bad idea, but they only could have make their decision after enough players stuck with it long enough to find success -- namely the four guys (Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson, Ernie Els and Adam Scott) who have won the last six majors.



Ryan Ballengee is a Washington, D.C.-based golf writer. His work has appeared on multiple digital outlets, including NBC Sports and Golf Channel. Follow him on Twitter @RyanBallengee.