Published: June 26, 2008 12:09 am            

Golf success a matter of the mind

CHARLESTON — Sports would be nothing more than a form of art in motion were it not for the one thing that differentiates it from ballet or theater.

They keep score.

Be it runs or points, goals or strokes; be it objective or subjective scoring, there is a winner and a loser.

What makes this so interesting is that the line between winning and losing is often difficult to define.

Why, for example, could Sam Snead not put a U.S. Open title in there with his 135 other tournament wins? Why could Tom Watson not add the PGA title to his Masters, U.S. and British Open crowns? Why could Greg Norman not break through in the U.S. Open, having to settle for three heart-wrenching second-place finishes?

The line between winning and losing, one would conclude, has less to do with ability than mentality.

Take the 75th renewal of the West Virginia Open that played out its first round at Berry Hills Country Club on Wednesday.

Snead, of course, once owned this event, having won it 17 times, but he was on a different level than the competition that is drawn into a state open.

More to the point is the mini-drama that is being played out by Barry Evans, who is running out of time at 46.

Evans is the host professional and as such knows every blade of grass on the course, every subtle twist on the greens. In a kinder world, he probably would be considered the favorite to win, despite the presence of young bucks like David Bradshaw who looking for his third West Virginia Open crown.

But history tells us Evans won’t win, for even though he possesses a national championship, having taken down the PGA National Club Professionals title in 2002, he has never won this event.

It has been a frustrating run, one which has seen him have eight top five finishes, once losing in a three-hole playoff despite leading by two strokes after the first hole, and twice finishing third.

At the same time, Brad Westfall of Tygart Lake and Bel Meadows Country Club, has won the title five times, even though there isn’t really that wide a gap in the ability of the two golfers.

“I've always got to listen to my buddies giving me hell, Jonathan [Clark] and Craig [Berner],” said Evans, naming other pros who have each claimed the Open title. “It's the one thing they have on me. I've got the national championship and I haven't won my own state Open. I've been here 18 years and never won it, so it's at the top of my list.”

Why does one player win, one lose?

Bob Friend, the son of the great Pittsburgh Pirates’ pitcher of the 1950s and 1960s, is a former PGA professional and has studied both the history and the mentality of the game of golf.

“He might want it too much,” said Friend. “When that happens, you get too close to the outcome. You have got to stay in the present tense. You want to stay in the moment.”

Golf can produce mental torment unlike any other sport. It is a game that demands total concentration, not on the conditions or on the situation, but upon the shot of the moment. You can’t get back any you have already taken and you can’t hit one on the 17th hole when you are playing No. 16.

The more you want to win, the more the pressure builds.

“There’s an old saying: It’s not a 5-foot putt to win the golf tournament. It’s just a 5-foot putt,” said Friend.

There is a difference between being competitive, which is crucial in any sport, and wanting to win so badly that you lose sight of the goal at that moment … hitting the right shot.

“In a tournament like this, you don’t want to hit a stupid shot,” Westfall said.

And so it is you find yourself in the second round faced with a difficult angle to the green, a trap sitting in front right, the flag just feet behind the trap and nothing but trouble if you miss right. If you are in that situation and ache to win, you tend to try to pull off the spectacular shot.

Make it and you might get a birdie. Miss it an it might cost you a double bogey.

In the end, it’s the player who remains calm and plays smart who normally walks away with the hardware.

Westfall and the likes of Bradshaw or Berner or Clark hold one huge edge over Evans — they already have won this tournament.

“It’s easier to win after you have won it once,” Westfall said.

That is why, sitting at 74, he doesn’t count himself out. He knows there’s two more rounds and, if nothing else, he’s proven he knows how to win.

Oh, by the way, the leader is Barry Evans at 66.

“It’s been said over and over, you can’t win a golf tournament the first day but you can lose it. I’m just glad I’m in it. And those other guys, I guarantee you they’ll be right there the last day,” Evans said.

E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.

        

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