The Tank marches to victory at The Players
By Brian Murphy
There are many ways to remember the 2011 Players Championship. The K.J. Choi-David Toms “Savvy Vets” playoff in the Sunday gloaming; The Al Czervik “My Arm! It’s Broken!”-type move by Tiger Woods after his front nine started going south on Thursday; and the Graeme McDowell “See Sawgrass Via Water Golf Tour” all come to mind.
Yet, when it’s all said and done, and Tim Finchem gave Choi the crystal for the Fifth Beatle Major, err, uh, the Fifth Major, err, uh, The Players Championship, the savvy golf fan will remember the Players for the day Johnny Miller admitted he was wrong.
This was Halley’s Comet-type stuff.
Miller, caught up in the moment, declared Toms’ tee shot on No. 17 the most important shot of his career. Gary Koch, smartly laying in the Sawgrass weeds, piped up: “I’m going to have to disagree with you, Johnny. I’d say it was his lay-up and putt at Atlanta Athletic Club to win his major [PGA Championship] in 2001.”
Holy impudence, Batman! Challenging Miller on NBC late on a Sunday? This was like the kid in “Oliver!” bringing the world to a halt by asking: “Please, sir, may I have some more?”
Incredibly, instead of having Koch fired on the spot, Miller said calmly, after about two minutes of silence: “I concede you were right.”
With that, a wild and woolly and wet and wacked-out Players Championship had its coda.
Yes, we had it all at Finchy’s north Florida bash. A Toms sighting, five years after his last win on the PGA Tour. A marathon Sunday after a Saturday thunderstorm mocked the idea of moving the Players from March to May. McDowell going from “slumping golfer rounding into form and peaking for U.S. Open title defense” to “joining Rory McIlroy in Northern Ireland’s house of pain on the big stage” in 12 short holes on Sunday.
And a great winner in Choi, whom I’ve always admired for becoming the first Korean to earn his tour card, for leaving his home country and forging a new life in America despite a mighty language barrier, for winning eight times now on tour (including a Memorial), and for always being tougher than week-old jerky.
Don’t forget Choi when you do your major championship fantasy drafts. Ranked 34th in the world entering The Players, he hasn’t won a major and will turn 41 next week, but the former power-lifter is always grinding his way into sight. He has six top-10s in majors in his career, including three at Augusta National, counting last month’s tie for eighth. He’s in the hunt a lot. Put it this way: the guy’s nickname is “The Tank,” which is doubly impressive when you consider that his first name is not “Hank” or “Frank.”
Truth told, it was easy to root for both players in the playoff – especially after Toms made a “Hungry Man”-sized birdie on the 72nd hole to force extra time. That’s No. 18 at Sawgrass, by the way, otherwise known as “The Toughest Par-4 in the Milky Way.” Plus, he did it out of a sand-filled divot after a monster drive that had Miller ready to send him flowers and a love note. It was such gutsy stuff, and with McDowell and Luke Donald wearing navy blue to honor the late Seve Ballesteros, it had the potential to be remembered as the “Sand-Filled Divot Birdie,” not unlike Seve’s “Car Park Birdie” at Lytham.
But Toms is 44 and hasn’t won since 2006, and you had to wonder about his nerves in a playoff after being out of the hunt for most of this year and last. Sure enough, his 4-footer for par on 17 lipped out, cruelly and publicly, and Choi had his $1.7 million check. Toms’ consolation runs about $1 million, which isn’t bad, as far as consolation prizes go. It was Toms’ first miss inside five feet all week, which shows what happens when a top-12 ranked putter on tour, and one of the better putters of his generation, faces 73rd hole pressure. Tough deal.
Pressure had reared its ugly head in regulation, too, when Toms inexplicably went for the 16th green in two and wound up getting wet, leading to bogey. If Choi is “The Tank,” then let’s give Toms a nickname and call him “The Lay-Up King” – and I mean that as a compliment. His smart lay-up at Atlanta Athletic Club earned him that major over Phil Mickelson, and Toms flashed lay-up skills on the par-5 No. 2, earning him birdie there. If Toms were a high school basketball coach, his team’s lay-up drills would be the best in the league.
At 16, however, with a lay-up as an option, he went for the green, dunked his golf ball and saw his lead fritter away. Such is life at Sawgrass late on a Sunday, as Miller will remind you.
After all, minutes earlier, Miller said, unprompted: “We’re overdue for somebody to have heartache, to hit it in the water. I don’t want to put any bad karma on Toms, but it seems like we’re due.”
Ouch! Miller sounded like the guy at the ballgame who leans over in the 7th inning and says: “Say, did you notice this guy’s got a perfect game working?” or the neighbor who says over the back fence: “Gee, I hear your kid’s got great grades in school – it’d be a shame if he ever got caught cheating, or brought booze to school.”
Alas, more of Miller’s words were foreboding when he said on the back nine, of Toms’ quest for a win on a marathon day of golf: “It’s a long day for a 44-year-old, Dottie.”
Cue the crowd sound of dismay at 17 when Toms’ putt missed, and you had your storyline.
Maybe Toms’ concentration gave way in the playoff, or maybe his legs tired. Either way, it was primo entertainment – even if Woods had been off the premises since Thursday.