Pebble Beach, California-Misschien came the best quote for the feeling match play ever from Nick Price, talking to Ernie Els, during a long ago president cup. They were partners in a tight match against the Americans. “This point may not mean much to you,” Nick told Ernie. “But it means a lot to me!”
If Price’s goal was to put a fire under Els, he was successful. The beauty of Match-Play Golf. That point you play for, must be the most important thing in the world for you, immediately.
That brings us to the 15th Tee on Sunbated Cypress Point on Saturday, in the first day of this two-day Walker Cup event, its 50th game.
View here “Cypress Point’s Hidden Beauty”:
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Luke Poulter, from the team of Great Britain and Ireland, won the 14th hole with a Birdie and was now only 1 to the hottest amateur golfer in the world, the 18-year-old Mason Howell of the United States, a senior in the secondary school who will be at the University of Georgia next year. Poulter, 21, who plays at the University of Florida, was in the match, against the hottest amateur golfer in the world, the winner of the American amateur last month with a 7-and-6 whiplashing from Jackson Harrington. In an interview on Friday, Howell noticed (as an answer to a question) that he recently shot 59 in his home club, Glen Arven Country Club, in Thomasville, GA. “Thirteen under par,” he said with a bad grin, in an attempt to hide his joy. In other words, he did it on a par-72 course. Not all 59s have been drawn up.
So Luke Poulter, son of Match-Play Savant Ian, had his hands full, but he knew he had his hands full. He was a shot away from changing the course of the day. He had the honor of the 136-Yard Par-3 15th, in the wind and hard through the Pacific. A draw for pitching – directly in Poulter’s wheelhouse.
And if he could have a stiff one there? Well, then you don’t know. Then Mason Howell and his 7 and 6 amateur victory and his recent 59 and all the rest suddenly doesn’t matter much. Because no one is easy to kill it after the other man does it first. It is as if that small ball on the green eats the square meters of a beach blanket.
Ian Poulter is no problem for our Walker Cup team. But maybe his son
By means of:
Basic Alan
But Poulter didn’t stiffen the shot. He pushed his wedge into a greenside bunker. His false shot was indifferent. It didn’t matter either. Howell may have made a 10-footer for a birdie who made Poulter’s par putt-be. Howell’s fist pump was not Tiger-in-His Prime, but it was close. It told you everything you had to know: that point for which he played, to borrow from Nick Price, meant a lot to him.
“I got it terribly today,” Poulter said later. “Absolutely terrible, all day.” In other words, when he had to switch on the switch at 15, which was marked with I-Can-Stuff-This, he couldn’t find it. There was nothing to lean on.
He walked to the green with a sandwig in his hand. Depressing. All the advantage had come and gone with one bad swing.
“The child is just good,” said Poulter. “He plays good golf. He is hard to beat.”
There are 28 points available in Walker Cup Play. If you try to get to 14.5 points, every point means the world. At the end of the day the Americans had 6.5 points and GB & I had 5.5. One point. One point is a world.
Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments on michael.bamberger@golf.com.
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