Mr. Azinger, I Presume?

I think I share the feeling of the vast majority of the golf world in being thrilled by Paul Azinger's win in Hawaii last week. His win last Sunday marks a full competitive return. The story of his battle with cancer is inspiring. Watching it all unfold made me think of a battle he fought when he was much younger.

I knew Paul a long time ago. We played high school and junior golf in Sarasota together. At that time, Paul was a notoriously bad putter. He had a number of excruciating failures that quickly became legendary in Sarasota. Don't get me wrong, he was a fine player in spite of his highly suspect putting. Unfortunately, one can play only so well if his trusty putter proves unreliable.

A few years later, Paul was playing mini tour events around Florida. He and the pro at our country club had a special arrangement. Any new putter coming into the pro shop and looked halfway decent was to be shipped to him immediately. When this was explained to me, I deduced that putting was still an issue.

The next thing I knew, the name Azinger was cropping up on tour leaderboards all over the country. The putting puzzle had apparently been solved.

Let me take a moment to try and explain just how accomplished tour players are at putting the ball into the hole. The best explanation I've ever heard came to me courtesy of Artie McNickle, a former tour player himself. He once told me, "The worst putter on tour is the best putter you ever saw."

Which brings us back to the agony that must have been Mr. Azinger's on the job education in putting. In order to make it on the PGA Tour, he had to learn to putt. He played mini tour events for several years and did just that. Imagine it. How many times did beautiful chips, pitches, or bunker shots rot into bogey or worse because Paul couldn't nail a five footer? How many great rounds of ball striking spoiled because ten foot birdie putts kept skidding past the hole to an uncomfortable distance? How many forty foot efforts left woefully short? I wonder. From a golf perspective, the depths of his despair must have been frightening.

Paul emerged from this a very good putter. He would win important golf tournaments. He won this battle. I wish I knew how. I know now that the same determination he used to vanquish his putting demons would later be applied to a far more vile enemy.

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