Sean Foley’s Crimes Against Golf: A Players Roundup
In the wake of the Players Championship, TheOcho.ca golf writer Austin Evans gives his biggest takeaways, including an unsettling trend found in the students of swing coach Sean Foley.
Si Woo Kim became the youngest Players Champion ever with an impressive final round score of 69. Kim won by three shots over Ian Poulter and Louis Oosthuizen, earning his 2nd PGA Tour win on a course that produced some astronomically high scores.
Here are some scattered thoughts about an interesting week in Ponte Vedra Beach.
The Bad Back Factory
Si Woo Kim becomes the latest young gun to break through on a huge stage. He has had a massive statistical turnaround since working with Sean Foley.
Yes, Tiger Woods’ ex-swing coach Sean Foley.
This could be the start of a good run for Kim and Foley, as his driving and iron play (both of which were ranked nearly 200th on tour) were his strengths this week.
However, there has been a worrisome trend in the health and wellbeing of Foley’s current and former students. Tiger has obviously struggled for several seasons with back injuries that had never been an issue in his career until working with Foley. Foley’s obsession with biomechanics and achieving perfect numerical data has most likely contributed to Tiger’s physical decline. It required him swing a club in ways his body was unable to maintain.
But it’s not just Tiger. Hunter Mahan fought a bad back. He has dropped out of the top 700 in the world rankings, and he currently has a weekly seat booked on the Friday night United flight out of whatever city the PGA Tour is in that week. Sean O’Hair left him in 2011 when his game turned sour, and he also had a history of back issues. Justin Rose, his most high profile remaining pupil, has played exceptional under Foley’s tutelage. But guess what?
Where there’s smoke, there’s either fire or friction between disjointed vertebrae. Si Woo Kim might be golf’s next great superstar, or he might be on the mend in a few weeks.
Louie’s Not The King…Yet.
Going into Sunday, many touted Louis Oosthuizen as the favourite to win given his stature in the game. The 2010 Open Champion struggled for the early part of the round and finished at seven under par, three shots back of Kim. Louis has finished runner-up on the PGA Tour six times, including at the 2012 Masters and 2015 US Open, but has not won a PGA Tour event in North America.
Yes, he is a major champion, he’s won many times around the world, and he consistently contends in big tournaments, but winning on the PGA Tour is still an important benchmark for international players who begin on different tours.
Lee Westwood only ever won twice in America and Colin Montgomerie never won on American soil. Meanwhile, other great international players of the same generation like Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, and Vijay Singh were able to break through in great ways in the States, and are generally held in higher regard than their peers. So while Louis may have the best swing on tour, he still needs to close the deal a few more times to become a part of the true elite in golf.
Ian Poulter’s Unlikely Entry
The other runner up, Ian Poulter, has been an interesting story the past few weeks as he went from no status on tour to having status thanks to a points change.
Poulter had shown his vulnerability about his job security in recent weeks and has become a sympathetic figure. This is in stark contrast to the brash Englishman who once said it would just be him and Tiger at the top. Many questioned his play down the stretch and whether he was too defensive on the final holes, particularly when he laid up on 16 from 240 yards out of the rough.
I don’t know if I totally agree with going for a green surround by water from a questionable lie with a wood versus leaving a 100 yard wedge shot. Either way, Poulter’s reappearance on the leaderboard always makes golf more interesting.
The Savagery of Sawgrass
TPC Sawgrass showed its teeth this week, here are some notables who found the course hard to handle.
54 Hole Leader JB Holmes- 84 (including an 8 on 17) (Yikes)
Jon Rahm- 82
Matt Kuchar- 81
Justin Rose, Jason Day- 80
Rickie Fowler- 79
2017 Masters Champion Sergio Garcia- 78
Austin is The Ocho’s main golf contributor. He also writes about basketball and guest hosts The Ocho Podcast with his brother Riley when Aaron has something better to do. Follow Austin on Twitter at @austevans24.
