‘Forgive quickly’ advice that applies far beyond course
Scary Woods accident puts things in perspective for Homa
Given the grievous car accident in which Tiger Woods was seriously injured Tuesday that has understandably dominated golf news, it feels like ages since Max Homa missed a 40-inch birdie putt on the 72nd hole of the Genesis Invitational at the Riviera Country Club that, had he made it, would have won him the tournament. The ball lipped out in one of those aggressive, nasty ways that can feel like a haymaker in the gut for a golfer trying to break 80 for the first time, never mind a tour player looking to win at one of the game’s classic courses a half-hour from where he grew up.
Homa was so appalled by his miss that he apologized to Woods, the tournament host, for his “failure.” But Woods, long Homa’s favourite player — Homa grew up in the L.A. area and had watched the superstar for years at the annual PGA Tour stop there — was watching. He told Homa after he won in a playoff over Tony Finau, “No, no. That showed a lot of toughness to bounce back after that.”
Homa was seen on his phone a moment after he missed the knee-knocker. The playoff with Finau, who had shot 64 to get into extra holes, was imminent. Homa was speaking with his wife Lacey. She reminded him of what she had advised Sunday morning before the final round. He told her he thought he “kind of choked a little bit” on the short putt; he was understandably anxious, even though he’d made 55 of 56 putts inside five feet to that point. She told him again to “forgive quickly.”
There was wisdom in those two words. Homa evidently managed to do that and won on the second playoff hole. Homa had won the tournament that meant so much to him, given that Woods, hosting the event that benefits his now 25-year-old foundation, would present him the trophy. That was then and this is, sadly, now.
Homa, upon hearing the news of the auto accident, was shocked and reeling. He said this week at the WGCWorkday Championship in Bradenton, Fla., that his mind was racing.
“My mind, like a lot of people, immediately went to the worst. It felt eerily similar to the Kobe Bryant crash, and it was awful,” he said.
At this writing, Woods remains in hospital and faces a prolonged and arduous rehabilitation. He’s on every player’s mind — from the PGA and LPGA tours to golfers out with their friends for a casual game. I’m thinking of Woods at the same time I try to remember Homa on Sunday at Riviera, and what his wife advised him. The game goes on, tournaments go on.
Forgive quickly, Lacey told her husband. I can see that as the title of a book on the mental side of the game, and how it gets to everybody from eight to 80, from 20handicap to major championship winner. It’s not easy to stay in the moment, to live and golf in the present, to forgive and forget. Doing so is what PGA Tour winner Richard Zokol’s MindTRAK program is all about. Zokol has always referred to himself as a journeyman who needed to find a way to cope with and overcome his jittery mind. Yet he won twice on the PGA Tour. That’s a hell of an accomplishment for somebody whose mind jumped around, a sometimes unstoppable force.
It’s not easy to keep one’s mind from racing and to forgive oneself at all, let alone quickly, for making a mistake. We can tell ourselves we are human, all too human, that everybody makes mistakes, that one must accept golf’s estimable and endless challenges that both bedevil and beguile us. I remember an incident during a Canadian Open at Glen Abbey Golf Club where I was caddying for Jim Nelford, when a player who will go unnamed hit a few consecutive bad drives. He was not happy.
Said tour golfer then hit one poor drive too many; it broke him. He froze in place on the tee for a moment, and then smashed a tee marker with the head of his driver. I mean, he gave it a muscular whack, probably exceeding his clubhead speed while sending his drive into the netherworld. The head of the driver must have been made of kryptonite, because it didn’t shatter. But the tee marker did and so did the player’s game. He tore down
the fairway muttering to himself and carried on like a guy who needed a straitjacket. I’m glad I wasn’t caddying for him. This was not pleasant to watch. I still shudder, some 40 years later.
But yes, it was golf. The fellow didn’t have much of a PGA Tour career. I suppose he couldn’t even forgive slowly.
Then there was poor Doug Sanders. Here’s a guy who won the 1956 Canadian Open when he was still an amateur, beating Dow Finsterwald with a par on the first playoff hole. He won 20 PGA Tour events, including that Canadian Open. But he’s best known for missing a three-foot putt for par on the 72nd hole of the 1970 Open Championship at St. Andrews. He was over the ball when he flicked something away that bothered him, didn’t reset, and missed the putt. He and Jack Nicklaus were in an 18-hole playoff the next day.
Guess who won. By one shot.
I remember chatting with Sanders one gorgeous April afternoon at the Masters, under the limbs of the old oak tree in front of the grand old gleaming clubhouse. He was dressed, as ever, in sartorial splendour, brighter than the sun. We chatted about his severe and punishing neck problem (torticollis, or wry neck, that caused him to move his head involuntarily). Other writers joined me. Sanders was great copy. Inevitably, he was asked about that putt on the massive green at the Old Course, with the world watching and his brain twitching.
He was obviously not lost in the present. Who knows where he was as he stood over the putt? It’s often been said that Ben Hogan was watching on television at his home in Fort Worth, Texas as Sanders flicked at whatever was irritating him, but didn’t step away and settle himself over the putt again. A friend of Sanders was watching with Hogan.
Hogan, as the friend later related, got up and told Sanders through the TV screen to back away. But he didn’t, and he missed the putt. Sanders died last April, just short of 50 years since he made the mistake of not starting all over. He never did win a major. He had to endure 50 years of being reminded of that merciless moment in his otherwise stellar career. Asked if he thought of it often, he always answered something like, “Oh, not too often, only every five minutes or so.”
Sanders evidently could not forgive himself quickly. He was a flinty sort, but how could he ever forget that moment in front of the R&A clubhouse with all the golf world watching, and Nicklaus waiting in the wings to pounce?
That was many years ago, but have golfers truly taken the advice that Homa’s wife had given him and that has always been at the heart and soul of golf’s mind games? Homa did when it most mattered. I’d say that Finau, who shot a wonderful 64 in the final round to get in the playoff but missed a 10-foot birdie putt to win on the first extra hole, will have also learned to forgive himself. He’s a tremendous and classy player. Here’s hoping he goes on to win many PGA Tour events (he has one win, the 2016 Puerto Rico Open; and 37 top-10s since then).
Was it Bernard Darwin, that towering figure of golf writing, who once noted, “It’s a hard world, and golf is a hard game”? Or maybe it was Henry Longhurst. It’s the truth.
It’s a hard world, a harsh world, and we remain in the throes of a pandemic. Woods lies immobile in a hospital bed. Homa has won his second PGA Tour event, this time with Woods handing him the trophy. Life is confusing and complex. The advice Homa’s wife gave him applies far beyond the golf course and the resolution of a golf tournament.
Be kind to yourself, dear golfer. Be gentle. Forgive quickly. Thank you, Lacey. Your advice means so much. Twitter: @lornerubenstein