Na’s real fave of fans now he is up to speed
FROM golf’s biggest slow play basket case to one of the most popular winners on the PGA Tour, Kevin Na’s transformation is a ray of hope for the game.
It’s not so long ago the American – who won the Shriner’s Open in Las Vegas on Sunday – was the worst example of the scourge ruining the modern game.
The toe-curling footage of him dithering over his ball at the 2012 Players Championship is the stuff of legend.
Nervously waggling his club repeatedly and aborting halfway through his swing, his mental yips had left him frozen and seemingly incapable of hitting his shot.
It was cringeworthy viewing but it seems no one was wincing more than the man himself who vowed to face his slowplay issues head on.
“I can’t have this reputation,” Na told his caddie Kenny Harms. “Nobody wants to sponsor the slowest player on tour.”
So with the help of his bagman he worked to tame the indecision and cluttered thought processes of his torturous pre-shot routine.
Simplifying the whole pre-shot process was crucial so Harms would be quick to stride ahead to ensure he was at Na’s ball ready and primed with the right yardage.
Making his man less fixated with alignment, simply pointing to a target and encouraging him to focus only on the rhythm of his swing, also made a huge difference. Gradually it started to work.
Harms said: “He went from being one of the slowest players to a guy who is quick to the ball and quicker pulling the trigger. Kevin put the game ahead of himself.”
Na has also been able to make light of his old snail’s pace image to poke fun at himself.
At the Tour Championship in 2016, playing first out on his own at the weekend, he decided to have a crack at the unofficial record for the quickest round in PGA Tour history.
Braving the 33 degree heat, Na ran up and down the fairways between shots and completed his round eight seconds short of just two hours.
That his score of 70 was his best of the week only made the achievement even more impressive. Fair play to him.
Then in March this year at Sawgrass, the scene of his 2012 meltdown, he was alongside the usually stony-faced Tiger Woods.
After nailing a short putt at 17 he performed a stunt that has become his trademark, following quickly in the ball’s wake and stooping to lift it out the hole the moment it dropped. Woods copied him and both collapsed in fits of giggles.
Na has transformed the reputation that once made him a pariah into a figure of fun admired by the crowds and popular with his peers.
If only serial slow play offenders like JB Holmes and Bryson DeChambeau were blessed with a sliver of Na’s self-awareness, perhaps they’d take steps to change their ways for the better – and for the good of the game.
Kevin is quick to the ball & quicker pulling the trigger